Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Houston

Houston Planners Will Spend All Their Federal Air Quality Funding on Cars

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 31, 2011 | No Comments

It looks like the Houston region still has a long way to go in balancing the needs of cyclists and pedestrians with those of drivers. The region’s Transportation Policy Council came down largely on the side of auto infrastructure Friday in deciding how to allocate tens of millions of dollars in federal funding. On the […]

Houston Advocates Rally to Save Bike-Ped Funds From Motorhead Bureaucrats

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 24, 2011 | 7 Comments

Nobody would accuse the Houston region of lacking auto infrastructure. Now local bicycling and pedestrian advocates are fighting to protect their tiny slice of the pie. They’re anxiously awaiting a final decision tomorrow about a pro-road money grab by the Houston-Galveston Area’s Transportation Policy Council. The Council has zeroed in on an $80 million chunk […]

Texas Gov Rick Perry Could Get Four More Years to Build Mega-Highways

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 27, 2010 | 6 Comments

This is the fourth installment of Streetsblog Capitol Hill’s series on key governor’s races. Earlier we brought you stories about a candidate who likes bikes but isn’t sure about transit in Tennessee, the choice between light rail and bus rapid transit in Maryland, and how bike paranoia is cutting the GOP off at the knees […]

High-Speed Rail: Still a Good Idea

By Ryan Avent | Oct 22, 2009 | 4 Comments

You may remember, back in August, economist Ed Glaeser’s series on high-speed rail at the New York Times’ Economix blog. Glaeser put together a back-of-the-envelope cost-benefit analysis of a hypothetical Houston-Dallas line, which purported to show that rail was a poor investment. You may also remember me responding in detail, and generally pointing out how […]

Bridging the Local-National Message Divide: The Climate Bill is the Answer

By Ryan Avent | Oct 9, 2009 | No Comments

Urban areas have a lot to contribute to the congressional climate change debate. (Photo: SDOT Blog) This week, I was fortunate to attend the Open Cities conference in Washington (along with fellow Streetsbloggers Elana Schor and Aaron Naparstek), on the ways in which new media is shaping urban policy. The takeaway, for me at least, […]

Glaeser Takes an Unserious Look at High-Speed Rail

By Ryan Avent | Aug 5, 2009 | 8 Comments

Ed Glaeser is a very good economist, and his papers are indispensable reading for those interested in the workings of urban areas. But he is also a strident conservative, whose popular writings frequently challenge conventional progressive wisdom (and my own views). Harvard University economist Ed Glaeser (Photo: NPR) I was interested, then, to read that […]

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