Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Texas

Study Links Long Commutes to a Host of Health Maladies

By Angie Schmitt | May 15, 2012 | 1 Comment

We all know regular TV-watching is a risk factor for obesity and associated health problems. Also, recent studies shined a light on the role of sedentary jobs. Less attention has been paid to the threat of the lengthy car commute. But a new study [PDF] from the Center for Disease Control, National Institutes of Health and […]

Streetsies 2011: The Local Edition

By Tanya Snyder | Dec 29, 2011 | 1 Comment

Yesterday, we started our year-end 2011 round-up. We lamented transit cuts in places where transit is more important than ever, cheered the successful ballot initiatives that will fund transportation lifelines, took a moment to explore the nuances of some difficult issues, and called out Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin for some hare-brained ideas about the […]

How to Make TOD Work in Metro Dallas: Plano Shows the Way

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 2, 2011 | 1 Comment

For decades, Dallas mega-suburb Plano planned and prepared for this moment. The historic downtown — a poorly-scaled anachronism from when this city of 260,000 housed a mere 3,500 people — was revitalized and reimagined as a “transit village.” Tax increment financing helped support urban-style, walkable development. All because DART was building a rail line and […]

Meet the Rick Perry Donor Who Runs Texas DOT

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 10, 2011 | 6 Comments

Last week Streetsblog looked into the suburban real estate moguls who used their public offices to advance the country’s largest sprawl project — Houston’s third outerbelt, also known as the Grand Parkway. But even with all the cronyism and self-deal propelling this project forward, just a few months ago it looked like the Grand Parkway had […]

Texas Sprawl Builders Funneled Taxpayer $ to Highway That Enriched Them

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 2, 2011 | 11 Comments

If the U.S. had a national transportation policy, this story of corruption and waste never would have happened. But an enduring feature of the current policy predicament is that once federal funding is in the hands of state DOTs, they more or less have a blank check, and the merit of any given transportation project […]

Brookings: 700,000 Carless Americans Stranded Outside Reach of Transit

By Angie Schmitt | Aug 19, 2011 | 7 Comments

There are almost of them 38,000 in Atlanta. Another 65,000 between Dallas and Houston. Nearly 18,000 in Phoenix. Across the United States, about 700,000 households not only lack access to a vehicle, but live in areas that are not served by transit, according to “Transit Access and Zero-Vehicle Households,” a new report from the Brookings […]

Show More Stories