Recent Streetsblog USA posts about State DOTs

Meet the Man on a Mission to Make Florida Walkable and Bikeable

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 30, 2015 | 8 Comments

Billy Hattaway just might have the most challenging job in any American transportation agency. As the Florida Department of Transportation’s lead official on bicycle and pedestrian safety, he’s charged with making Florida — consistently rated among the deadliest states for walking and biking — safe for people to get around under their own power. Since FDOT hired him […]

The American Highway Safety Establishment Warms Up Some Leftovers

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 20, 2015 | 23 Comments

A group of heavy hitters in the road building and traffic safety establishment recently came out with a plan called “Toward Zero Deaths” [PDF], presented as an ambitious strategy to cut traffic fatalities in America. But don’t get too excited by the branding — the ideas inside don’t present much of a challenge to practices that have made the U.S. […]

How the Lure of Spending Keeps Dumb Highway Projects Alive

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 2, 2015 | 11 Comments

Decades ago, Ohio officials drew a line on a map — the Eastern Corridor, a highway for commuters living in Cincinnati’s eastern suburbs. No matter how much time has passed and how little sense it makes to build that highway today, that line can still seem like destiny. The Eastern Corridor began as a 1960s […]

Wisconsin Dumps One Urban Highway Boondoggle in Favor of Another

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 19, 2015 | 5 Comments

One of the nation’s most poorly conceived highway proposals will become slightly less ridiculous. Transportation officials in Wisconsin recently announced they will no longer consider double-decking a portion of Interstate 94 in Milwaukee. The billion-dollar project would have raised the highway to building height in the Story Hill neighborhood. Wisconsin DOT hasn’t seen the light, […]

Cincinnati’s Eastern Corridor: The $1.4 Billion Road No One Seems to Want

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 27, 2015 | 27 Comments

The Eastern Corridor is an expensive state DOT highway project searching for a reason to exist. The $1.4 billion proposal from Ohio DOT is ostensibly intended to reduce commute times from Cincinnati’s far eastern bedroom communities to downtown. The project, a remnant of 1960s-era road planning, would create a commuter highway through the eastern Cincinnati region by widening […]

Alabama DOT Wants to Gouge a Highway Through This Historic Town Center

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 22, 2015 | 21 Comments

The town of Eufaula, Alabama, population 13,000, is known for its historic buildings. Stately mansions, giant live oak heavy with Spanish moss — it’s exactly the type of place that comes to mind when you picture Southern small-town charm. Every year the city hosts a home tour called the Eufaula pilgrimage, which culminates with the […]

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