The Green New Deal Must Prioritize Transit, Group Says
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Some early policy recommendations have started to take shape and they are pretty exciting.
Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Environmental Review
Do Environmental Reviews for Road Projects Help the Environment?
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It’s been more than 40 years since the National Environmental Policy Act was enacted. In that time, America has built a lot of emissions-inducing, land-devouring highway infrastructure despite the environmental review process mandated by NEPA. It’s fair to ask: When it comes to transportation infrastructure, does environmental review make a difference for the environment? To comply with federal environmental […]
The Beginning of the End for Level of Service?
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There are three little words that will make any livable streets advocate groan: Level of Service. Level of Service, simply put, is a measure of vehicle congestion at intersections. Projects are graded from “A” to “F” based on how much delay drivers experience. That’s all it measures: the free motion of motor vehicles. And that’s […]
Vitter Seeks to Cut Environmental Reviews for Massive Road Projects
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Bridges are getting a lot of attention as senators add their two cents to the upper chamber’s transportation budget proposal for next year. The Senate transportation appropriations bill includes $500 million for “bridges in critical corridors” (BRICC), designed as a response to the recent bridge collapse along I-5 in Washington state — home of Senator […]
Will Big Highway Projects Have to Consider Climate Change?
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Since 1970, the National Environmental Protection Act has required federal agencies to consider the impacts of their projects on air, water, and soil pollution — but not on climate change. Until recently, carbon dioxide, which causes global warning, wasn’t classified as a pollutant and so couldn’t be regulated under environmental laws. The EPA in 2009 […]
How State DOTs Got Congress to Grant Their Wish List
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Bike and pedestrian funding got slashed. Federal assistance for transit operations was rejected. Even the performance measures – arguably the high point of the recently passed federal transportation bill – are too weak to be very meaningful. For Americans who want federal policy to support safe streets, sustainable transportation, and livable neighborhoods, there were few […]