Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Sprawl

How Hartford’s Bet on Cars Set the Stage for Population Loss and Segregation

By Tanya Snyder | Apr 17, 2014 | No Comments

Hartford, Connecticut, has one of the highest poverty rates in the country. The urban renaissance that has visited so many cities hasn’t arrived there. Housing is still cheaper in the city than in the suburbs, and although suburban poverty is growing alarmingly fast, it’s nowhere near the levels seen in the city. There are multiple […]

Apple Transportation Program Stuck in the Past

By Tom Fairchild | Apr 9, 2014 | 24 Comments

Tom Fairchild is the director of Mobility Lab. This article was originally published by METRO Magazine. As an avid iPhone user, I have bought into the sense that Apple could literally peer into the future and deliver me technology that I never realized I would so desperately need. For years, Steve Jobs and company seem to have been our […]

Smart Growth America: Sprawl Shaves Years Off Your Life

By Tanya Snyder | Apr 2, 2014 | 18 Comments

Want to live a long, healthy, prosperous life? Don’t live in sprawlsville. Atlanta, I’m looking at you. Nashville, you too. Southern California’s Inland Empire: ouch. Meanwhile, break out the bubbly if you live in Atlantic City, Urbana/Champaign, or Santa Cruz — which all rank close to giants like New York and San Francisco as some of […]

State DOTs Let Roads Fall Apart While Splurging on Highway Expansion

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 12, 2014 | 8 Comments

Even though 33 percent of its roads are in “poor” condition, West Virginia spends about 73 percent of its road budget building new roads and adding lanes. Mississippi spends 97 percent of its road money on expansion. Texas, 82 percent. Smart Growth America reports that the 50 states and the District of Columbia, combined, devote 55 […]

Two Maps Show How We Designed Walking Out of the Suburbs

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 24, 2014 | 32 Comments

Having a finely grained street grid is incredibly important to walkable communities, as the above graphic from the Sightline Institute demonstrates. These side-by-side maps show how windy, disconnected, suburban streets make it difficult-to-impossible to get around on foot. This is why Happy City author Charles Montgomery noted in Slate that “cul de sacs are bad for […]

Atlanta’s Snowjam Disaster: How Much Was Sprawl to Blame?

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 30, 2014 | 14 Comments

More disturbing reports from Atlanta’s epic frozen traffic jam disaster are coming to light today. It’s hard to believe how quickly the situation got out of hand when the region’s freeways got hit with a few inches of snow. A woman who was trapped in her car for 12 hours on a freeway trying to […]

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