Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Traffic

The Projections Fallacy

By Charles Marohn | Jul 23, 2012 | 12 Comments

Cross-posted from Streets.MN. We spend billions every year in this country on our transportation network, large percentages of it based on traffic projections. This despite the fact that we have a long record of not being able to accurately project traffic. The answer isn’t better projections but a better transportation system, one that is robust […]

Arizona DOT Study: Compact, Mixed-Use Development Leads to Less Traffic

By Angie Schmitt | May 18, 2012 | 14 Comments

Does walkable development really lead to worse traffic congestion? Opponents of urbanism often say so, citing impending traffic disaster to rally people against, say, a new mixed-use project proposed in their backyards. But new research provides some excellent evidence to counter those claims. A recent study by the Arizona Department of Transportation [PDF] found that […]

LOS and Travel Projections: The Wrong Tools for Planning Our Streets

By Gary Toth | Feb 7, 2012 | 14 Comments

Gary Toth is director of transportation initiatives with the Project for Public Spaces. This post first appeared on PPS’s Placemaking Blog. Would you use a rototiller to get rid of weeds in a flowerbed? Of course not. You might solve your immediate goal of uprooting the weeds — but oh, my, the collateral damage that you would do. […]

TTI: Mass Transit Saved Drivers 45.4 Million Hours Last Year

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 27, 2011 | 4 Comments

Last year, the D.C. region ran away with the dubious honor of Most Congested Metro Area. D.C. area drivers wasted 74 hours and 37 gallons of fuel sitting in traffic last year, which would have cost about $100 over the course of the year. But the gasoline cost is just the tip of the iceberg. According […]

Chamber of Commerce: Empty Asphalt = Good Transportation Performance

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 25, 2011 | No Comments

The Chamber of Commerce released its annual Transportation Performance Index (TPI) last week [PDF], and you can tell it’s due for a total overhaul, because according to the Index, recession-battered 2009 was a banner year for transportation performance. Using 2009 data, the Chamber, a powerful lobbying group that represents millions of American businesses, determined that […]

One Way to Cure Congestion: Urban Abandonment

By Tanya Snyder | Jun 10, 2011 | No Comments

Jeff Wood at Reconnecting America attended the Congress for the New Urbanism’s annual gathering in Madison last week, and he recently posted this short Q&A with CNU President John Norquist. It happens to be a pretty timely and snappy interview. Angie wrote this morning about Kaid Benfield’s ideas about “right-sizing” Detroit. Benfield focuses on how […]

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