Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Transit-Oriented Development

Glaeser Takes an Unserious Look at High-Speed Rail

By Ryan Avent | Aug 5, 2009 | 8 Comments

Ed Glaeser is a very good economist, and his papers are indispensable reading for those interested in the workings of urban areas. But he is also a strident conservative, whose popular writings frequently challenge conventional progressive wisdom (and my own views). Harvard University economist Ed Glaeser (Photo: NPR) I was interested, then, to read that […]

Maryland County Foolishly Seeking Congestion Relief in New Lanes

By Ryan Avent | Jul 30, 2009 | No Comments

One would not normally describe Montgomery County, Maryland as a place with retrograde views on land-use and planning issues. Maryland’s I-270, at peak congestion. (Photo: MDOT) The county adopted a Transferable Development Rights program 30 years ago to protect copious acres of rural land from the relentless growth pressures of the Washington metro area. It […]

What Happens Once You Get Off the Train?

By Ryan Avent | Jul 8, 2009 | 4 Comments

Economist Tyler Cowen responds to my recent take on Ed Glaeser’s recent HSR column: My question is simple: how could you take rail from Dallas to Houston and cope once you got there? San Antonio I can see, at least provided you will camp out in city center (a mistake, but that’s a question for […]

Lawmakers Aim to Bring ‘Sustainable Communities’ From Talk to Action

By Elana Schor | Jul 8, 2009 | No Comments

When three agencies in President Obama’s Cabinet — DOT, Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency — banded together to promote "sustainable communities," the initiative sounded promising but somewhat lacking in concrete ideas. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) attached his green-housing legislation to the recently passed House climate bill. (Photo: AP) Enter a bipartisan […]

Getting the Message

By Ryan Avent | Jul 7, 2009 | 3 Comments

Two things were clear at this morning’s hearing of the Senate Banking Committee concerning green investments in public transportation. First, transportation experts and leading legislators are very much in agreement on how transportation spending should change. And second, Randal O’Toole’s days as anything other than an anachronism are numbered. Cato Institute fellow Randal O’Toole testified […]

Oberstar Tackles Metro-Area Transportation Planning

By Elana Schor | Jun 18, 2009 | 1 Comment

The debate over funding distributions between highways and transit tends to attract a lot of attention, but advocates are increasingly seeking other methods to achieve transportation reform — as my colleague Ben Fried showed in his recent interview with John Norquist, president of the Congress for the New Urbanism. Norquist has described the highways-transit dichotomy […]

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