Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Transportation engineering

Beyond “Level of Service” — New Methods for Evaluating Streets

By Angie Schmitt | | 9 Comments
Streetsblog reported earlier this month that transportation agencies are increasingly aware of the insidious consequences of using “Level of Service” as the primary metric for their projects. Because Level of Service only rewards the movement of motor vehicles, it promotes dangerous, high-speed streets and sprawling land use. The question remains: How should streets and development projects […]

How Better Traffic Models Can Lead to More Mixed-Use Development

By Angie Schmitt | | 5 Comments
Here’s another obscure but significant obstacle to building walkable places in America: the Institute of Transportation Engineers’ shoddy traffic generation models for mixed-use development. The model used by traffic engineers around the country to measure “trip generation” at new developments consistently overestimates the amount of motor vehicle traffic produced by mixed-use projects, according to the […]

Attacking the Language Bias in Transportation Engineering

By Angie Schmitt | | 20 Comments
“Improvement.” “Upgrade.” “Level of Service.” The traffic engineering profession is full of buzzwords laden with meaning — and, for the most part, the embedded meaning is something to the effect of “cars are king.” Ian Lockwood, P.E., has been working in the engineering profession for 30 years. He served as the chief transportation official for […]