Infrastructure
A First: Private Sector Prepares Regional Bike Plan, Backed with Cash
There are intercity Google buses, Google ferries, and now, a Google bike plan to connect neighboring Silicon Valley cities to the growing North Bayshore area of Mountain View. Google is offering $5 million to cities to implement the plan.
Congressional Hearing Addresses Transportation Funding Problem
Transportation for America recaps the first meeting in three years by the House Ways and Means Committee to address transportation funding. Chairman Paul Ryan decried the $63 billion bailout of the Highway Trust Fund but ruled out a gas tax hike.
How to Make the Helena, Montana Urban Standards Boundary Work
Recent work by the American Planning Association’s professional institute’s Community Planning Assistance Teams program examined the case study provided by growth management challenges in and around the city of Helena, Montana.
The Man Who Made Chicago Easy to Navigate
Edward Brennan waged an extended turn-of-the-century campaign to clean up Chicago's then-confusing address numbering system. Though few recognize his name, Brennan's legacy lives on in modern Chicago.
Op-Ed: Stop Letting Alternative Transportation Slice from the Highway Trust Fund Pie
A Congressional bill has been introduced to "provide a long term solution" to the transportation funding problem by eliminating spending on transit, biking, and local projects rather than finding funding to maintain $50 billion in annual spending.
With Planning Approval Comes New Value: How Can Communities Gain Too?
A post by CityMetric uses examples from the United Kingdom to make the case for new approaches to value capture.
Engagement Comes Before Infrastructure
London's deputy mayor for transport says E should come before I—engagement before infrastructure.
Designing The Urban Technology Landscape
Urban planners need to go beyond environment and stakeholder input, taking a stronger role in the development of new technologies to design new urban futures rather than relying on software engineers.
Latest Hotbed of High Speed Rail Opposition: San Fernando Valley
Opposition, followed by legal action to the California High-Speed Rail project began in Northern California, spread to the Central Valley, and now has hit southern California, particularly in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County.
Flooding Provides a Scare for Chicago's Two New Public Spaces
The damage could have been a lot worse, but surely flooding that temporarily closed down the Chicago Riverwalk and The 606 elevated bikeway will require additional evaluation by project planners and engineers.
Legislation to Decimate the Federal Gas Tax Resurfaces
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has reintroduced a bill to cut the federal gas tax by 80 percent and give transportation authority to states, known as devolution. Also, House Transportation Chair Bill Shuster is promoting repatriation as a funding source.
Ahead of Schedule: Detroit Wrapping Up Installation of 40,000 LED Streetlights
In perhaps the brightest sign yet of recovery, the Detroit Public Lighting Authority has made incredible progress on a project to install 40,000 LED streetlights around the city's residential neighborhoods.
Seattle Confronts Its Transportation Bottleneck
By some measures, Seattle's geography makes other cramped cities like Boston and San Francisco seem positively agoraphobic. New Transportation Director Scott Kubly has vowed to keep Seattleites moving through its many bottlenecks.
The End of the Illiana Expressway Is Nigh
According to a recent op-ed, the Illiana Expressway "was built upon faulty assumptions, and motivated largely by crony intentions."
Governing Profiles Charles Marohn's Message on Transportation Funding
An article for Governing profiles the method and message of Charles Marohn, known to Planetizen readers as the name behind the Strong Towns blog.
Michigan House Road Funding Plan B Would Rob Peter to Pay Paul
Now that voters have decisively rejected a sales tax measure that would have also hiked the gas tax, House representatives have proposed eliminating the state's Earned Income Tax Credit that benefits the working poor to help pay for roads.
Increase Gas Tax—Fund Highway Expansions
While some states are cutting back on transportation expenditures as funds run short, Iowa is not one of them, having passed a 10-cent gas tax increase that took effect March 1. New highway expansions are funded in addition to "fix it first."
The Walkable, Healthy Rural Community: A Case Study
Albert Lea, Minnesota proves that small towns can reinvent themselves—often faster than big cities—and that walkable communities aren't only possible in urban neighborhoods.
Texas Rains Haven't Solved State's Water Supply Issues
Though the number of residents in the state affected by drought dropped by the millions after recent heavy rains, areas of the state that rely on underground supplies of water could still run out of water within months.
Toronto City Council Decides to Rebuild Gardiner East Expressway
Coulda, woulda, shoulda. The Toronto City Council sided with Mayor John Tory this week to rebuild an elevated freeway in downtown rather than tearing it down.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Ada County Highway District
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
