Infrastructure
Lessons From a Failed Anti-Highway Campaign
A decade-long campaign to stop the $2.6 billion Ohio River Bridges project in Louisville has apparently lost out to intrenched interests. With the help of the campaign's founders, Angie Schmitt examines where the popular grassroots effort went wrong.
10 Ways Cities Are Turning Back Time
It's back to the future for global cities, now that we've realized what a mess the 20th century was.
Market on Wheels Serves Chicago's Food Deserts
A nonprofit has converted a former Chicago city bus into a mobile grocery store to bring fresh food to the city's underserved neighborhoods. After stopping operations in August, the service will return with a sustainable business plan this month.
Detroit Struggles to Turn the Lights Back On
After forty years of disinvestment in public lighting, Detroit's tens of thousands of broken street and alley lights contribute to incidents of crime and traffic accidents. Can a new lighting authority grow the city's glow?
A Transportation Funding Bill Named for the Tea Party
Make that a 'defunding' bill, technically described as a devolution bill. The concept is simple: roll back the federal gas tax to 3.7 cents per gallon, shift transportation responsibility to the states and use block grants to provide federal funding.
Visionary Concepts Make "Rebuild by Design" Shortlist
10 bold ideas for building the New York area's resiliency have been selected to move to the final round of a design competition run by HUD. The best designs could tap into billions of dollars in Hurricane Sandy relief funds.
How to Turn $10 billion into $300 Billion: Create an Infrastructure Bank
It's certainly not a new idea - what's new is the current bipartisan Senate bill, cutely abbreviated as the BRIDGE Act, seeded with $10 billion of federal funds that would attract funds from the private sector to be loaned to worthy projects.
Attacks Shut Down American Power Grid ... In Massive War Game
Matthew L. Wald reports on the massive cyber war game called GridEx II that simulated a coordinated assault on America's power grid this week.
Toronto Bails Out its Bike Share System
Apparently Toronto's dysfunctional mayor hasn't stopped the rest of the city's government from functioning. With the city's bike share program facing insolvency, the city council voted to provide the Bixi-operated system with an infusion of cash.
An Argument for Eliminating Traffic Lights
For far different reasons, uncontrolled intersections are proliferating in Northern Europe and Southeast Asia. But how can they be safe? Matthew Yglesias uses a video of such an intersection in Siem Reap, Cambodia to prove their functionality.
Do London's Cyclists Deserve Blame for Spate of Recent Deaths?
Tragic collisions have claimed the lives of five London cyclists over the last nine days. Though the causes for the collisions have yet to be determined, Mayor Boris Johnson has suggested the deaths resulted from cyclists' "risky" decisions.
As Seas Rise, Can South Florida Keep its Head Above Water?
With much of its highly-developed coastline located just a few feet above sea level, Florida is highly vulnerable to global warming. But you wouldn't know that by the actions (or inaction) of state legislators and business leaders.
Expanding Cycling Infrastructure Is a Snap With Lego-Like Bike Lanes
Somewhere between the universally-despised sharrow and the rare separated cycle track sits Copenhagenize Flow, a lego-like set of tiles that allows cities to experiment with expanded bike infrastructure at low cost and low commitment.
A Bike Route Map That Harry Beck Would Be Proud Of
A "wonderfully simplified" map of San Francisco's best bicycle routes modeled on Harry Beck's revolutionary map for the London Underground aims to encourage people to saddle up through clean graphic design.
In Absence of Gas Tax Increases, States Look to Tolls
States are increasingly looking to alternative transportation revenue sources due to the failure of state and federal gas taxes to keep up with inflation and transportation needs. More states are turning toward tolling to make up the gap.
Pocketbook Power to the People: Chicago Expands Participatory Budgeting
Five years after Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood pioneered participatory budgeting in the United States, the bottom-up budgeting practice is gaining adherents across the country. Can Rogers Park's experiment find success citywide?
When Will Laws and Attitudes Catch Up With Cycling's Growth?
Cyclist deaths are rising across the U.S., but in most cities and states, drivers are rarely punished. As more people embrace cycling and more cities encourage it; it's time our laws, infrastructure, and attitudes are reformed to make cycling safer.
Philippines Devastated by Record Typhoon
Reports of horrific destruction are starting to emerge after one of the strongest storms on record slammed the Philippines over the weekend. The government estimates that 10 percent of the country has been affected.
Cyclist Deaths Spur London Mayor to Increase Protected Bike Lanes
Recent deaths along London's cycling "superhighway" have forced Mayor Boris Johnson to rethink how to protect users of the city's expanding cycling infrastructure from vehicle collisions.
Obama Renews Push for Infrastructure Spending, But Is Anyone Listening?
While President Obama's push for much-needed infrastructure investment in the face of opposition and inaction may be admirable, one must ask if his continued pleas are falling on deaf ears. Could the political winds be changing?
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.
Ada County Highway District
Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
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
