The agency's recommendations are based on a new method of cost-benefit analysis that includes equity and environmental sustainability as key measures.

The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) is preparing to reject three proposals "to build new or enhanced highway interchanges" in the region, reports Steven Litt for Cleveland.com. The agency's recommendations "include turning down new full interchanges proposed at I-71 and Route 57 in Medina, I-71, and Boston Road in Strongsville, and I-271 and White Road in Northeast Cuyahoga County."
"The interchange recommendations are the first to be based on a detailed new method of cost-benefit analysis approved by the agency’s board in December." In addition to "traditional measures such as the local cost of traffic congestion, safety, and air pollution," the new method "also looks for the first time at issues such as racial and economic equity and environmental sustainability across the entire region."
"Among other things, the agency wants to create a clearer public understanding of how new interchanges could add to a decades-old, zero-sum pattern in which new points of access to interstate highways can spur local development that moves jobs, tax base, and investment from older communities to newer ones."
"For far too long, policies have favored sprawl and increased vehicle miles traveled. The legacy of past policies have had negative implications for our environment and have negatively impacted vulnerable communities," Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's office said in a statement. "we must ensure our infrastructure investments support diversity in transportation options, [and] do not contribute to sprawl, and that we are reversing the implications of climate change."
FULL STORY: NOACA ready to say ‘no’ to three new suburban highway interchanges based on detailed cost-benefit analysis

Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?

Americans May Be Stuck — But Why?
Americans are moving a lot less than they once did, and that is a problem. While Yoni Applebaum, in his highly-publicized article Stuck, gets the reasons badly wrong, it's still important to ask: why are we moving so much less than before?

Using Old Oil and Gas Wells for Green Energy Storage
Penn State researchers have found that repurposing abandoned oil and gas wells for geothermal-assisted compressed-air energy storage can boost efficiency, reduce environmental risks, and support clean energy and job transitions.

HHS Staff Cuts Gut Energy Assistance Program
The full staff of a federal program that distributes heating and cooling assistance for low-income families was laid off, jeopardizing the program’s operations.

San Antonio Remains Affordable as City Grows
The city’s active efforts to keep housing costs down through housing reforms and coordinated efforts among city agencies and developers have kept it one of the most affordable in the nation despite its rapid population growth.

What Forest Service Cuts Mean for Cities
U.S. Forest Service employees work on projects that have impacts far beyond remote, rural wilderness areas.
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
City of Moreno Valley
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
City of Cambridge, Maryland