The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Detroit Streetcar

How Detroit's QLine Streetcar Got Off Track

The QLine could ride its own dedicated lane and serve a real need for commuters. Instead, it's a slow circulator for a small part of downtown.

March 19 - Streetsblog USA

California's Aging Population Getting Into More Traffic Collisions

New data from transportation research group TRIP, shows that fatalities involving at least one driver over 65 years old are up 22% in California.

March 19 - SCPR

Crumbling Infrastructure

Looking Beyond the Obvious in Florida Pedestrian Bridge Collapse

The National Transportation Safety Board is looking for the cause of the horrific collapse of the Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapse on March 15, killing six. people. Angie Schmitt questions why a ped span was needed at all.

March 19 - Streetsblog USA

Kid on Train

BLOG POST

The Moral Foundations of Public Support For Environmentalism and Public Transit

Why do green transportation policies attract less intense support than environmentalist policies related to waste and litter?

March 19 - Michael Lewyn

Hate Groups in the U.S. Are Both 'Concentrated and Considerably Spread Out'

A new study shows that these groups exist in around 10 percent of counties, and those counties are scattered across all 50 states.

March 19 - CityLab


Orlando Experiments With Temporary Road Diets

Beginning this month, Orlando officials will temporarily test a half-mile road diet concept along Curry Ford Road. This tactical urbanism project is expected to last 4 weeks.

March 18 - Modern Cities

EPA Loses Court Ruling After Failing to Identify Smog Nonattainment Regions

As a result of a federal court ruling on March 12, the Environmental Protection Administration will be compelled to do what it should have done by October 1: Identify regions of the country where the air quality violates smog standards.

March 18 - CALmatters


WIldlife

Why Did the Mountain Lion Cross the Road?

It doesn't matter why—but how is pretty important.

March 18 - Los Angeles Times

Shasta Lake

Why Are the Feds Suddenly in Favor of Raising the Shasta Dam?

Despite state opposition and potential violations of California law, the Trump Administration has revived a project that was deemed impracticable only a few years ago.

March 18 - Los Angeles Times

Can Electric Scooters Solve 'First-Mile, Last-Mile' Problem?

Countless ideas have been proposed to bridge the first-mile, last-mile gap: bike share, dockless bike share, ride-hailing services, circulator buses, trolleys, and, of course, good old-fashioned feet. The newest entrant: electric scooters.

March 18 - California Planning & Development Report

New Pedestrian Bridge in Miami Collapses on Thursday, Killing at Least Six

A span built to remove the danger of crossing a busy eight-lane roadway to Florida International University became the danger itself when it collapsed five days after being dropped into place using innovative bridge-building techniques.

March 17 - Miami Herald

Park Fountain

Where Population Declines but the Economy Grows

While the scale of Detroit's population loss is well known, the lesser known that the city's economy has grown steadily in recent decades. It's not alone.

March 17 - StatChat

Clermont County, Ohio

Celebrating the 'Greenspace Gems' in the Cincinnati Region

An advocacy organization in the Tri-State area (Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana) is raising awareness about the region's 116,000 acres of preserved greenspace.

March 17 - Cincinnati Business Courier

Fence

New Mexico Made Streams and Rivers Private Property

And now those property owners are putting barbed wire over the river to keep out "trespassers."

March 17 - The Guardian

Uptown Oakland

Census Projections: U.S. Will Become 'Majority Minority' in 2045

William H. Frey reports that new Census projections have the United States becoming "minority white" in 2045.

March 17 - Brookings

Friday Funny: A YIMBY Smackdown

This is a strange one.

March 16 - YouTube

Olympia, Washington

Washington State Passes a Package of Transportation Bills

Importantly, the Washington State Legislature also left a few bills on the cutting room floor.

March 16 - The Urbanist

Traffic Jam

Navigation Apps Might Hurt Traffic Congestion More Than Help

Raise your hand if you envisioned a transportation network optimized to full efficiency by navigation apps.

March 16 - CityLab

Des Moines Mega-Development Likened to a 'City Within a City'

New details of an ambitious infill project in Des Moines were released at the end of 2017.

March 16 - Des Moines Register

Congress Asks that USGS Nominee 'Protect the Scientists'

After recent resignations, there's a new part of the job description: "maintain a sort of firewall between their scientific work and any political agendas."

March 16 - Pacific Standard

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