Advocates in New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle are pushing for more transit and pedestrian priority, and less car-centric streets, as a wave of high-profile projects capture national attention.
After the New York City Department of Transportation converted a section of 14th Street in Manhattan to a pedestrian-friendly, bus prioritizing, car-lite complete street, advocates in the city started pushing for more of the same on other corridors in the city. A few days later, New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg was on the record saying the pilot project could provide a template for more busways. An article by Kevin Duggan in the Brooklyn Paper offers a few suggestions.
In San Francisco, the same day the city approved a plan to block cars from Market Street to prioritize transit and pedestrians, county supervisors were going on the record with their willingness to study the concept for more streets in the city. Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez reports the responses of all 11 supervisors to the idea.
Finally, in Seattle, the city has been flying under the radar a little bit because it's been stopping short of blocking cars from streets, but the city has built out a wave of bus-only lanes, with fresh paint to demarcate the bus priority lanes, around the city. Doug Trumm write to recommend the next nine potential routes that could benefit from the same treatment.
FULL STORY: Transit advocates ID likely candidates for Brooklyn ‘busway’
Watch the Miracle on 14th Street in Action
The changes to 14th Street in Manhattan have proven innovative ideas about bus priority and congestion relief.
Miracle on 14th Street
Predictions of carmageddon have not come to pass after New York City blocked most car traffic of a section of 14th Street in Manhattan to make way for buses.
The Radical Remaking of a New York Street Launches This Week
The 14th Street Busway will make its debut on Thursday of this week. Cars will be prohibited from the street and buses will gain newfound freedom, in a model that duplicates other efforts in Europe and Canada.
Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”
Study: Maui’s Plan to Convert Vacation Rentals to Long-Term Housing Could Cause Nearly $1 Billion Economic Loss
The plan would reduce visitor accommodation by 25% resulting in 1,900 jobs lost.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Waymo Gets Permission to Map SF’s Market Street
If allowed to operate on the traffic-restricted street, Waymo’s autonomous taxis would have a leg up over ride-hailing competitors — and counter the city’s efforts to grow bike and pedestrian on the thoroughfare.
Parklet Symposium Highlights the Success of Shared Spaces
Parklets got a boost during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the concept was translated to outdoor dining programs that offered restaurants a lifeline during the shutdown.
Federal Homelessness Agency Places Entire Staff on Leave
The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness is the only federal agency dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness.
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.
_24_-_Fifth_Avenue_Bus_Lane.jpg){kind=link}
Caltrans
Smith Gee Studio
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