Cities and Countries

Seattle started installing traffic circles in the early 1970s, and now there are more than 1,200 throughout the city.

Ted Wheeler, the mayor of Portland, came out swinging last week against residents who are trying to stop a $450 million widening of I-5 in the Rose Quarter.

L.A. is becoming more compact, but its built environment is still more conducive to driving than to walking and transit.

Sometimes, when a city builds a really good bike lane - especially an American city - you have to sit back and appreciate it.

If the city's helmet law kills bike-share -- again -- public safety will suffer.

In the last 50 years, nearly every state agency that used to call itself the "highway department" has changed its name to the "department of transportation" to reflect a purported change in mission. But in practice, many state DOTs still operate strictly as highway departments.

It makes perfect sense to provide bulk transit passes, which often lead to higher ridership. But these fare structures pose a problem for people who aren't in a position to scrape together the cash for a pass and pay for a whole month of transit rides one fare at a time. They may end up paying more than wealthier riders for the same amount of service, even though they can least afford it. Now Portland's transit agencies -- Trimet, C-Tran, and the city's streetcars -- are showing the way to a fairer system.

Stopping a highway project is never easy. It's even harder when the highway is in a city like Dallas. And yet this week, the Dallas City Council pulled the plug on the $1.7 billion Trinity Toll Road in a 13-2 vote. A key figure in the highway revolt is Council Member Angela Hunt.

High school students haven’t gotten much attention as potential bike-share users, but they should.