Federal Highway Administration
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Feds Propose Major Rule Changes to Eliminate Barriers to Safer Streets
Applying highway design standards to city streets has been a disaster for urban neighborhoods. The same things that make highways safer for driving at 65 mph -- wide lanes, "clear zones" running alongside the road that have no trees or other "obstacles" -- make surface streets dangerous and dreadful for walking, killing street life.
October 8, 2015
Feds to Traffic Engineers: Use Our Money to Build Protected Bike Lanes
The Federal Highway Administration wants to clear the air: Yes, state and local transportation agencies should use federal money to construct high-quality biking and walking infrastructure.
August 24, 2015
FHWA Gleefully Reports That Driving Is Rising Again
After flatlining for nearly a decade, the mileage driven by Americans is rising once again. That means more traffic overwhelming city streets, slowing down buses, and spewing pollutants into the air. But to the Federal Highway Administration, it's a development to report with barely contained glee.
August 21, 2015
New Federal Guide Will Show More Cities the Way on Protected Bike Lanes
Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities build better bike lanes to create low-stress streets.
May 20, 2015
FHWA Will Help Cities Get Serious About Measuring Biking and Walking
The lack of good data on walking and biking is a big problem. Advocates say current metrics yield a spotty and incomplete picture of how much, where, and why Americans walk and bike. The U.S. Census only tells us about commuting -- a fairly small share of total trips. The more detailed National Household Transportation Survey comes with its own drawbacks: It's conducted infrequently and doesn't provide useful data at a local scale.
April 15, 2015
The American Highway Safety Establishment Warms Up Some Leftovers
A group of heavy hitters in the road building and traffic safety establishment recently came out with a plan called "Toward Zero Deaths" [PDF], presented as an ambitious strategy to cut traffic fatalities in America. But don't get too excited by the branding -- the ideas inside don't present much of a challenge to practices that have made the U.S. a shameful laggard on traffic safety compared to other affluent nations.
March 20, 2015
The Feds Quietly Acknowledge the Driving Boom Is Over
The Federal Highway Administration has very quietly acknowledged that the driving boom is over.
January 7, 2015
Documentary to Explore Racial Discrimination in Transportation Planning
Beavercreek, Ohio, nabbed its own infamous place in civil rights history last year, when the Federal Highway Administration ruled that the suburb had violated anti-discrimination laws by blocking bus service from nearby Dayton.
October 29, 2014
U.S. DOT Releases New Guidance to Make Streets Safe for Cycling
Last month in Pittsburgh, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx unveiled a new federal initiative aimed at reducing pedestrian and cyclist fatalities. Despite declining overall traffic fatalities, people walking and biking are being killed more often on American streets, a disturbing trend that U.S. DOT wants to reverse.
October 10, 2014
U.S. DOT to Publish Its Own Manual on Protected Bike Lanes
Before the end of this year, the Federal Highway Administration will release its own guidance on designing protected bike lanes.
September 23, 2014