Livable Streets

Workers on a DOT truck reconfigured a traffic signal in front of P.S. 200 in Queens on Friday.

Enjoy the long weekend and recharge your batteries. If you're working to make New York a more livable city, it's going to be a busy Fall. May these photos from Utrecht, Holland inspire you...

The mother and grandfather of James Rice.

More on the Vélib Project: this video shows the bicycles in action during the opening week. The Vélib was an instant success with Parisians clocking one million rides by the end of week two.

A Streetsblog reader brings us an update on the case of the cyclist killed last December in the Central Park Transverse, through information obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request.

Yesterday afternoon the Dept. of Transportation launched a new and improved web site loaded with features designed to make information more available to the public. Now you can use the DOT's site not only to watch traffic cams and sign up for e-news updates, but also to request different types of permits, report potholes, file complaints about newsracks, report damaged bicycle racks (and our favorite, request bicycle racks).

Transportation Alternatives has teamed up with cycling advocates from Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle to issue the Urban Transportation Report Card (PDF), which rates these cities' progress on greening their transportation systems. The report notes that transportation accounts for 20-60% of carbon emissions in major U.S. cities, so it is very encouraging that in each city the most significant growth occurred in bicycling, with Chicago registering an 80% increase in cyclists from 1990-2000.