Streetsblog

Last month, a hit-and-run driver struck and killed Matthew von Ohlen while he was riding in the Grand Street bike lane in Williamsburg. Tomorrow night at a special meeting of Brooklyn Community Board 1, von Ohlen's friends and family will ask DOT to explore upgrading Grand Street to a protected lane.

The National Transportation Safety Board is best known for investigating train crashes and plane crashes to figure out what went wrong.

Ten years ago, Mark Gorton, Aaron Naparstek, and Clarence Eckerson started a new media venture -- Streetsblog and Streetfilms. The idea was to show that cities work best when streets are designed for people, not cars, and to press public officials to bring street design and transportation policy into the 21st century. No one had seen anything quite like it before, and looking at how much has changed since 2006, the impact is undeniable.

What can a Google Maps visual teach us about the cities we live in?

What a fiasco. Six years after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie killed the ARC transit tunnel under the Hudson so he could avoid raising the gas tax, the jig is up. The state has run out of transportation funding anyway.

The way we move around is shaped by many factors -- the physical environment, culture, technology, and economic status, to name a few. A new report from the engineering firm Arup, "Cities Alive: Towards a Walking World," looks at how motorized cities can become walkable again.

More cities should copy this idea for their park-and-ride transit stations: At DC Metro's King Street station in Old Town Alexandria, plans are underway to turn parking spots into a pedestrian plaza. This goes against the grain of typical transit agency practice. Despite the fact that park-and-rides are an inefficient use of scarce land, a recent survey by researchers Lisa Jacobson and Rachel Weinberger found that most agencies are looking to expand them.

What a sad state of affairs for transit in the nation's capital.

A new study out of Toronto confirms what cyclists in many U.S. cities have found out the hard way: Streetcar tracks can be a serious safety hazard.