Issues and Insights
This page provides links to recent articles, reports and announcements relating to transportation policy, legislation and research. The entries are drawn from a wide range of sources, including national newspapers, magazines and websites. If you come across interesting transportation reading that might deserve posting here, let us know at [email protected]
Lawmakers to allow NYC to lower speed limit to 20 mph
Gothamist, April 18, 2024 - The deal will not allow the city to lower the speed limits on roads with three or more lanes of traffic heading in one direction, a caveat that was designed to get city-based members of the Legislature on board with the deal. The City Council as well as Mayor Eric Adams would still need to sign off on the change.
NYC’s New Office of Livable Streets Aims To Make Streets Safer, Greener and More Habitable
Next City, April 16, 2024 - The Office of Livable Streets is working to accommodate the cycling boom — both the increase in people choosing to bike commute, but also the increase in e-bikes and e-cargo bikes used for delivery, including new safety standards for e-cargo bikes, charging stations and bike storage for e-bike delivery workers and projects in 2024 to widen bike lanes.
An Ode to the Northeast Corridor, the Rail Line That Keeps Amtrak Alive
CityLab Transportation, April 12, 2024 - In his new book, David Alff employs a historical perspective to explain how trains became essential, if frustrating, fixtures of the bustling metropolises from the Mid-Atlantic to New England. He delves into the political decision-making and compromises that made the corridor what it now is and considers how transformative planned upgrades could be.
Mega drive-throughs explain everything wrong with American cities
Vox, April 9, 2024 - “Drive-throughs have been around a long time,” Charles Marohn, a former traffic engineer and well-known critic of America’s car-dependent urban planning, told me. Today, he said, “they’re becoming bigger and more obnoxious.”That trend conflicts with a key objective that US cities are increasingly prioritizing: creating a safer, cleaner, walkable, livable urban environment that’s less dependent on cars.
New Houston mayor reverses course on bike, pedestrian improvements
Route Fifty, April 10, 2024 - Since taking office in January, the mayor ordered the removal of medians that served as pedestrian islands along one major thoroughfare. He halted construction and planning on other bike- and pedestrian-friendly improvements throughout the city.
Sometimes, to Make an Electric Car Better, You’ve Got to Make It a Little Worse
The New York Times, April 8, 2024 - We’re at an inflection point in electric-car optimism. Over the past few years, as electric vehicle sales increased substantially and car companies announced an onslaught of new battery-powered models, it seemed that electric cars were a near-term inevitability. But for all the heady promise, E.V. enthusiasm seems to be cooling.