Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Parking

The Long, Painful History of Terrible Parking Policy in One 71-Second Cartoon

If you haven't been keeping up with Sightline Institute's excellent series on the scourge of parking minimums, you've been missing out. They've posted 11 readable and informative articles on the subject. From here, Sightline is pivoting from problems to solutions, and we'll be sharing their next few posts on Streetsblog, as well as re-posting some of the most revelatory moments from their series so far.

Here's a quick way to get caught up: 71 seconds of cartoon-watching to understand how such bad decisions get made. It's the depressingly simple story of how the Institute of Transportation Engineers' hugely influential "Parking Generation" manual came to cover our country with parking.

If you'd like to take the long way, you can also read roughly the same story in just 1,025 words in the eighth installment of the "Parking? Lots!" series.

Enjoy!

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Friday’s Headlines Are Over ICE

Traffic safety and transportation funding continue to get tangled up in immigration enforcement under Trump.

February 20, 2026

Talking Headways Podcast: Women Changing Cities

Chris and Melissa Bruntlett on their new book and the mobility of care work and the unpaid labor that undergirds the economy.

February 19, 2026

Thursday’s Headlines Walk Hard

Where you live probably has a lot to do with how much you walk.

February 19, 2026

When The Suburbs Want To Opt Out of Funding Regional Transit

A messy transit funding fight in Dallas may have reached a pause — but some advocates fear the détente won't hold.

February 19, 2026

Proposed E-Bike Legislation That Includes Mandatory License Plates Panned by California Safety Advocates

"I think everyone agrees there's a safety issue with motorized bikes and modified e-bikes being treated as bicycles, but based on early reviews this legislation won't solve those problems."

February 18, 2026
See all posts