Monday’s Headlines Are Going for a Walk

  • People want to live in walkable neighborhoods so badly that they’ll pay a 35 percent premium to buy property and 41 percent more to rent. That’s because walkable neighborhoods are so scarce. (Slate)
  • The U.S. DOT’s new “Safe Streets and Roads for All” grant program will fund Vision Zero plans in places where more than half of Americans live. (Streetsblog USA)
  • With stimulus funds running out and ridership still down from before the pandemic, transit agencies that rely on fares are struggling more than those that don’t. (Smart Cities Dive)
  • Lyft is coming out with a new generation of docked e-scooters. (Tech Crunch)
  • Utah Transit will be fare-free for 10 days centering around the NBA All-Star Game Feb. 19, and Gov. Spencer Cox is proposing $25 million in funding for a year-long fare-free pilot program. (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • Oregon developers are building more homes now that the state has eased regulations requiring a certain amount of parking. (Sightline)
  • Iowa is taxing kilowatt-hours to replace road maintenance funds lost as gas tax revenue declines. (Grist)
  • Las Vegas adopted a Vision Zero plan aiming to eliminate pedestrian deaths by 2050. (3 News)
  • Charlotte is looking to Jersey City, which successfully eliminated traffic deaths last year, as inspiration for its Vision Zero program. (WCNC)
  • Supporters of rail on the Atlanta Beltline are firing back after a Georgia Tech professor penned a column poo-pooing the idea (Urbanize Atlanta). Meanwhile, Mayor Andre Dickens says he supports extending the streetcar to the Beltline, but isn’t taking a stance on the Clifton Corridor light rail vs. bus rapid transit debate (AJC).
  • Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is offering to pay for two-thirds of city employees’ transit passes. (Herald)
  • Houston Chronicle readers submit their nominations for the city’s worst sidewalks.
  • Yes, The Federalist, we are coming for your big, scary, polluting, dangerous trucks.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Study: Kids Who Live in Walkable Neighborhoods Get More Exercise

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A study published this month in the American Journal of Preventive Health finds that children who live in walkable places — “smart growth neighborhoods,” to use the authors’ phrase — get significantly more exercise than their peers who live in suburban environments designed for driving. Researchers from UC Berkeley monitored the activity of 59 children […]

Housing Market Study: Idahoans Demanding Walkable Urbanism

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People in Idaho, Montana, and Colorado want to live in walkable places. That’s the finding of a recent housing market study by Sonoran Institute, a group that supports conservation and community development in the American West. The institute examined thousands of home sales around six cities in those three states since 2009. Only about 16 […]
Image: Complete Streets, CC

The Real Reason Red America Loves Cars

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Republican-leaning voters may be more likely than Democrats to trade a walkable community for a large home, a new poll finds — but that result may say more about car culture's stranglehold on the American imagination than how either group really wants to live.

USA Today: Homebuilders Pass On Garages, Build Front Porches

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USA Today reported today that more and more homes are being built without garages or carports. That stands to reason, as developers are (belatedly) building what the market wants: denser housing in walkable urban centers near transit. Copious parking and driveway curb cuts simply don’t mesh with that model. At the peak of the housing […]