Car culture
Basics
Why Democrats and Republicans Alike Keep Expanding Highways
A Democratic governor's controversial decision to pick up a road-widening effort where his Republican predecessor left off is sparking a conversation about why U.S. leaders across party lines keep pushing for the same old harmful highway projects.
September 11, 2023
New Ohio Law Promises to Tear Down Neighborhoods for Highways
An Ohio law would require state transportation officials to build highway interchanges every 4.5 miles — even if they have to tear down homes and businesses to do it.
August 10, 2023
How Communities Can Fight Back Against Ever-Larger Cars and Trucks
What can cities do to stem the megacar crisis while the feds drag their feet?
August 9, 2023
Less Driving Is Possible — And These US Communities Are Already Doing It
Residents of several states and cities have driven fewer miles on average in recent years than they did two decades ago. This decline suggests that Americans’ high levels of driving are not inevitable — and more communities can follow their lead.
June 15, 2023
Temp Tags Begone! After Streetsblog Investigation, Texas Eliminates Paper License Plates
Texas will eliminate temporary license plates — the paper versions of real plates that nefarious dealers and outright crooks around the country are selling to drivers to avoid speed cameras, commit other vehicular crimes or simply to keep driving if they lack insurance or a driver's license.
June 15, 2023
Opinion: Why We Should Stop Using the Word ‘Micromobility’
"SUVs, pick-up trucks, and passenger cars should not be the benchmark by which we judge the size of other forms of transit, and the term ‘micromobility’ encourages us to believe that they are."
June 12, 2023
How Auto-Centric Infrastructure Is Making Us Sick
Instead of endless promises to fix America's "crumbling roads and bridges," filmmaker Andy Boenau argues we need to talk about our crumbling minds and bodies — and how our autocentric infrastructure approach contributes to them.
June 8, 2023
The Debt Ceiling Deal Could Be Bad News For Freeway Fighters
A poison pill buried within the new debt ceiling deal would "gut" key elements of the nation's bedrock environmental law in exchange for preventing a national default, advocates warn, and could make it easier for highway-building agencies to expedite road projects that harm vulnerable communities for generations.
June 2, 2023
Opinion: Could You Go a Week Without Driving? (Yes — And Here’s Why You Should)
If you can drive and can afford a car, you probably don’t understand what it’s like to rely, day in and out, on walking, rolling, transit, or asking or paying for rides. But this is every day for non-drivers.
May 25, 2023
Two Massacres in Texas — One With a Car, One With a Gun — Reveal Two Sides of the Culture of Violence
Two eerily similar mass killings in Texas had very different coverage. One involved a gun. The other, a car.
May 10, 2023
