Washington DC

Most places in the U.S. still use 20th century metrics to measure the performance of transportation systems. The emphasis is still on moving cars, not improving transit service or reducing traffic injuries. One of the exceptions is DC, where the DOT is letting people assess streets according to a different set of priorities.

Researchers have released new findings that suggest a more consistent traffic-reduction impact than previously thought.

This PSA from Montgomery County, Maryland, has got to be one of the all-time worst examples of pedestrian shaming. The young girl with tire treads across her face, it's implied, was struck and killed by a driver because she was "wearing black."

Heavy trucks kill. They account for as much as 32 percent of cyclist deaths in New York City and 58 percent in London, far out of proportion to their share of traffic. Across the U.S., 1,746 bicyclists and pedestrians have been killed in collisions with commercial trucks over the last five years.

Crossposted from City Observatory.

A new survey [PDF] by researchers at UC Berkeley and published in Access Magazine sheds light on how bike-share systems interact with transit.

While federal transit funding stagnates, the nation's largest rail and bus systems have been delaying critical maintenance projects. Without sustained efforts to fix infrastructure and vehicles, the effects of deteriorating service in big American cities could ripple across the national economy, according to a new report from the Regional Plan Association [PDF].

A year after the Washington Metro opened the Silver Line in Northern Virginia, apartment rentals are booming and development is roaring ahead. But Martin Di Caro of WAMU reported Monday that the Metro itself isn’t meeting expectations:

Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson is working on a piece about parking policy and was recently in Washington to discuss some of that city's innovations with former District DOT chief Gabe Klein. The full Streetfilm is still a work-in-progress, but Clarence put together these clips where Klein explains the city's pay-by-phone parking meter tech, which goes great with dynamic pricing, and its system for selling curb space for one-time uses like moving trucks, which cut down on fraud and looks like a smart way to prevent double-parking. Enjoy.