Livable Streets
Basics
Transportation Leaders Demand Safer Crossings
More and more roads have protected bike lanes — but intersections are where the rubber (and sometimes pedestrians and cyclists) hits the road.
May 21, 2019
How To Fix A Fork (In The Road)
Streets that fork at non-right angles create complicated intersections with dangerous sight lines and signals with too many phases. Here's an innovative fix.
February 1, 2019
Engineers to Pedestrians: No ‘Walk’ Signs for You!
The traffic engineering profession says intersections with no "Walk" signal are a-okay. Even as pedestrian deaths soar.
January 11, 2019
Ford to Citizens: Don’t Drop Dead
Automaker says high-tech gizmos in new cars will save lives — but no one really believes that.
January 9, 2019
Check Out What Seattle Did with a Dead-End Street
Basketball anyone? One of the highlights from Seattle's Pavement to Parks program.
January 4, 2019
For a More Walkable City, Enlist the Fire Chief
Rewrite the fire chief’s mandate to optimize public safety, not response times, says Jeff Speck in his new book, "Walkable City Rules."
November 12, 2018
Urban Designers Take a Do-It-Yourself Approach to Taming Houston’s Extra-Wide Streets
Impatient at the slow rate of change on Houston's streets, advocates and urban designers took it upon themselves to tame some of their city's wide roads -- and are promising to come back for a second round soon.
June 1, 2017
Two-Week Pilot Lets Columbus, Georgia, Test Road Diet as Part of Bigger Plan
A pilot project in Columbus, Georgia, is the latest chapter in an effort to improve walking, bicycling, and public space in this city along the Alabama border.
May 9, 2017
Study: High-Traffic Arterial Roads Reduce Quality of Life, Even Blocks Away
Seminal research by Donald Appleyard in the 1970s found the volume of traffic on a street affects quality of life for residents in profound and unexpected ways. For example, the amount of social contact people had with their neighbors was curtailed for those who lived on high traffic streets compared with those living on quieter streets. People even defined their "home area" much more narrowly if they lived on a busy road.
August 16, 2016
Photographic Proof That America Can Make Streets for People Instead of Cars
Need some inspiration to make your city's streets safer and more inviting?
April 6, 2016