Streetfilms

Over the last four years, New York City has seen a transportation renaissance on its streets, striking a better balance by providing more space for walking, biking, and transit.

In this week's episode of "Moving Beyond the Automobile," Streetfilms takes you on a guided tour of past, present and future highway removal projects with John Norquist of the Congress for the New Urbanism.Some of the most well-known highway removals in America -- like New York City's West Side Highway and San Francisco's Embarcadero Freeway -- have actually been unpredictable highway collapses brought on by structural deficiencies or natural disasters. It turns out there are good reasons for not rebuilding these urban highways once they become rubble: They drain the life from the neighborhoods around them, they suck wealth and value out of the city, and they don't even move traffic that well during rush hour.

In the fifth chapter of "Moving Beyond the Automobile," we demystify the concept of congestion pricing in just five short minutes. Here you'll learn why putting a price on scarce road space makes economic sense and how it benefits many different modes of surface transportation.

The National Bike Summit, organized by the League of American Bicyclists, culminated Friday morning with a Congressional Bike Ride. This year's ride was held in support of Rep. Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords and was the largest in LAB history. At the beginning of the ride, Executive Director Andy Clarke held a moment of silence for all the victims of the Tuscon shootings and riders wore flags, pins and bracelets in their honor.

The National Bike Summit begins tomorrow, bringing together an estimated 750 cycling advocates. They'll hear from NYCDOT Chief Janette Sadik-Khan, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and they'll descend on Congress in droves, plastic bike pins fastened to their lapels, to deliver a message about safe cycling access.

In the second chapter of Streetfilms' Moving Beyond the Automobile series, we're taking a look at bicycling.

In San Francisco, the Pavement to Parks program has launched an initiative that may someday alter the way many dense U.S. cities decide to treat the streets of their commercial strips.

Washington, D.C.'s Bikestation is one of the sleeker and more fully-featured bike parking facilities that Streetfilms has ever seen. Located at Union Station, the Bikestation provides secure parking for more than a hundred bicycles, offers repair, rentals, lockers, and a changing room. Members get 24/7 access.