Recent Streetsblog USA posts about State Smart Transportation Institute

Just switching how we power our cars won't be enough to stop climate change. Photo: USGBC

Megacars and More Driving Could Cancel Out EV Gains

By Kea Wilson | Sep 29, 2021 | No Comments

Even the most realistic models of the emissions-cutting potential of electric vehicles are still underestimating how much more Americans are likely to drive and their preference for gas-powered megacars, a new study suggests.

Parking Craters Aren’t Just Ugly, They’re a Cancer on Your City’s Downtown

By Payton Chung | Apr 10, 2014 | 12 Comments

Streetsblog’s Parking Madness competition has highlighted the blight that results when large surface parking lots take over a city’s downtown. Even though Rochester, winner of 2014’s Golden Crater, certainly gains bragging rights, all of the competitors have something to worry about: Cumulatively, the past 50 years of building parking have had a debilitating effect on America’s downtowns. […]

U.S. DOT Still Has Time to Get MAP-21 Performance Measures Right

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 11, 2013 | No Comments

Many transportation reform advocates were disappointed in the performance measures included in MAP-21, which was signed into law in July 2012. They weren’t tied to funding, they gave states and localities too much leeway to set their own performance targets, and they measured the wrong things. But there’s still a chance for them to get […]

New Threat: States Robbing From Education to Pay for Highway Expansions

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 19, 2013 | 4 Comments

Last week, protesters gathered on the statehouse steps in Little Rock, Arkansas, to oppose a bill that would transfer money from the state’s general fund into its highway fund. The 100 or so protesters — mainly from the education and social services sectors — warned that the legislation would transfer $2.3 billion in revenue over 10 […]