Counting the Costs

Rethinking car culture is easier once we more broadly measure what we’re giving up.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedMarch 26, 2024transit, transportation spending, rail, infrastructure cost

Until we have a credible plan for maintaining our existing transportation infrastructure, we must stop building more roads and bridges. Period.

Top StoryStrong TownsFebruary 15, 2024highways, highway spending, transportation, transportation spending, infrastructure, infrastructure maintenance, maintenance, freeways, freeway widening

How Transportation Funding Is Used to Manipulate Cities

You’ve just been sworn into your first elected office, and you’re committed to improving your city’s transportation network… But not so fast: not all money is free.

Top StoryBen AbramsonFebruary 2, 2024end highway expansion, safe and productive streets, transportation spending, transportation, transparent local accounting

Can Expanding Roads Solve Homelessness?

A recent advertising insert in the Winnipeg Free Press would have us believe that road expansion will solve not only homelessness, but crime and addiction, as well. Let's investigate these lofty claims.

Top StoryMichel Durand-WoodApril 26, 2023transportation spending, active transportation, transit, canada, highways, highway spending, freeway widening, economic growth, end highway expansion, homeless

The Reconnecting Communities Program Isn’t Undoing Highway Expansions—It’s Decorating Them

For some, the Reconnecting Communities Program symbolizes an auspicious reversal of values that have characterized the past 70 years of transportation planning. For others, it's business as usual.

Top StoryAsia MieleszkoMarch 23, 2023highways, freeway widening, federal funding, federal government, DOT, transportation spending, department of transportation, end highway expansion, oregon, louisiana

ODOT Proposes That Commuters Pay $600–2,200 per Year for Highway Expansion

ODOT’s expansion of I-205—and subsequent tolling—might make it so that the average household will be spending 8.7% of their household income on transportation needs.

Top StoryJoe CortrightFebruary 28, 2023highways, highway spending, transportation, transportation spending, toll roads, freeway widening, end highway expansion, oregon, infrastructure

The Largest Mistake of Our Generation

The proposed annual budget for Winnipeg, MB, reveals the true cost of the Suburban Experiment, and the vibrancy that the city (and so many others like it) has sacrificed in many of its neighborhoods.

Top StoryMichel Durand-WoodFebruary 22, 2023suburban experiment, canada, suburban development pattern, infrastructure, infrastructure maintenance, budget, finance, public finance, transportation, transportation spending, transparent local accounting, growth ponzi scheme

Cincinnati Bridge Battle Highlights Historic Highway Harms

Cincinnati activists are bringing a civil rights claim against the Ohio Department of Transportation in order to put a halt to a multibillion-dollar infrastructure boondoggle.

News, Top StoryBen AbramsonFebruary 21, 2023highways, transportation, transportation spending, race, advocacy, end highway expansion, ohio

TxDOT Chooses Highways Over Housing

The Texas Department of Transportation pushes forward with an $85 billion, decade-long plan to expand the state’s highway system, despite widespread opposition and even a federal lawsuit.

News, Top StoryAsia MieleszkoFebruary 10, 2023housing, highways, urban freeways, freeway widening, freeways, DOT, transportation, transportation spending, texas, end highway expansion

What Does $106 Million Get You in Maine? A Redundant Highway Expansion That Nobody Wants.

Maine residents want road maintenance. MaineDOT is giving them more roads.

NewsSeairra JonesNovember 8, 2022Nero Project, infrastructure, infrastructure maintenance, infrastructure cost, highways, highway spending, transportation, transportation spending, Maine, maintenance, end highway expansion

McGilchrist Still Isn’t an Improvement, but Here’s the Math

We've said it'll take 39 years for Salem, OR, to recoup the money they're spending on the McGilchrist Street “Improvement” Project, and you've asked us to provide more proof for this assertion. So, let's do the math.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnNovember 2, 2022transportation, transportation spending, traffic engineering, projections, end highway expansion, transparent local accounting, safe and productive streets, oregon, local economy

This Seattle Highway Is Facing a $29 Million Financial Crisis

State Route 99 was a long-anticipated project in Seattle, WA, but this multimillion-dollar highway expansion hasn’t recouped nearly enough money to make up for its costs.

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsOctober 27, 2022podcast, highways, highway spending, transportation, transportation spending, upzoned, washington, end highway expansion

That's Not an Improvement

Engineers who work on municipal infrastructure need to stop ubiquitously describing their projects as “improvements”—especially when the project is actually harmful, not helpful.

Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnOctober 10, 2022traffic engineering, engineers, infrastructure, infrastructure maintenance, infrastructure cost, transportation, transportation spending, freeway widening, end highway expansion, safe and productive streets

$4.7 Billion New Jersey Turnpike Expansion Ignores Local Leaders and Invites More Gridlock

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority plans to spend $4.7 billion updating and widening an eight-mile section of the turnpike, in the hopes of relieving congestion. Here’s why it’s not going to help.

Top StoryKelcie Ralph and Nicholas KleinSeptember 15, 2022highways, highway spending, freeways, freeway widening, congestion, traffic congestion, congestion pricing, local government, transportation spending, infrastructure spending, transportation, end highway expansion, new jersey

A Rough Beast Slouches Toward the Brent Spence Bridge

As local and regional politicians move forward on a $3 billion highway widening project, a local group of activists in Cincinnati are fighting for an alternative plan.

Top StoryRyan CraneAugust 22, 2022highways, freeway widening, race, infrastructure, infrastructure cult, transportation, transportation spending, end highway expansion, ohio

Don’t Pause the Gas Tax, Redirect It

Congressman Jake Auchincloss: "We don't need a gas tax holiday. We need a gas tax reset: an overhaul of how we approach transportation funding.”

Top StoryCongressman Jake AuchinclossJuly 25, 2022Congress, walkability, federal government, federal transportation bill, transportation, transportation spending, gas tax, development, development pattern, suburban experiment, transit, infrastructure

TxDOT Proposes to Dig a $1 Billion Infrastructure Grave in Downtown Dallas

For years now, TxDOT has considered removing Interstate 345 in downtown Dallas…only to conclude their study by coming up with a much worse plan.

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsJuly 6, 2022podcast, infrastructure, transportation, transportation spending, highways, freeways, freeway removal, urban freeways, DOT, upzoned, texas

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Transit Edition)

Don’t be fooled: Winnipeg’s newly proposed “rapid transit” project is actually a road-widening project in disguise. And it aims to borrow money so the City can destroy millions of dollars of its own tax base.