Why Is It So Difficult To Build Walkable Places?

A recent report from Smart Growth America highlights the extent to which zoning laws (in a staggering percentage of U.S. communities) stifle our ability to create walkable, human-centered places.

Incremental Housing, Safe & Productive Streets, Walkability, Top StoryBen AbramsonFebruary 14, 2023zoning, walkability, Safe and Productive Streets, Incremental Housing, Smart Growth America, urbanism, suburban experiment, Development

How Street Design Shapes the Epidemic of Preventable Pedestrian Fatalities

What do we mean when we say that street design is a large factor responsible for traffic deaths?

#SlowtheCars, Roads and Streets, Top StorySteve DavisJuly 18, 2022Safety, Pedestrian Safety, pedestrian safety, public safety, Public Safety, Safe and Productive Streets, Street Design, streets, #SlowTheCars, Smart Growth America, design, forgiving design, STROADS

Reckless Road Design is Killing Us, Not Reckless Drivers

An epidemic of roadway deaths aren’t caused by random rule breakers. The cause is the rule followers. It’s time to change the rules mandating speed and volume over safety and cost.

Pedestrian Deaths Are Up 45% in the Last Decade. When Is Enough Enough?

America is in the midst of an unrelenting crisis. And it’s happening on our roadways.

#SlowtheCars, Roads and Streets, Top Story 2, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesMarch 12, 2021Pedestrian Safety, pedestrian safety, Florida, Smart Growth America, #SlowTheCars, STROADS

6 Reasons Your City Needs a Form-Based Code

Your city's zoning code is like the DNA of your community. For most North American cities, that DNA is broken. Here are six reasons form-based code can help put our towns and cities back together again.

Zoning, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesJune 8, 2020zoning, Smart Growth America, Form-Based Code

Call "Time Out" on Highway Boondoggles

The work of teeing up the next generation of boondoggle highway projects doesn’t stop—not even for a global pandemic.

Top Story, Transportation, InfrastructureTony DutzikApril 21, 2020frontier group, highways, highway spending, Smart Growth America, Infrastructure, infrastructure bill

The Congestion Con: How Bad Land Use and Transportation Decisions Go Hand-in-Hand

The way we design our cities guarantees a flood of congestion. And then we pour billions of dollars into highway expansion, only to worsen the problem we created in the first place.

Transportation, Top StoryStephen Lee DavisMarch 6, 2020congestion, traffic congestion, freeway widening, T4A, Transportation For America, Smart Growth America, infrastructure spending, traffic engineering

Best of 2019: #NoNewRoads Gains Traction in D.C.

Until America gets its infrastructure priorities straight, the last thing we need is to pump more spending into a broken system. 2019 felt like a breakthrough year for our call for #NoNewRoads, one in which we had more influential allies and receptive ears on this point than ever before.

Best of Blog, #InfrastructureCrisis, #NoNewRoads, The Infrastructure Cult, Transportation, Top StoryStrong TownsDecember 17, 2019Best of 2019, transportation spending, Infrastructure, infrastructure cult, Transportation For America, Smart Growth America, #NoNewRoads

Slip Lanes Would Never Exist if We Prioritized Safety Over Speed

Slip lanes are the quintessential embodiment of what happens when speed is the #1 priority and safety becomes secondary. They are incredibly dangerous for pedestrians. Yet states and communities keep building them. Why?

#SlowtheCars, Urban Design, WalkabilityStephen Lee DavisNovember 5, 2019pedestrian safety, Smart Growth America, Transportation For America, speed, Safety, Street Design, walkability

The National Association of Realtors Says #DoTheMath

The latest issue of the National Association of Realtors biannual magazine, On Common Ground, is devoted to the financial implications of growth and land-use decisions. And Strong Towns thinking features front and center.

Success Story, #DotheMath, Top StoryStrong TownsJune 13, 2019Smart Growth America, real estate, media feature

America's Infrastructure Priorities Need Repair

States have been neglecting basic road repairs in favor of costly road expansion. Yet the problem is still misleadingly framed by some as primarily about not having enough money.

#InfrastructureCrisis, #DotheMath, The Infrastructure Cult, Top StoryStephen Lee DavisMay 14, 2019Infrastructure Week, Smart Growth America, federal transportation bill, Transportation For America, highway spending

Why State DOTs Keep Making the Same Mistakes... and How to Break That Cycle

State transportation departments are often maddeningly resistant to change, and can be the biggest obstacle facing safe-streets advocates. A new article series from Smart Growth America digs deep into what has to happen—and is happening—to reform these agencies from the inside.

Top Story, Transportation, Roads and StreetsDaniel HerrigesMarch 28, 2019Smart Growth America, DOT, impact

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