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How Much Does a Mile of Road Actually Cost?

The Federal Highway Administration has a chart full of answers to that question you might find useful.

Highways
Streets
How Much Does a Mile of Road Actually Cost?
Growth Ponzi Scheme Leaves Virginia Town With $34 Million Dilemma

The Growth Ponzi Scheme encourages city governments to take on obligations they can never hope to sustain. Purcellville, Virginia, offers a stark example of where this path leads.

Accounting
Growth Ponzi Scheme Leaves Virginia Town With $34 Million Dilemma
Why Rochester, New York, Is a Leading Example in Crash Response

After a fatal crash, Rochester citizens and officials got to work, identifying factors that contributed to the crash, updating street design policies to make streets safer, and establishing a Community Traffic Safety Team to address other dangerous factors before crashes occur.

Streets
Why Rochester, New York, Is a Leading Example in Crash Response
The Phantom Freeway That Won’t Stop Haunting Alabama

The Northern Beltline project has been haunting Alabama for over 50 years, draining money, time and energy from other more productive and desired projects. Here’s how it came about — and why it refuses to stay dead.

Highways
The Phantom Freeway That Won’t Stop Haunting Alabama
The 30-Year Mortgage Was Bad. The 40-Year Mortgage Will Be Even Worse.

The Federal Reserve just cut interest rates. Some people are celebrating the move as making housing more attainable, but it's really just reinforcing the housing trap. Need proof? Look no further than the 40-year mortgage.

Housing
The 30-Year Mortgage Was Bad. The 40-Year Mortgage Will Be Even Worse.
The Housing Market Is a Bubble Full of Fraud, and It’s Going To Pop

The U.S. is in a massive housing bubble fueled by widespread fraud. With banks incentivized to look away and Wall Street and Washington incentivized to keep housing prices artificially high, a bottom-up approach is the only hope for bringing sanity back to the housing market.

Housing
The Housing Market Is a Bubble Full of Fraud, and It’s Going To Pop
From Hang Out To Hurry: Why Starbucks Wants To Redefine “Third Place”

Starbucks built its brand on being a third place — a communal hangout that fosters communication and conversation — but in recent years, its priorities have shifted to speed of service. Now, instead of returning to its roots, the corporation is trying to redefine what a third place is.

Streets
From Hang Out To Hurry: Why Starbucks Wants To Redefine “Third Place”
How Brainerd’s New Ice Machine Exposes Community Apathy and Decline

Brainerd, Minnesota’s newest addition isn't exactly cause for celebration. Instead, this “high-tech” ice machine reveals deeper issues with public investment, community apathy and neighborhood decline that can plague cities.

Accounting
How Brainerd’s New Ice Machine Exposes Community Apathy and Decline
What Strong Towns Really Says About Infrastructure Spending

Are urban areas really more financially sustainable than suburbs? Do urban areas inherently have higher infrastructure costs? Here's what Strong Towns actually says about the Suburban Experiment and infrastructure spending.

Accounting
Highways
What Strong Towns Really Says About Infrastructure Spending
How Costco Broke Into a Surprising New Market: Modular Housing

To skip delays and debate, a California Costco added 400,000 square feet of housing to its plans — a move that unlocked a faster approval process.

Housing
How Costco Broke Into a Surprising New Market: Modular Housing
How Modern America Is Optimized for Loneliness, Misery and Poor Health

Rates of loneliness and unhappiness are on the rise in the United States, but our European counterparts don’t seem to have the same problem. Why? Part of the reason is the way our built environment isolates us.

Housing
Streets
How Modern America Is Optimized for Loneliness, Misery and Poor Health
Colorado Banned Most Occupancy Limits. Here Is Why It Matters

Housing
Colorado Banned Most Occupancy Limits. Here Is Why It Matters
City Engineers Are Unbelievably out of Touch on Parking Reform

City engineers rely on faulty logic and misrepresentations to maintain the status quo. This was made blatantly clear in a recent letter from the City Engineers Association of Minnesota (CEAM) — and it’s why a growing number of engineers are breaking from the party line to support reform. Here are CEAM’s top four arguments against parking reform and why they’re wrong.

Parking
City Engineers Are Unbelievably out of Touch on Parking Reform
75-Year-Old Houston Advocate Refuses To Surrender to Highway Expansion Project

At 75, Susan Graham didn’t expect to spend her time fighting freeways — but after nearly five years leading Stop TxDOT I-45 in Houston, she’s nowhere near done.

Highways
75-Year-Old Houston Advocate Refuses To Surrender to Highway Expansion Project
Housing Isn’t Meant to Be Affordable

As prices rise, housing affordability has become an increasingly popular topic of discussion across North America. However, in our current system, affordable housing is an oxymoron: Housing is treated as an investment, and good investments constantly increase in price. To escape this paradox, we must change the way we think about housing.

Housing
Housing Isn’t Meant to Be Affordable
Pointless Parking Mandates Almost Killed a Food Hall in Pittsburgh

When the owners of Lawrence Hall bought the abandoned building, they had a vision of reviving it into a food hall that would support small businesses and help their community thrive. They never imagined that a few parking spots would put their dream on hold for seven years.

Parking
Pointless Parking Mandates Almost Killed a Food Hall in Pittsburgh
It’s Not Just Houston That’s Broke. So Are Silicon Valley Cities.

The financial struggles of Houston and the cities of the Silicon Valley area—as well as tens of thousands of others across North America—have the same underlying cause.

Accounting
It’s Not Just Houston That’s Broke. So Are Silicon Valley Cities.
How Muskegon, MI, Is Building Hundreds of Homes on Vacant Lots

Like so many places, Muskegon, MI, has a shortage of housing and a surplus of vacant lots. That’s why it’s enacted a program that allows it to redevelop those lots into affordable housing—at a low risk to the city. 

Housing
How Muskegon, MI, Is Building Hundreds of Homes on Vacant Lots
Here’s the Real Reason Houston Is Going Broke

Houston’s fiscal problems are less critical than other major cities with large budget shortfalls—yet, their mayor is correct when he said his city is broke, that the financial approach of the city is clearly not working. Here’s why.

Accounting
Here’s the Real Reason Houston Is Going Broke
Maumee, OH, Is Taking Back Its Streets—By Removing Them

Like many U.S. towns, Maumee, OH, has a state highway that cuts through their Uptown. For decades, it’s been known as a dangerous road…but no longer: the city is taking back its streets and making them places for people, not cars.

Streets
Maumee, OH, Is Taking Back Its Streets—By Removing Them
Unpacking the Question “Can Housing Be an Investment and Affordable?”

What does it really mean to say that housing can’t be both affordable and an “investment”?

Housing
Unpacking the Question “Can Housing Be an Investment and Affordable?”
Strong Towns' Guide to the Election Year

Every four years, a small but vocal portion of our audience calls on Strong Towns to react to the politics surrounding national elections. This is our response.

Strong Towns' Guide to the Election Year
Make Safe Streets a Culture War and We All Lose

Demonizing the 91% of Americans who drive by putting them into the category of "asshole humans” is a bad and ultimately losing strategy for creating safer streets.

Streets
Make Safe Streets a Culture War and We All Lose
Who Says We Need Walkable Cities? A Former Republican Presidential Candidate.

Streets
Who Says We Need Walkable Cities? A Former Republican Presidential Candidate.

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