When we hand our whole transportation system to engineers, we shouldn’t be surprised that the values of their profession override the values of the public. It’s time for a new paradigm.

#SlowtheCars, Member Post, Transportation, Top StoryMichel Durand-WoodMarch 4, 2022transportation, public transportation, engineers, engineering profession, traffic engineering, canada, Canada, Winnipeg, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, #SlowTheCars

How Traffic Engineers Can Finally Tame Stroads

This engineer offers a strategy for slowing down cars that could be a bridge between what communities want and what engineers want.

#SlowtheCars, Engineering Profession, Roads and Streets, Strategies, Transportation, Top StoryMike BrownFebruary 15, 2022traffic engineering, engineers, engineering profession, Pedestrian Safety, pedestrian safety, STROADS, streets, Street Design, Brainerd MN, #SlowTheCars

Why Do We Have to Handle 30,000 Trips per Day?

When engineers say a street must accommodate a high volume of traffic, what they really mean is, "The design of this street must prioritize the convenience of commuters over all else."

Let Main Streets Be Main Streets

A community should determine what kind of community it wants to be, not unelected DOT engineers.

The Bottom-Up Revolution Is...an Interdisciplinary and Incremental Leader

Andrea Marr is an engineer, a Strong Towns member, and the mayor pro tem for Costa Mesa, CA.

Podcast, The Bottom-Up Revolution, Success Story, Engineering Profession, Local Government, Top StoryStrong TownsJanuary 13, 2022The Bottom-Up Revolution, taking action, California, engineering profession, city council

An Update on Our Lawsuit Against the Minnesota Board of Engineering Licensure

The most frequent request we’re getting these days is for a status update on our lawsuit with the Minnesota board of licensure. Here are the answers we can give you, for now.

Announcement, Engineering Profession, Engineering Reform, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnDecember 1, 2021engineering ethics, engineers, engineering profession, announcement

Which Wins Out: An Engineer's Discretion or a Book of Standards?

Chuck holds a Q&A session with Confessions of a Recovering Engineer readers.

Confessions Book, Engineering Profession, Podcast, Transportation, Top Story, ST PodcastStrong TownsNovember 29, 2021Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, confessions book, transportation, engineering profession, engineers, engineering ethics

My Journey from Free Market Ideologue to Strong Towns Advocate, Revisited

I’ve had to reconcile my foundational belief in markets with my experiences working with cities. This has been a painful process.

Marohn, #InfrastructureCrisis, Engineering Profession, Infrastructure, Local Government, Top StoryCharles MarohnOctober 25, 2021Market Urbanism, Local Government Aid, infrastructure cost, Minnesota, small towns, Infrastructure, infrastructure, engineers, engineering profession, local gov

Designing Streets with the Human Mind in Mind

Humans are messy, complicated, and unpredictable: why doesn’t our street design account for that?

Engineering Profession, Pattison, Walkability, #SlowtheCars, Top StoryJohn PattisonOctober 14, 2021pedestrian safety, pedestrians, pedestrian crossing, #SlowTheCars, Springfield, risk, engineering profession, traffic engineering

Other Engineers Make Their Confessions

Today we share some of the confessions we’ve received from readers both involved in and victimized by America’s broken transportation system.

Engineering Profession, Confessions Book, Top StoryStrong TownsOctober 1, 2021Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, confessions book, engineering profession, engineers, traffic engineering

Engineers Should Not Design Streets: A Programmer's Take

Software engineers don’t design user interface, so why do we let civil engineers design streets?

Confessions of (Another) Recovering Engineer

Fellow “recovering” engineer Kevin Shepherd offers his confessions: “Looking back now, I can say that many projects I designed actually hurt people and their communities.”

Member Post, Confessions Book, Engineering Profession, Planning Profession, Suburban Experiment, Transportation, Top StoryKevin ShepherdSeptember 20, 2021engineering profession, engineering ethics, traffic engineering, engineers, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, confessions book, member story

Are Traffic Engineers Sociopaths?

Why is it that traffic engineers seem to value the flow of cars over human lives and safety? Are they just sociopaths?

Learning from Biology, Not Physics

In general, engineers treat cities like a physics problem, but what we need is engineers who are able to humbly grasp the overwhelming complexity of human habitat and work.

Confessions Book, Engineering Profession, Marohn, Transportation, Top StoryCharles MarohnSeptember 10, 2021engineering profession, engineering ethics, engineers, leadership, confessions book, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, confessions excerpt

"Improvements"

So many engineering projects are formally called "improvements." The subtle bias of this language provides a glimpse at the values embedded within the profession.

All Traffic Models Are Wrong

Traffic engineers use projections of future traffic to make recommendations and decisions on transportation investments… The problem is, those projections are all wrong.

#InfrastructureCrisis, #NoNewRoads, Confessions Book, Engineering Profession, Infrastructure, Marohn, Transportation, Top StoryCharles MarohnSeptember 7, 2021traffic projections, traffic engineering, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, confessions book, engineering profession, Infrastructure, confessions excerpt

We Need a New Conventional Wisdom About Streets

We're at a tipping point in how we design and think about our public streets. And things can tip the right way, once we confront the bankrupt ideology guiding our transportation system.

#SlowtheCars, Engineering Profession, Herriges, Confessions Book, Roads and Streets, Transportation, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesSeptember 7, 2021Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, confessions book, STROADS, planning profession, engineers, engineering profession, traffic engineering, #SlowTheCars

The Hidden Values Behind Our Unsafe Streets

Chuck Marohn reads an excerpt from the first chapter of Confessions of a Recovering Engineer.

Just Another Pedestrian Killed

This one’s on you, engineering profession. Society is done tolerating this level of indifference, incompetence, and incoherence. What are you going to do?

#SlowtheCars, Walkability, For Newcomers, Greatest Hits, Engineering Profession, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnSeptember 2, 2021Safety, safety, #PedestrianUnfriendly, Pedestrian Safety, engineering ethics, engineering profession, traffic engineering

The Projections Fallacy

We spend billions every year on our transportation network, large percentages of it based on traffic projections—despite the fact that we don’t accurately project traffic.