This Ice Machine Is a Case Study in Neighborhood Decline

When you prioritize fast car movement on a street that should be for building community wealth, don’t be surprised when you end up getting neither.

Marohn, Roads and Streets, Top Story, Safe & Productive Streets, Transparent AccountingCharles MarohnSeptember 19, 2022Safe and Productive Streets, streets, STROADS, Brainerd MN, Minnesota, capitalism, decline, neighborhood, Small Towns, small towns, suburban development pattern

Financial Fragility Is To Blame for Jackson’s Water Crisis

The Suburban Experiment is a bad business model, and nothing demonstrates that more clearly than Jackson, Mississippi’s, ongoing water crisis.

Finance, Infrastructure, Marohn, Transparent AccountingCharles MarohnSeptember 12, 2022Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure maintenance, fragility, mississippi, development pattern, Growth Ponzi Scheme, infrastructure cost, finance, local finance, suburban experiment

Licensing Board to the Engineering Profession: "Stay in Line"

The Minnesota licensing board has essentially issued a warning to professional engineers: Stay in line or you will face attack by colleagues who disagree with you.

Engineering Profession, Engineering Reform, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnAugust 30, 2022engineering profession, engineering ethics

Why Is Rhode Island Building New Roads When Its Current Roads Are Falling Apart?

Rhode Island has built far more highways than it can afford to maintain. So why on earth is it building another one?

#NoNewRoads, Infrastructure, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnAugust 15, 2022End Highway Expansion, highways, highway spending, maintenance, Maintenance, Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure cult, Nero Project, Rhode Island, DOT, #NoNewRoads, roads

For Those Who Wish We’d Talk About Climate Change More

Progress on climate change can and will come if we use a bottom-up approach to changing our development pattern.

Environment, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnJuly 13, 2022bottom-up, top-down, climate, Climate Change, environment, strong towns approach, development pattern

My Letter to the Minnesota Board of Engineering Licensure

Tomorrow, the Minnesota board of engineering licensure will hold a hearing to determine what final action, if any, they will take against the Strong Towns movement.

Engineering Reform, Engineering Profession, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnJuly 11, 2022engineering ethics, engineering profession

Here’s Why We Respond in Force to One Amtrak Crash While Ignoring Thousands of Daily Car Crashes

A top-down approach to addressing accidents fails to make streets safer. A local approach could change that.

Streets Are for Building Community Wealth. Here’s Why That’s So Important.

Streets can be about many things, but unless they are building wealth for the community, they won’t survive. Period.

Economic Development, Marohn, Roads and Streets, Top StoryCharles MarohnJune 20, 2022finance, local finance, public finance, municipal finance, economic growth, economics, Economy, streets

Legalizing Incremental Change—Everywhere—To Meet America’s Housing Needs

For too long, our housing policy has put investor returns and macroeconomic goals over the universal human need for shelter. The Strong Towns approach to incremental housing is a badly needed corrective.

We're Advocating for Safe and Productive Streets

It’s high time that we start building streets that prioritize safety and community over throughput of traffic.

#SlowtheCars, Marohn, Membership, Roads and Streets, Top StoryCharles MarohnJune 6, 2022Safe and Productive Streets, #SlowTheCars, streets, Street Design, member drive, design, Safety, safety, memweek strategic plan series

I'm Retiring From the Engineering Profession

To protect our advocacy work against future harassment from the Minnesota licensing board, Strong Towns President Charles Marohn is retiring as a professional engineer.

Engineering Reform, Engineering Profession, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnMay 23, 2022engineering profession, engineering ethics

When Libertarians Support Highway Expansions

A recent Reason Foundation newsletter thinks that Strong Towns is against all highways. We’re not. We’re against all highway expansion—and you should be, too.

#NoNewRoads, Infrastructure, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnMay 16, 2022Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure maintenance, highways, freeway widening, freeways, politics, #NoNewRoads

A Minnesota Judge Throws the Book at Immoral Tax Assessments

This case shows why local governments need to do a better job accounting for maintenance costs.

Finance, Infrastructure, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnMay 9, 2022maintenance, finance, local finance, municipal finance, Assessments, local government, infrastructure maintenance, Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure cost, Minnesota, Law

Why Transportation Nudges Are Stupid

Marketing campaigns to shame or shock don't change driver behavior. Changing the environment they drive in will.

#SlowtheCars, Marohn, Transportation, Top StoryCharles MarohnMay 2, 2022Safety, safety, Pedestrian Safety, pedestrian safety, car culture, car crash, transportation, #SlowTheCars, pedestrians

To Fully Observe, We Need to Walk

If we want to be the informed advocates our places need, then we need to observe them at human scale—and to do that, we need to walk.

Marohn, Walkability, Top StoryCharles MarohnApril 25, 2022walkability, pedestrians, advocacy

The Way We Design Our Streets Invites Driver Aggression

This motorcyclist was acting aggressive…but what in his environment signaled to him that aggressive driving was acceptable?

#SlowtheCars, Marohn, Roads and Streets, Transportation, Top StoryCharles MarohnApril 18, 2022#SlowTheCars, transportation, Safety, car crash, cars, STROADS, roads, Brainerd MN, design

Ignoring Induced Demand is Engineering Malpractice

In 2022, denying how highway expansions induce people to drive more should be considered professional malpractice.

#NoNewRoads, Engineering Profession, Marohn, Transportation, Top StoryCharles MarohnApril 4, 2022transportation, transportation spending, highways, freeways, Virginia, engineers, engineering ethics, engineering profession, traffic engineering, traffic projections, induced demand, #NoNewRoads

The Reckless Driver Narrative Is Reckless. Stop Spreading It.

If we want safe and productive streets, we have to focus on the deadly design of our public spaces and not be distracted by the scapegoating narrative of the “reckless driver.”

Marohn, Transportation, Top StoryCharles MarohnMarch 7, 2022traffic congestion, traffic engineering, Pedestrian Safety, pedestrian safety, pedestrians, #PedestrianUnfriendly, Safety, safety, public safety, Public Safety, transportation

We Need to Embrace Traffic Congestion, Not Fight It

We’ve spent trillions fighting congestion so that it’s easy to drive everywhere. But we’re fighting a losing battle, and simultaneously losing our ability to walk anywhere.

#NoNewRoads, #SlowtheCars, Infrastructure, Transportation, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnFebruary 21, 2022congestion, traffic congestion, traffic engineering, #SlowTheCars, #NoNewRoads, American Jobs Plan, infrastructure spending, Infrastructure, infrastructure, transportation

The Real Reason We Keep Getting Distracted by Transit Boondoggles

When it comes to transit mega project delays and overruns, there are typically two reactions: to trash the project mercilessly or unconditionally back it to the end. But there is a third option.