Tag Archives: traffic

From sea to shining sea of wasteful surface parking lots

The images below depict the extent of wasteful surface parking lots that can be found across the United States at many major sports venues, especially those dedicated to football, baseball, and soccer. Much of the land currently set aside for … Continue reading

Posted in Active transportation, Alternative transportation, Cars, cities, downtown, economic development, engineering, geography, history, Housing, infrastructure, land use, Maps, parking, Passenger rail, placemaking, planning, Portugal, product design, rail, Railroads, spatial design, sprawl, Statistics, technology, third places, tourism, traffic, transit, transportation, Travel, UK, urban design, urban planning, visual pollution, walking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Working list of continuous flow/displaced left-turn intersections in the USA

Also known as a displaced left-turn intersection, these intersections are meant to improve traffic flow, especially for intersections with busy left turns. That being said, continuous flow seems to be a misnomer, as in most, if not all of the … Continue reading

Posted in Cars, cities, commerce, distribution, engineering, geography, government, health, highways, history, infrastructure, land use, logistics, Maps, pictures, planning, product design, Statistics, Trade, traffic, transportation, Travel, urban planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

American and Canadian Cities with the Most Roundabouts – UPDATED

Guest post by Dan T. – Thank you, Dan! [Note: To most people, the terms traffic circle, rotary, and roundabout are synonyms, but not to traffic engineers. Engineers usetraffic circle as a generic term for all circular intersections, while rotaries … Continue reading

Posted in Canada, Cars, cities, economic development, engineering, environment, Europe, geography, health, highways, history, infrastructure, land use, Maps, North America, placemaking, planning, spatial design, States, Statistics, traffic, transportation, Travel, urban design, urban planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Primary interstates that are now bypasses of major urban areas

This list identifies those primary interstate highways (one or two digit) that have over time become outer bypasses for major urban areas. This list does not include bypasses of small and mid-sized urban areas, nor inner bypasses that now incorporate … Continue reading

Posted in business, Cars, cities, commerce, distribution, ecommerce, economic development, geography, highways, history, infrastructure, land use, logistics, Maps, planning, shipping, spatial design, sprawl, Statistics, topography, tourism, Trade, traffic, transportation, Travel, trucking, urban planning | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Amazing offshore urban expressways – pluses & minuses

A trend in arterial roadway building, especially in highly urbanized areas and locations of rough terrain, has been to construct expressways offshore, which largely parallel the coastline. There are several reasons for choosing these locations for highway construction, which include: … Continue reading

Posted in architecture, bridges, Cars, cities, commerce, economic development, environment, geography, Highway displacement, highways, infrastructure, Maps, nature, pictures, planning, product design, spatial design, sprawl, Statistics, topography, tourism, traffic, transportation, Travel, urban planning, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

More street connections = less cut-through traffic

The argument that connecting new neighborhoods to existing ones causing cut-through traffic is only true if there are limited street connections in the transportation network in the first place. If a community has a well-planned, interconnected transportation network then more … Continue reading

Posted in Active transportation, Advocacy, bicycling, Biking, Cars, cities, civics, environment, fitness, geography, health, humanity, infrastructure, land use, Maps, placemaking, planning, spatial design, sprawl, sustainability, traffic, transportation, urban planning, walking, zoning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The DUMB reality of opting-out

In an ironic twist of fate, Southeast Michigan’s  regional bus system is nicknamed SMART (Southeast Michigan Regional Transit). Given the ability of communities in the region to opt-out of participation, the name certainly is an oxymoron to the DUMB (Detroit Unworkable Metro Bus) … Continue reading

Posted in Active transportation, Advocacy, Alternative transportation, bicycling, Bus transportation, Cars, cities, civics, civility, commerce, Communications, economic development, geography, government, health, history, human rights, humanity, inclusiveness, infrastructure, Labor, land use, logistics, Maps, placemaking, planning, pollution, poverty, social equity, spatial design, sprawl, Statistics, sustainability, traffic, transit, transportation, Travel, urban planning, walking, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Most congested megacity index for 2014

Below are the results from the most congested megacity index which are based on an interesting and fairly simple measure of street congestion – the average number of stops and starts per vehicle during a given year. Please note that … Continue reading

Posted in Active transportation, Alternative transportation, Asia, bicycling, Cars, China, cities, civility, commerce, environment, Europe, geography, health, humanity, India, infrastructure, land use, logistics, North America, Passenger rail, planning, pollution, South America, spatial design, sprawl, Statistics, sustainability, traffic, transit, transportation, UK, urban planning, walking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The road ate my neighborhood!

Absolutely spot-on example of the bass ackwards thinking from old school Traffic Engineers. Sadly, we have a serious overpopulation of them living and working here in Michigan. The video created by Strong Towns would be hilarious if it weren’t so … Continue reading

Posted in Active transportation, Advocacy, Alternative transportation, bicycling, Biking, Cars, cities, civics, infrastructure, planning, satire, sustainability, transportation, urban planning, walking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why do so many cities look alike?

Just ask cartoonist Andy Singer. Or better yet, check out his cartoon below for the reason.

Posted in art, cities, civics, environment, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments