Today’s Headlines

By Blake Aued | | No Comments
  • Lack of Active Transportation Options Blamed for Kentucky’s Rise in Obesity (The Lane Report)
  • Buckhead Group Holds Meeting on Plan to Build a Park Over Downtown Connector (AJC)
  • Driver Kills Man Getting Off MARTA Bus in Alpharetta (AJC)
  • Murder Charge for Motorist Who Shot ATV Rider in Miami (Miami Herald)
  • Why Should Uber Drivers Be Subjected to Background Checks? (Tampa Bay Times)
  • Vestavia Hills, AL Parents Want Sidewalk on Street Where Kids Walk to School (WBMA)
  • Bike Lanes, Sidewalks Can Help Revitalize Suburban Roanoke Corridor (Roanoke Times)
  • Expansion of VA Elementary School Eyed as Threat to Motorist Convenience (Charlottesville Tomorrow)
  • Columbus, GA Professors Collaborate on RiverWalk Sculpture (Ledger-Enquirer)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

One Senator’s Eye-Opening Walk Across Connecticut

By Angie Schmitt | | No Comments
Senator Chris Murphy walked across Connecticut and encountered some scary conditions on Route 1. Image: Google Maps via Mobilizing the Region It’s difficult to understand just how terrifying it can be to walk on America’s car-oriented streets unless you’ve actually experienced it. Unfortunately, too few people in decision-making roles ever find themselves in that position. That’s why U.S. Senator Chris Murphy’s walk across Connecticut [...]

Today’s Headlines

By Blake Aued | | No Comments
  • Altamonte Springs, FL, Abandons Transit and Residents Who Can’t Afford Uber (The Verge)
  • Historic St. Augustine Has a Car Problem, Says City Report (St. Augustine Record)
  • Megabus Offers Free Rides at Georgia Tech, Georgia State (AJC)
  • Atlanta Mayoral Candidate Says BeltLine Is “Off Track” (Saporta Report)
  • Cobb County Bus Routes Are Changing (Marietta Daily Journal)
  • Complete Streets Can Improve Health in Northern Kentucky (Cincinnati Enquirer)
  • Tennessean Wonders If Nashville Really Needs Transit
  • Tennessee Governor Calls Special Session to Repeal Drunk-Driving Law (News Channel 9)
  • Alabama DOT Needs Help Counting Pedestrians and Cyclists (Maple Valley Reporter)
  • Roundabout Built at Notorious Crystal Springs, MS Intersection (WLBT/WDBD)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

Today’s Headlines

By Blake Aued | | No Comments
  • Hurricane Hermine Devastates Florida Towns (NYT)
  • GDOT Warns People to Stay Off South Georgia Roads (AJC)
  • If It Passes, Atlanta Transpo Tax Vote Could Be a Model for the Nation (AJC)
  • Will Nashville’s $6 Billion Transit Plan Work in a Conservative State? (Grist)
  • Atlanta Millennials Rent in the City, Buy Homes in the ‘Burbs (Curbed)
  • Uber Launches in Columbus, GA Later This Month (WTVM)
  • Bike-Share Comes to the Chattanooga Riverpark (Times Free Press)
  • Louisiana Gets $40 Million From Feds for I-10 (The Advocate)
  • Police Just Can’t Get Drivers to Put Down Their Phones (Virginia Lawyers Weekly)
via The Raleigh Connoisseur

A Walk Up South Street

By Leo Suarez | | No Comments
West South Street, August 2016 On a warm Sunday morning, I took a walk along South Street, an area of downtown Raleigh that has a lot to talk about. South Street used to be the original southern boundary to the entire city. Today, you could argue it’s the southern boundary of downtown but generally Western […]

Today’s Headlines

By Blake Aued | | No Comments

Today’s Headlines

By Blake Aued | | No Comments
  • Miami Wants to Set Aside Gas Taxes for Transit (Miami Today)
  • GDOT, Athens: “Smart” Traffic Signals Will Make Driving to UGA Football Games a Breeze (Banner-Herald)
  • Gwinnett County Buses Might Be Getting Wi-Fi (WSB)
  • Little Rock Streetcars Cut Back Hours for Bridge Work (Arkansas Online)
  • The North Carolina Bike Summit Is Coming to Asheville Next Month (Caldwell Journal)
  • Truck Driver Strikes and Kills Man on I-77 Ramp in Charlotte (Observer)
  • Charlottesville Plans Bike, Sidewalk Upgrades on Main Street (Charlottesville Tomorrow)
via The Naked City Blog

100 Years of N.C. State Parks, but Never One for Mecklenburg

By Mary Newsom | | No Comments
North Carolina's Mount Mitchell State Park turned 100 this year. Photo: By Two Hearted River - CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16397075The 2016 commemoration of the 100th anniversary of North Carolina's first state park scored a huge win last week with the announcement that 2,744 acres will be added to that first park, Mount Mitchell. That will more than double the park's size, and is a welcome tribute.But if you visit the Find a Park website for the North Carolina State Parks Department, you may notice that unlike the Triangle, which boasts five, there is no state park or recreation area in Mecklenburg County, the state's most populous county and one of the larger ones in size as well (ranking 38 of 100).But did you know a state park was once proposed for Mecklenburg County? The city-county 2005 plan, dated 1985, proposed a state park in the northeastern corner of the county, east of Davidson. It did not happen. Sadly, that area, which for two decades was protected by the town of Davidson's decision not to allow sewer service there, is now being proposed for sewer service, which likely means subdivisions, not rural farmland, will be the future. If you're in Charlotte, especially in the part of town with the bulk of the population (south and southeast of uptown) you may note Google's assessment that it's 45 minutes from Charlotte to Crowders Mountain State Park in western Gaston County, but that simply proves Google has never actually driven to Crowders Mountain. Google says it's an hour from Charlotte to Lake Norman State Park, which means it's really more like an hour and a half.  Those are our state park options, folks. Any others are a couple of hours away unless you are driving at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning, in which they're, maybe, an hour and 45 minutes.About that lost opportunity for a Mecklenburg state park: It says on Page 81 of the Generalized Land Plan 2005: "A major state park should be developed in the Rocky River basin, in the county's northeast corner, to serve Mecklenburg and adjoining counties. ... The county park and recreation department should enter into negotiations with the state and adjacent counties to determine and appropriate size and location."And I should lose 20 pounds. Some things just never happen. I am not sure why Mecklenburg County came up short for state parks. My guess: A combination of the once-Democratic-dominated state government not being fond of the once-Republican government here, added to the likely disinclination of power brokers in "growth is good" Mecklenburg to set any prime chunk of develop-able land off limits to subdivisions.Could a state park be built here today? I think that train has left the station. Few large sections of the county remain undeveloped. The lake shorelines are in private hands or else owned and preserved by county taxpayers. Indeed, Mecklenburg taxpayers have shouldered most of the load of preserving our parkland and natural areas, helped by a few nongovernment programs such as the Catawba Lands Conservancy. We're left with just some words from a dusty plan – and regrets.

Today’s Headlines

By Blake Aued | | No Comments
  • Traffic Deaths Are Skyrocketing, Especially in Southern States (Washington Post)
  • Lack of Car-Free Transportation Options Makes Louisiana Floods Even More Devastating (The Advocate)
  • Mississippi Lobbyists Push to Spend More on Roads (Tupelo Daily Journal)
  • Atlanta’s New Reversible Express Lanes Will Cost Up to $14 to Use (WSB)
  • Columbus, GA Residents Talk Second Avenue Sidewalks (WRBL)
  • Miami Dolphins Reserve Pickup Zone, Tailgate Area for Uber Riders (Sun Sentinel)
  • Transportation Issues at Stake in Tampa Elections Today (Tampa Bay Business Journal)
  • NCDOT Won’t Do Anything About Dangerous Wilmington Crosswalk (WECT)
  • Here Are the Projects Asheville’s Bond Referendum Would Fund (Mountain XPress)
  • Virginia Tech Is Planning a Testing Ground for Drones and Self-Driving Cars (Roanoke Times)
  • Kentucky’s Car Dependence Is Hurting Health, Economy (KyForward)
  • After Memphis Woman Asks for Guardrail, Drunk Driver Hits Her House (WBBJ)

Today’s Headlines

By Blake Aued | | No Comments
  • South Carolina Lawmakers Value Cheap Gas Over People’s Lives (The State)
  • Charlotte Police Have Not Charged Sociopath Who Intentionally Endangered Cyclists (WCNC)
  • Why the Southeast Needs High-Speed Rail (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
  • FDOT’s “Radical” Changes in St. Johns County Mainly Just More Roads (St. Augustine Record)
  • Transportation Issues Headline Tampa House Race (Tampa Bay Times)
  • The Staggering Cost of “No Car Left Behind” (Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)
  • Gwinnett County Gets “Smart” Traffic Signals (Daily Post)
  • Savannah Morning News Wants to Keep People Who Walk and Bike Off Victory Drive
  • Atlanta Seeks Bike-Share Ambassadors (Curbed)
  • University of Kentucky Offering Students Free Rides (UKNOW)
  • Tennessee Attorney General Joins Fight to Protect Drunk Drivers (Tennessean)

Revisiting the Peak Car Debate

By Tony Dutzik | | No Comments
Cross-posted from the Frontier Group. I’ve never liked the term “peak car.” First, it was always unclear exactly what was supposed to be peaking – total vehicle travel, per-capita travel, car ownership, or all of the above? Second, like peak oil before it, “peak car” applies a catchy name to a collection of concepts that are important [...]
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