– China is forging ahead in building high speed rails for sleek, fast trains, while the Obama administration warns of the US falling behind.
– What if every time there was a crash involving a car and someone on foot or on a bike, the person behind the wheel of the 2,000 pound machine were held automatically liable? Some countries already work that way.
– A glimpse into the complex world of where highway subsidies come from and why they are becoming increasingly unaffordable.
– Is population density really necessary for a place to have a high rate of bicycling? Or is it more about infrastructure?
– Perhaps not surprisingly, many people seem to believe that they are very safe drivers, even when they are sending text messages from behind the wheel.
– In Seattle, wrangling continues over filling a contentious gap in the Burke-Gilman bike trail; also, activists are growing concerned that a freeway bridge billed at six lanes may end up including ten.
– What’s the least well-known source of waterway pollution in our region? Copper wearing away from auto brakepads and getting mixed up in stormwater run-off, of course. Fortunately, there’s a push for alternatives.
– Tampa, Florida has invented an innovative way to add lanes to a freeway, much to the delight of highway activists.
– Fort Worth, Texas has just committed to a bike plan more ambitious than Portland’s.
– Streetsblog San Francisco reviews the sometimes sedate, sometimes sordid history of the policing of Critical Mass.
– In the Netherlands, the bike parking crisis continues to escalate, especially near train stations.
– An art student in Oxford, UK has been drawing attention to local potholes not with spray paint but by planting them with primroses.
– In New York, the trial period has ended and the mayor has announced that pedestrianized Times Square will become permanent. The heavily designed NYC version of the bike staple is starting to crop up.