Day: October 1, 2010

The Obama administration got a lot of attention earlier this year when it raised fuel efficiency rules to an average 35 miles per gallon across the nation's fleet of automobiles that will be produced between 2012 and 2016. Now the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT), have laid out an ambitious road map [pdf] to push tougher greenhouse gas emission and fuel economy standards for passenger cars and trucks built from 2017 through 2025, standards that hypothetically could push the national fleet average up as high as 62 mpg.

In response to concerns that the SFMTA is taking too long to put in more green protected bike lanes and other innovations on Market Street, the agency's Sustainable Streets Director, Bond Yee, in a letter to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, has outlined and provided a timeline for his agency's planned improvements.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's (SFMTA) options for fixing Masonic Avenue, a major north-south traffic sewer that was the scene of the city's first and only bicycle fatality this year, have been narrowed to two designs. While each option would calm auto traffic in slightly different ways and offer different amenities for bicyclists, both would significantly transform the street into a greener, friendlier corridor for all users.

We reported recently that the federal government was demanding $2.2 billion back from state DOTs in rescissions -- money that was already allocated to states that they were then asked to give back. Bike and pedestrian advocates were worried that states would disproportionately target active transportation projects for cuts, instead of carving into car-centric programs. They were right.

Changes to the street often have a way of irritating people who were accustomed to the way things used to be, but sometimes it's surprising how seemingly minor changes can set off an angry response. In Seattle, the city's installation of bike boxes -- painted street markings that let cyclists advance to the front of an intersection and make safer turns when red lights turn green -- has prompted complaints from those who think the road belongs to the users with the most horsepower.

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill