Clarence Eckerson Jr.

Many American cities are warming to the idea of handling their stormwater runoff at ground level. In Indianapolis, they decided to work bioswales and stormwater retention into the newly opened Cultural Trail. The eight-mile biking and walking route loops through the heart of the downtown, and in this short, Karen S. Haley, the Executive Director of Indianapolis Cultural Trail, tells us how these green islands keep rainfall from overwhelming the sewer system and polluting local waterways.

In May, the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, a bike and pedestrian path connecting some of Indy's most popular cultural institutions, had its long-awaited public coming out with a ribbon cutting and celebration. It's one of the biggest bicycling infrastructure achievements in North America, and yet it's still practically a secret.

Across the nation, many big-city mayors of both political parties are embracing bikes and livable streets. As you'll see, Indianapolis' Mayor Greg Ballard, a Republican, believes that making city cycling safer and more enjoyable will attract young people and families and benefit business.

SF editor's note: With Bay Area Bike-Share set to launch in August, this new Streetfilm documenting New York City's bike-share launch yesterday gives us a preview of what's to come. Details about Bay Area Bike-Share will be unveiled at an SFMTA open house this Thursday.

Think of this Streetfacts chapter as a PSA about how, in just a few generations, we have tightly restricted American kids' freedom to roam, play, and become self-sufficient.

The majority of the roads and highways built in America are simply bad investments. Continuing this pattern will only ensure that wasteful projects consume larger chunks of our federal, state, and local budgets, without addressing the real need for transportation options.

We continue our Streetfacts series by looking at the data on driving in the U.S. Per-capita driving has declined every year since 2005. That's not a blip, it's now an 8-year trend.

Welcome to the first of five shorts we're calling Streetfacts. With Streetfacts, we'll be highlighting developing trends affecting transportation and planning policy, as well as addressing the cost of "bad practices" that prevent us from shifting to a more balanced transportation network that supports more livable places.

How would you make the case to Congress to fund bike infrastructure? That was the question Streetfilms posed to attendees at this year's National Bike Summit. Here's a look at what they told us.

For the second year running, the Women's Bicycling Forum kicked off the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC. About 300 people attended, and Streetfilms got to take their pulse on the state of bicycling for women and collect some suggestions about how to grow the number of women who ride.