Streetsblog USA

In cities with steep hills, public staircases can be an important piece of the walking network. Like any type of infrastructure, however, sometimes cities let their staircases fall apart.

Darin Givens at ATL Urbanist is retiring his blog after five years writing about city planning in Atlanta. Thinking about the future of Atlanta in his final post, he touched on something important and universal: Who gets public resources, and what types of projects should city leaders support?

Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities build better bike lanes to create low-stress streets.

What is the most dangerous street in your region? Which one most needs improvements to protect cyclists? Where do drunk drivers do the most damage? Thanks to a new tool from New York City data scientist Max Galka, you can get a pretty good sense with a few clicks.

How do the places we inhabit lead to systemic public health problems?

Nobody was expecting the GOP-controlled House of Representatives to put together a transportation bill that did much for streets and transit in American cities.

Nobody's going to give San Diego County an award for park planning -- we hope! -- on its "Waterfront Park project," which is more accurately described as the "subsidized garage project."

Yesterday we reported on some of the terrible amendments that might get tacked on to the House transportation bill this week. But there are also some good ideas with bipartisan support among the hundreds of amendments submitted by members of the House.

Funds for walking and biking infrastructure account for a tiny portion of federal transportation spending. Safer streets don't cost much, though, so for the cities and towns that count on these programs, a few dollars from the feds can be a huge help. Despite the relatively small sums at play, walking and biking programs are a constant target for a certain breed of hardline conservative in Congress. This year is no different.