Streetsblog USA

When someone builds a new home, does it make the city stronger and more fiscally sound? Or does it drain public resources? The answer depends a lot on where it's sited and, more specifically, where it lies in relation to other homes and businesses.

From the Texas Panhandle to the Bay Area, from the shores of the Detroit River to the Gulf Coast of Florida -- America's cities are a pockmarked mess, blighted by asphalt parking expanses you can practically see from space.

Police departments need to improve the way they investigate, document, and convey information about crashes involving cyclists, according to a new study by Harvard public health researcher Anne Luskin in the Journal of Injury Prevention.

Welcome to the World Series of asphalt. The Super Bowl of lifeless city blocks. Today is the Parking Madness championship -- the culmination of our 16-city tournament showcasing the worst parking craters to scar America's downtowns.

The Motor City is getting its first taste of on-street protected bike infrastructure. Work has begun on a street redesign that will bring Detroit its very first bike lane where parked cars will protect riders from motor vehicle traffic.

Christof Spieler joins me again to continue our discussion of Houston. This time we talk transportation and all the great things Houston is working on. Uptown, home to the highest building in the U.S. outside of a central business district, will soon be getting true Bus Rapid Transit, and people on bikes are now rolling next to the bayous and connecting to Houston’s new downtown protected bike lane.

Only the ugliest, most wasteful parking craters are still in the running, as the Parking Madness Final Four winnows down to two finalists after this match. The winner will take on Camden, which narrowly defeated Fort Worth, for a chance at the Golden Crater, eternal shame, and, we hope, some good awareness-raising opportunities for local advocates.

Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson is working on a piece about parking policy and was recently in Washington to discuss some of that city's innovations with former District DOT chief Gabe Klein. The full Streetfilm is still a work-in-progress, but Clarence put together these clips where Klein explains the city's pay-by-phone parking meter tech, which goes great with dynamic pricing, and its system for selling curb space for one-time uses like moving trucks, which cut down on fraud and looks like a smart way to prevent double-parking. Enjoy.

We started this Parking Madness tournament with 16 soulless parking craters from California to New Jersey, and you've narrowed it down to the Final Four: Camden, Fort Worth, Syracuse, and the very aptly-named Parkersburg, West Virginia.