Streetsblog USA

Civic pride, attachment to community -- what does that have to do with how you get around? According to a recent study commissioned by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, possibly quite a bit.

Hey, so you also shed a tear or two for the Dodge Ram "So God Made a Farmer" Super Bowl commercial before you realized it was about trucks. Because really, what does Dodge have to do with the noble, heart-warming, bittersweet story of farmers anyway? It's a speech conservative radio personality Paul Harvey gave in 1978, and you can be pretty sure he wasn't thinking of the two-ton Dodge Ram.

In response to yesterday's story on the Texas Transportation Institute's congestion rankings, which take traffic delays out of context and risk being used to justify road expansions, former New Jersey DOT leader Gary Toth raised this question: What if, instead of getting frustrated with the report, we reframe its interpretation?

Well, it was a tough competition for America's Worst Intersection, with a lot of worthy contenders -- the kind of intersections that would make an Olympic sprinter nervous. But the people have spoken -- 468 of them -- and in the end it wasn't even close. Our winner is Omaha, Nebraska's intersection of 132nd Street, Industrial Road, Millard Avenue, and L Street.

Last week we looked at three state DOTs which are currently led by former lobbyists for the asphalt or energy industries. The "Revolving Door" series highlighted how billions in federal funding for transportation get funneled, with no oversight, to states where money and politics corrupt policy and lead to shocking amounts of waste.

This is the final installment in our three-part “Revolving Door” series about how cronyism in state DOTs leads to wasteful highway building. The first part profiled Ohio DOT chief Jerry Wray and the second part looked at Oklahoma DOT boss Gary Ridley. Both Wray and Ridley left the DOTs to work as asphalt industry lobbyists, only to return to the public sector later on. 

Earlier this week we looked at the intersection of Route 355 and Shady Grove Road near Rockville, Maryland, flagged by Ben Ross at Greater Greater Washington for being especially hostile to pedestrians, even though it's the site of a bus stop. We asked if it might be the worst intersection in the country and put out a call for readers to send their nominations for the title.

This is the second installment in our three-part "Revolving Door" series about how cronyism in state DOTs leads to wasteful highway building. The first part profiled Ohio DOT chief Jerry Wray, who has switched back and forth between working directly for the asphalt industry and shoveling money to the asphalt industry as a public official.