In almost every urban area, congestion has been rising for years despite expensive efforts to widen roads and add lanes for private vehicles. But a new study shows that when demand is high, repurposing the road space already available can boost system performance without any expansion. Creating dedicated lanes for buses and bikes can optimize space – and failing to do so can start a vicious cycle of congestion.
Environment
One year into congestion pricing, every DOT can learn from New York City
New York City shares many of the same goals as state and local transportation agencies: cutting traffic, improving travel times, making roads safer, and improving quality of life. Yet decades of investment in highway capacity have failed to deliver on those goals. Commute times have increased 7.5% since 2010, congestion has reached an all-time high, and U.S. roadways have become more dangerous than those of any other wealthy nation.
New research shows where low stress streets make the biggest difference
Making streets less stressful for walkers and bikers is strongly associated with more walking and biking, and new research from Maryland helps clarify where those effects are most pronounced. Building on prior research showing that lower-stress street environments are linked to more walking and biking, this study found that reducing traffic stress has the biggest impact for shorter trips and in places where alternatives to driving already exist. for shorter trips and in places where alternatives to driving already exist.
Building more EV chargers is great. They also need to work
As state DOTs continue to build out an extensive network of electric vehicle chargers, those chargers also need to work consistently. Charging reliability isn’t always fully in a DOT’s control, and many agencies have only recently taken on responsibility for charging infrastructure. Even so, DOTs can still adopt a “fix it first” approach, as some do with their roadways, prioritizing keeping chargers functional as they develop their public networks. Doing so can accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, often a key piece of DOT sustainability goals and climate targets.
To reduce traffic, DOTs need both “carrots” and “sticks”
Nearly every state DOT is grappling with how to reduce traffic and carbon emissions—many states developed official , and congestion relief is often at the top of a DOT’s priority list. But a new study from Swedish researchers says that some of the most common ways to address these challenges—using only “carrots” rather than “sticks,” in the researchers’ words—may leave states struggling to achieve their goals.
Repairing highways is better for the economy than expanding them
The U.S. faces a $1 trillion backlog of roads and bridges needing repair, according to FHWA. Yet we still spend roughly $27 billion per year (25% of the total) expanding and building new highways. Mounting evidence shows that shifting those dollars toward maintenance and rehabilitation could yield greater benefits.
Despite efficiency gains, rising travel demand pushes emissions higher
Advances in technology have made transportation more energy efficient in recent decades, lowering emissions per mile and per unit of freight. But according to a new study, those efficiency gains haven’t been enough to offset the rise in emissions from new transportation demand. To hold transportation emissions steady going forward, the study says, global transportation demand must not continue rising, or we must make a more dramatic shift toward electrification than currently imagined.
More transit means safer streets
To reduce traffic deaths, public transit should be seen as a core part of safety infrastructure, not just an alternative mode of travel. Every day, thousands of car crashes occur in the U.S., resulting in injury or death, yet they receive far less attention than the much rarer crashes involving public transit. For city planners working to reduce roadway fatalities, understanding how these perceptions influence travel choices is critical.
More states are moving away from the 85th percentile rule to set speeds
States are increasingly moving past the outdated “85th percentile rule” for setting speed limits, weighing factors other than the observed traffic flow in those calculations. The AP recently highlighted Ohio among a wave of efforts to consider roadway context and the presence of walkers and bikers in allowing lower speeds to ensure safer roads. For states looking to follow suit, a newly released report from the Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety offers states a data-driven, objective framework to set speed limits based on roadway context, not just vehicle movement.
State action spurs local parking reform
Earlier this month, Denver, Colorado eliminated minimum parking requirements from its zoning code for all developments across the city. We’ve promoted the benefits of reforming outdated parking policies, including lower construction costs and better traffic management. In Denver and many other cities, changes at the state level helped catalyze the city’s reforms.