Author Archive
Helping communities at every stage
Transportation for America and Smart Growth America’s technical assistance services help communities at all different stages of their efforts to improve transportation in their communities. In a suite of projects funded by AARP this year in communities across the country, we helped partners work on policy, planning, advocacy education and relationship building. Transportation for America […]
Perseverance pays off for Nashville
After well over a decade of effort, fast-growing Nashville finally passed a transit funding referendum, proving that patience, perseverance and learning from mistakes leads to success.
Catching the e-bike wave
Electric bikes have enormous potential to deliver affordable, clean, healthy and space-efficient transportation to the masses, but the feds and too many other leaders are passing up this opportunity in favor of electrifying the status quo.
Don’t curb your e-thusiasm: Charging and the curb
Electric vehicle charging at the curb presents unique challenges to meet equity, accessibility, and eligibility for federal programs.
Charging up EVs: Bridging the apartment gap
With the electric vehicle transition, access to transportation options like transit, walking and biking needs to come first. But—for smart growth and equity—equitable access to charging for apartment dwelling car-owners is an essential part of the picture.
Share the spark with EV carshares
Electric vehicle (EV) carshare is an effective strategy in speeding the transition to zero emissions transportation, providing more affordable transportation options and syncing up with other smart growth solutions. This strategy is worthy of public investment.
We can advance EVs and smart growth at the same time
Many climate advocates and pro-climate decision-makers are focused on electrification as the primary, or even only, emissions reduction solution in the transportation sector. As smart growth advocates, we know that electrification is essential but insufficient to achieve our greenhouse gas reduction goals. How do we push transportation electrification forward in a way that supports essential smart growth goals?
The traffic forecast used to justify your road widening is bogus
The predicted traffic levels on which transportation planners base their decisions are erroneous and rooted in obsolete methods. Here’s how transportation models fail to accurately predict future traffic, and how you can call out their misuse.
Repealing jaywalking laws to refocus on street design
Washington could be the next state to repeal jaywalking laws. While the repeal could address racial and social justice issues, the effort could also lead the conversation toward more just and safe street design.
Electric carshare program meets multiple needs
As the Biden administration invests in transportation electrification, the Twin Cities’ electric carshare program serves as a model for supporting the electric vehicle transition in a way that delivers affordable access to EVs for more people.
Three strategies for smart electrification
When it comes to the climate crisis, we at T4A have historically been focused on the land use and transportation options that can reduce driving to cut emissions. However, transportation electrification is also essential to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Here are three key strategies for doing it right.
After your next trip, bring back a fresh perspective on transportation
Visiting communities other than our own can remind us to envision more for transportation in our own communities. This is especially important now, with so much infrastructure funding starting to flow that could actually make these visions reality.
Become part of the movement with T4America membership
All types of local public agencies and organizations join T4America’s membership program to gain access to information and expertise, but because the benefits are numerous, they also often get things they weren’t expecting.
How local governments can overcome delay and obstruction (part two)
Local government practitioners are often highly motivated to invest in safer street designs. But they soon encounter insurmountable barriers from the state DOT, which holds the purse strings, owns the roads and highways that also serve as local streets, and interprets federal rules in ways that elevate their priorities and push safety down the list. Here are some ways for local elected officials and municipal staff to break through those barriers.
How advocates can overcome delay and obstruction (part one)
Local advocates fighting for safe streets and expanded transportation options will often struggle to make progress in places because transportation planners and engineers are entrenched in old ways of doing things. We’ve identified some patterns in the ways the establishment can block reforms and offer suggested ways to overcome those obstructions.
Electric vehicles aren’t good for equity, but we should try
Electric vehicles, while vital for reducing emissions and meeting our long-term emissions reduction goals, are not a good strategy for improving existing inequities in transportation. But there are specific things we can and should do to make this transition more equitable than it otherwise would be.
Electric vehicles are good for emissions, bad for advancing equity
Climate funders, electric vehicle industry groups, and environmentalists are rightly confronting the question of how to address equity in the electric vehicle space. They may not like the answer.
Fix-it-first would be a win for rural communities
The lack of repair requirements in the infrastructure bill will shortchange rural areas, costing them potential jobs and leaving them with crumbling roads and bridges that won’t get repaired. Our report highlights why using highway funds to fix roads and bridges would bring numerous benefits to rural America.
They said “no new money for transportation” was a bad message. They were wrong.
Two years ago, Transportation for America bucked advocacy convention by refusing to talk about funding, discussing only the outcomes of funding instead. We even said that we do not support any new funding for transportation if the underlying policy doesn’t change. Our surprising strategy has yielded results.
How is COVID-19 impacting rural transit in Oklahoma
Struggles for rural transit agencies show that the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to public transportation are not limited to big cities.
Our three principles
It’s past time to elevate the national conversation about infrastructure.
Learn more about our platformLatest From The Blog
Helping communities at every stage
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