T4America Blog

News, press releases and other updates

Posts Tagged "smart growth america"

Divided by Design: Quantifying the damage of our transportation program

Our new report examines the racist roots of our current transportation system. Most importantly, it demonstrates how today’s policies and practices were shaped by the past, leading to racial disparities today. Without a fundamental change to the overall approach to transportation, today’s leaders and transportation professionals, no matter their intent, will perpetuate and exacerbate the damage.

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WATCH: Safety and vehicle speed are fundamentally opposed

speed limit 20 mph

Sometimes we have to see it to believe it. How would street design really look if we prioritized the safety of all road users? Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition’s latest video illustrates that when streets are designed to move as many cars as possible as quickly as possible, other road users pay the price.

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A blueprint for healthier, safer streets: Complete Streets videos from Pittsburgh, PA, Louisville, KY, and Tucson, AZ

three cyclists ride their bikes down a tucson street

Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition, with partnership and support from CityHealth, produced a series of videos telling the story of Complete Streets policies in three U.S. cities. These videos provide insight into what Complete Streets policies can accomplish, what makes for an effective policy, and strategies for complete streets implementation.

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This is the podcast for transit lovers

Cities across the country have been turning to transit-oriented development (TOD) as a way to build communities with greater opportunity for all of their residents. A new podcast from our Smart Growth America colleagues explores some great TOD projects around the country and the lessons that others have learned.

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Introducing “Empty Spaces,” new research about parking requirements for transit-oriented developments

The oversupply of parking around transit — usually at the direction of outdated engineering guidelines — takes up valuable land, raises the cost of development, and misses key opportunities. This new research from Smart Growth America analyzes the amount of parking actually used in five transit-oriented development areas and how it compares to the guidelines that many planners, engineers or developers follow.

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What should the next administration do when it comes to transportation?

One of the biggest challenges for the incoming presidential administration is to make the economy work for individuals and families of all income levels. This short new guide of federal policy recommendations is designed to help the new administration accomplish just that.

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Introducing a new suite of resources to support transit-oriented development

In December, Smart Growth America announced a new initiative to help communities across the country advance transit-oriented development (TOD) projects to grow their economies, achieve their social equity goals, and improve quality of life for everyone. As part of this initiative, yesterday SGA launched TODresources.org, an online hub for national information and ideas that will help users develop outstanding transit-oriented development projects.

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Buses Mean Business: New evidence supporting economic benefits of bus rapid transit

For those of you in the DC area next week (including those of you planning to attend the Transportation Research Board conference), join us on Tuesday for the national release of a new academic study on the economic benefits resulting from smart investments in bus rapid transit. Join us next week on Tuesday, January 12th at 10:30 a.m. inside the Carnegie Library across from the DC convention center to hear from the report authors and other notable speakers.

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New Smart Growth America report details why so many companies are moving downtown

Launched at a terrific event at Washington, DC’s Newseum just this morning, Core Values, this first-of-its-kind report is stuffed with useful data on nearly 500 companies that have decided to either move from the suburbs to a downtown location, or that have decided to expand or open a new branch in a downtown core.

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A new bill in Congress would create new financing option for transit-oriented development

Transit-oriented development (TOD) can make it easier for people to live and work near public transportation. These places are in high demand and real estate developers are eager to build them, but because they’re often complicated TOD projects can be difficult to secure financing for.

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States’ underinvestment in road repair signals need for tough federal standards

Consider a couple of eye-popping statistics: From 2004-2008, states spent 57 percent of available highway dollars to add a little over 1 percent to our already vast highway network, and only 43 percent to maintain the other 99 percent of highway lanes. Keeping our existing highway network in “good” condition would require spending $43 billion […]

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New report shows the job-creating potential of smart transportation investments

Smart Growth America is out with a report demonstrating the potential for smart transportation spending to create jobs today and grow our economy tomorrow. According to data sent by the states to Congress, the states that created the most jobs invested their stimulus funds in public transportation and projects that maintained and repaired existing roads and bridges.

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SGA analysis reveals transportation projects create the most jobs at the lowest cost

A new analysis of federal stimulus spending, co-authored by Smart Growth America, the Center for Neighborhood Technology and U.S. PIRG, reveals that during the first ten months of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), investments in public transportation produced twice the jobs per billion dollars as did highway projects.

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