A century of auto-oriented culture and bad city planning has left most of the country with transit that is underfunded, ill maintained, and ill conceived. But as rising oil prices portend the end of the era of cheap energy, a remarkable…
Nearly half of Americans now own a smartphone, so it is understandable that a tidal wave of information is coming to them through handheld devices — up from just 35% nine months ago. In response to the growing need for…
“Call it ugly, call it beautiful, call it dysfunctional — but don’t call Los Angeles unplanned.” So begins a chapter titled “Challenging The Myth Of An Unplanned Los Angeles” in a new book out this week that you’ll definitely want…
This weekend, the local news will be filled with stories about the long-awaited opening of the Metro Expo Line Phase I running from downtown to La Cienega Boulevard. But another event this week in Los Angeles history is worth noting as…
There are an estimated 600,000,000 passenger cars in the world, and that number is increasing every day. So, too, is Earth’s supply of parking spaces. In some cities, parking lots cover more than one-third of the metropolitan footprint. It’s official:…
The third week of March, 1937 had been designated “National Transportation Week” and Los Angeles was ready to roll out its new streetcars. 10,000 cheering spectators celebrated the arrival of two Presidents’ Conference Committee (PCC) streetcars at City Hall. It…
One of the many attributes of libraries and archives is that they provide access to information which might not otherwise be discovered or accessed by those who benefit from it. Even though a standard Google search can return thousands or millions…
Today marks the anniversary of an important experiment in the history of local transportation and alternative fuels. On this date in 1972, the Southern California Rapid Transit District took delivery of a prototype steam turbine-powered bus for a year-long demonstration…
The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies (TRB) has rolled out their Annual Meeting Online Portal. In one search, this portal allows users to quickly find all available papers, visual aids, and recordings by session, presentation, author, subject area,…
The Great American Dream of cruising down the parkway, zipping from here to there at any time has given way to a true nightmare that is destroying the environment, costing billions and deeply impacting our personal well-being. Jeffrey Tumlin’s new…
In our popular imagination, America is the land of wide-open spaces. But in reality, much of it is more densely populated than Europe. Two-thirds of the U.S. population lives on less than 20% of the privately owned land. With an…
Have you ever needed to quickly put your finger on statewide transportation statistics? What percentage of Californians use public transit when commuting to work? How many transit fatalities were there in California in 2009? What percentage of California drivers use of safety belts? …
January 21st marks the anniversary of groundbreaking for the 11-mile long El Monte Busway and planning for what was billed as the “world’s first bus rapid transit station.” U.S. Transportation Secretary John A. Volpe officiated at ceremonies marking commencement of construction…
The year starts off with a look back one full century to the birth of highway planning in the state. On January 2, 1912, the seven division engineers of the California State Highway Commission met for the first time. The Commission…
Carleton K. Montgomery’s Regional Planning for a Sustainable America is the first book to represent the great variety of today’s effective regional planning programs, analyzing dozens of regional initiatives across North America. The American landscape is being transformed by poorly…
