CEOs for Cities is a national network of urban leaders dedicated to building and sustaining the next generation of great American cities.

Entries tagged with Transportation

The U.S. Department of Transportation to trying to tackle the goal ending childhood obesity with transportation policy reforms. DOT hosted a conference last week called “Keeping Kids Moving” to examine how equitable transportation policy can prevent childhood obesity.

At the conference, DOT Undersecretary Roy Kienitz talked about how transportation…

With the release of a new white paper, Transportation for America offers its recommendations for the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill and suggests we re-focus on smart growth strategies that create compact, walkable communities that provide residents with the ability to meet their daily needs with fewer and shorter car trips.

The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that biking and walking trips have increased 25 percent since 2001. 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is using the increase to continue his push for safe alternatives to driving. 

"By making biking and walking safer and more accessible, we’ll be able to provide Americans…

Last week, Californian.com reported on the increasingly negative relationship between driving and homeownership. Citing studies by the Natural Resources Defense Council, CEOs for Cities, the National Housing Conference and the Surface Transportation Policy Project, the message is clear: auto-dependency reduces households' economic flexibility and, in at least 13 major…

Delighted to see New York Times reporter Damon Darlin bringing attention to our work on "Walking the Walk" and "Driven to the Brink."  Given the plunge in real estate prices the U.S. experienced last year along with the foreclosure crisis, the twin studies provide valuable insight…

Denver has nearly doubled its public transit ridership, despite the fact that planned light rail track additions have yet to be built.  How?

Warren Karlenzig’s article notes these factors:

Is the love affair between cars and young people starting to cool?

That could be the case, according to a new study of auto-related online commentary among teens and young adults by J.D. Power and Associates reported by the LA Times.

Between January and August, the market research…

The trend toward real estate that is accessible with alternative forms of transportation is evident in this entrepreneurial realtor’s approach: providing bike tours of ‘bike-able’ properties.

The innovative businesswoman who runs ‘Tour de Homes’ in Portland to show properties in neighborhoods that are bike and alternative transport-friendly…

As I travel U.S. cities, it is unusual for public transit not to come up as a priority.  But buses are rarely mentioned.  Cities want the sexy stuff -- light rail, trolleys and trams.  I was reminded of this as I was reading again about Bogota's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)…

Reviews of Monday's remarks by the president on his plans for urban America have been mixed.  Some have praised simply the attention he gave to the subject while other have criticized the apparent lack of muscular policy response on behalf of cities.

I read it this way.  It is still…

You have to love Zipcar's latest promotion.  It's called the Low-Car Diet, and it kicks off in 13 cities  this month. In each city, a few dozen drivers will publicly gather and drop their keys into a lock box as they pledge to not drive their personal car for one…

Could the bicycle take over in the Motor City?  Could the emergence of a greater biking culture re-enliven and re-use the city’s landscape in new ways?

Toby Barlow in this article makes the case for Detroit as a biking city. “With the legendarily affordable real estate…

Daron Dierkes, who has lived abroad for three years, posted this on MyCity last night comparing U.S. transportation with that in Asia:

"I have lived abroad for about three years now. I spent a year in Seoul, a few months in Barclelona and around, and the past year and…

After columnist George Will went after Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's new initiatives, LaHood comes back with a zinger delivered at the National Press Club:  “We have to create opportunities for people who want to ride a bike or walk or take a streetcar,” he said. “The only person that I’ve…

I love everything about this story in New York Magazine on Janette Sadik-Khan, New York City's Transportation commissioner, who is transforming big chunks of Broadway into pedestrian spaces.  Borrowing ideas from Copenhagen and cities around the world, Sadik-Khan has a vision of turning the great diagonal into a linear…

Residents of Vauban, Germany, "are suburban pioneers, going where few soccer moms or commuting executives have ever gone before: they have given up their cars."  Cars are forbidden on most of Vauban's streets, and houses cannot have driveways or garages.

Speech by HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to ULI today in Atlanta was captured by Kaid Benfield in his blog at NRDC.  Some excerpts:

"Let's be honest--HUD has become the Department of Subsidized Housing, and that must change.  We've got to put the "UD" (urban development) back in HUD.  At the…

A dinner arranged by philanthropist Eric Avner and hosted by Mayor Mark Mallory in Cincininnati this week was our first chance to stage a local discussion on the Green Dividend.  Cincinnati unveiled its comprehensive climate strategy almost a year ago, and the mayor and his staff are taking…

President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Sec. of Transportation Ray LaHood held a press conference today to announce a new U.S. push to transform travel in America, creating high-speed rail lines from city to city, reducing dependence on cars and planes and spurring economic development.

The President laid…

Welcome to the Fast Lane.  That is, welcome to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's blog.

Today, he is defending high speed rail. (I interviewed Rick Harnish, head of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association today for Smart City.)  But LaHood is pushing hard for livable communities.  Here are excerpts from…

NYT today documents stimulus money to states being used to encourage sprawl with shovel ready road projects.  Although President Obama's Administration opposes sprawl (and he has so stated as recently as last month), "quite a few" states are using their stimulus money "to build new and wider roads that…

As we consider the shovel ready road and bridge projects of the stimulus package, consider this important analysis by our colleague Joe Cortright of the impact modest declines in auto travel have on congestion.  And how that could save us big, big money...

Last year, the US made more…

Bruce Katz of Brookings (on leave to HUD)  is speaking now at the NYU Furman Center's Housing Policy Conference.  What does it mean for a national government to create an Office of Urban Policy?  Bruce says it is a recognition that place matters.  Cities and metro areas are key to…

Transportation for America, a national coalition of organizations seeking to align national, state, and local transportation policies with an array of issues including economic opportunity, climate change, energy security, health, housing and community development, is asking supporters to contact their House representatives in support of the amendment offered by U.S.…

Find them here, courtesy of Transportation for America.


Here is Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's opening statement in his confirmation hearing as prepared for delivery.

"Indeed, much of our economic success in recent decades has been built on the wise infrastructure investments made by our predecessors.  And so at a minimum, we cannot…

From Springwise...

Launched late last month, Connect by Hertz now offers car sharing in London, Paris and New York City. In New York, members can choose from among three plans, depending on how often they drive. All three give consumers 180 free miles per day and free gas;…

Bob Yaro, who continues to lead on good regional planning from his post as head of New York's Regional Plan Association, has prepared a statement to the new administration on the economic stimulus plan that outlines a five step program for infrastructure investment as part of the America 2050 Coalition:

Congress for the New Urbanism CEO John Norquist warns the President-elect on the pitfalls of moving without consideration on the portion of the economic stimulus package calling for new roads and bridges. He writes:

With six weeks to go before he moves into the White House, Barack Obama is…

There are some big names on the list, including former Sec. of Transportation Norman Mineta and Virginia Gov. Tim Kane.  One pleasant surprise?  There's a lot of talk about rail.  Deron Lovaas, the Federal Transportation Policy Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, urges: "Rail mileage should double so that…

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom released the following letter today to congressional leadership. The mayors are advocating for Congress not to reallocate funds intended for advanced transportation technology innovation and identify a different mechanism to finance efforts to improve the viability of the American…

Ryan Avent (if you're not reading him you should be) celebrates the new excitement about infrastructure.  He reports for Grist, "Last week, Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) introduced the High-Speed Rail for America Act, a bill that would authorize $23 billion in bond sales…

Our colleague Joe Cortright sent us the photo below from an above the fold story in the Living section of the Oregonian about different kinds of bike accesories for hauling kids and cargo. 

Photo by

Read the…

Take a look at Pittsburgh's Citiwiki that invites citizens to offer their own ideas to develop an intelligent, easy-to-use transportation system that works for people of every stripe?

The goal of the Wiki is to harness the considerable intellectual firepower of the Pittsburgh region's thoughtful citizenry to help transform…

That will be an important sign of whether bus rapid transit, the value-priced alternative to light rail, actually works, according to Alan Hoffman, a San Diego-based transit consultant.  It may not be politically correct to say so out loud, he said , "but it's what I call the 'AYF Factor.'…

Newly hired president of Portland State University Wim Wiewel will join the throngs of downtown bike commuters tomorrow when he reports for his first day on the job. Wiewel will join Commissioner (and Mayor-elect) Sam Adams on the ride and a small reception will follow in the South Park Blocks.

If you haven't discovered Ryan Avant's blog, you should.  Here's a recent gem:

"The two big challenges for fighting poverty are: 1) reducing, as much as possible, geographic segregation of socioeconomic groups, and 2) the tendency to choose affordability over proximity among the poor, which significantly affects expected income.…

Oil prices are, indeed, causing panic.  And as Lee Raymond, the former head of Exxon told The NY Times, "Once you panic, it is way too late."  He characterizes our policy to date as a "no-action policy."

Nearly 70 percent of the 21 million barrels of oil Americans consume…