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Whatever our transportation foibles—and we have plentyofthem—Northwest cites are not exactly in the Texas League of transportation planning. A ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday inaugurated a big new freeway in the Houston area. I mean it’s almost comically big: Opponents of the project have noted its extreme size—18 lanes, counting toll and frontage lanes from Texas 6 to Washington, and more lanes at entrances and exits. The widening uprooted numerous businesses along the...

Editor’s Note: As part of our “Escape to Vancouver” campaign, Sightline talked to Gordon Price—urban design expert and former Vancouver city councillor—to get his take on the changing landscape of Cascadia’s most urban city. Gordon, who has offered a Vancouver walking/biking tour to the winner of the trip, blogs and posts his popular urban design newsletter on his Price Tags website. (Full disclosure: Sightline is also lucky enough to claim...

Editor’s note: In honor of our “Escape to Vancouver” Sweepstakes, we’re “recycling” one of our most popular posts. Sign up for Sightline Daily emails between now and October 29 and you, too, could experience a car-less vacation to Vancouver, BC!   Our car-less family vacation in Vancouver, BC, was a big success. Here’s a full report, for those of you who shared your own car-lessvacation stories and are interested in...

Editor’s note: During our three-week “Escape to Vancouver” campaign to increase the readership of Sightline Daily, we’ll be running a short blog series spotlighting Vancouver, BC, and its contributions to Cascadia. Clark Williams-Derry weighs in first. As you should know by now, we’re offering an all-expense paid trip to Vancouver, BC, as a sweepstakes reward to one lucky reader who gets their friends to sign up for a Sightline Daily...

This is curious. Washington state initiative-mogul Tim Eyman is known for writing ballot measures that appeal to eastern Washington residents, but give western Washingtonians—particularly in greater Seattle—a sharp poke in the eye. This election season, though, Eyman has thrown his usual tactics into reverse.  His new ballot measure, called Initiative 985 (or I-985 to the…er…initiated), is ostensibly targeted at a problem that’s mostly focused in greater Seattle:  traffic congestion.  And...

A few weeks ago we released a little video about rethinking the transportation landscape. It looks like we’re not the only ones trying to picture things a little differently. Just this week, leaders in Oregon, California, and Washington all took steps to tinker with local transportation habits. In Seattle, Mayor Greg Nickels took a cue from Portland and New York by instituting a few “car-free” Sundays where, throughout August, three...

As you may have noticed, we love maps, especially interactive ones. I just came across a nifty new little tool from the Center for Neighborhood Technologies that shows annual spending per household on gasoline in 52 major metropolitan throughout the US: The maps provide data for the years 2000 and 2008, enabling comparisons for the eight-year period between annual household gasoline expenses, monthly household transportation expenses (including vehicle purchase price,...

It seems to be a trend:  the press is noticing that rising transportation costs are starting to erode the value of housing prices in far-flung suburbs.  See, e.g., this Olympian article, and this article from the LA Times.  On the one hand, this is perfectly consistent with what I’d expect.  As gas prices rise, living in far-flung neighborhoods gets more and more expensive, while housing that’s close to transit, stores,...

A growing body of research shows that walkable, compact communities can promote good health and a healthier planet by promoting exercise and reducing the risk of obesity; lowering car crash fatalities; reducing greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle-related air pollution; and cutting down gasoline bills and oil imports.

There’s an emerging meme that recent high gas prices are a good thing. And I want to nip it in the bud. So… Bad Newsweek! Bad Wall Street Journal! Bad Freakonomics blog! Gas prices are not something to crow about. To be sure, there are some benefits to higher prices—a rush to innovate, and a bit less climate pollution — but they’re a tarnished silver lining, at best, to an awfully dark storm cloud. I can’t help...