Search Results

A non-hybrid bus, Seattle Today, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer breaks what it seems to think is an important story: the diesel-electric hybrid buses King County Metro operates are burning a lot more fuel than anticipated. In fact, their fuel economy is no better than that of the older buses they are replacing. This news is a little disappointing but ultimately doesn’t matter much. Here’s why, in a series of points that...

Walking is supposed to be one of the healthiest activities around, but unfortunately, when you add cars into the mix, it can be lethal. The Surface Transportation Policy Project’s latest “Mean Streets” report finds that walking is the most dangerous mode of transportation, per mile, and is becoming more dangerous in some areas of the United States, particularly for certain segments of the population: African-Americans, for example, make up 19...

Watching reactions to passage of Measures 37-and my original post here (Lessons from Measure 37) -it seems the issue isn’t whether the glass if half-full or half-empty. It’s whether the glass has been shattered, never to hold water again. Former Oregon Congressman Les AuCoin writes for High Country News’ Writers on the Range: “When Oregonians passed Measure 37 by a lopsided margin of 60 percent to 40 percent, they signaled...

Following up on Dave Yaden’s post yesterday: now that Measure 37 has left Portland’s urban growth boundary in tatters, David Bragdon, president of the three-county Portland Metro governing body, is looking for other ways to encourage smart growth. From the Willamette Week: Most observers doubt Measure 37 can be knocked off by lawsuits or overhauled by the Legislature. So, Bragdon says, planners must seek new ways of promoting compact urban-style...

As if airlines didn’t have enough to worry about, an AP story on a new government study notes that America’s obesity epidemic is yet another drag on the industry. More pounds per passenger equals increasing fuel costs (which increases environmental costs, too, as you can see in this backgrounder). A couple of morsels: Through the 1990s, the average weight of Americans increased by 10 pounds, according to the Centers for...

Portland gets all the attention for its growth policies. Its urban growth boundary—in place since the 1970s—is widely (and correctly) credited with limiting low-density sprawl on the urban fringe, and promoting compact neighborhoods with a healthy mix of homes, stores, and businesses. But I keep hearing Portland’s critics say that Portland’s effort to promote density has gone too far. That the city has grown too dense, too fast. Are those...

An analysis of how 15 US cities are doing at curbing urban sprawl, with a focus on Portland, Oregon. The study found that Oregon’s land-use policies excel in protecting rural land and curbing low-density sprawl. Person for person in the last decade, new development in metropolitan Portland consumed less than half as much land as the average city in the study.

Vancouver’s soaring downtown construction is now embracing green building practices and multiple use within each tower, says the Sun. Wow. King County’s legal “wall” against sprawl is working, says the annual Growth Report. (King County, containing Seattle, is the most populous county in Cascadia, with 1.8 million residents.)

This is encouraging: the Washington State department of tranportation has decided against building a highway and railroad parallel to I-5 through Snohomish County, north of Seattle. The biggest reason: cost. Quoting the article: “According to estimates, it could take up to 50 years to build such a second north-south corridor and would cost $42 billion to $50 billion.” (Emphasis added.) This should be a potent reminder: building new traffic capacity...

Really. We tried. This week’s New Yorker ran a truly excellent article (available only in the print version) by David Owen, on the acme of eco-friendly communities: Manhattan. Most people think of the concrete-encased island as an environmental distopia. They’re mistaken. Manhattanites use a fraction of the gasoline and far less electricity, have fewer and smaller personal possessions, and take up less physical space, than do residents of any other...