Today’s Headlines

Today’s headlines somehow formed themselves into a narrative all on their own. They tell a story about the ineffective ways we deal with growing traffic problems. The solution is here, too, if you read carefully enough: stop driving so much!

• Report issued on 50 worst traffic bottlenecks in US—no surprises here:
  • One-third of the worst 30 are in So Cal—and have been congested for many years (LA Times)
  • Two of the top 50 are in the Bay Area—and Caltrans’ response shows an understanding that widening roads won’t fix the problem (ABC7)
• Here’s a little video illustration of what happens when people get stuck in traffic (Vimeo)
• Another reason to come up with alternatives to driving: declining gas tax revenues are delaying road projects (Lompoc Record)
• The commute hour in the Bay Area is starting earlier and earlier (SF Chronicle)
• The California Alliance for Jobs documents bad roads—and, inadvertently, the huge vehicles adding to the problem (Business Wire)
• But transportation planning in most cities is stuck in the past (Governing)
• And the fight for transit funding is tough (Urban Land Institute)
• And even when transit investments happen, they’re too few and way too slow: in San Jose, local businesses are losing money because BRT construction is taking so long (San Jose Mercury News)
• While bike commuting has many many benefits, including economic ones (Triple Pundit)
• Meanwhile, people say lots of clueless things at public hearings—herein personified by cats (Austin on Your Feet)

More California headlines at Streetsblog LA and Streetsblog SF