Anchorage to Install First Protected Bike Lane Diana Ionescu Thu, 05/02/2024 - 12:03 Primary Image Cyclists in Anchorage, Alaska will get to ride on the city’s first protected bike lane this summer, reports Lex Yelverton in Alaska’s News Source. “As part of a pilot study already underway, a temporary protected bike lane (PBL) will be installed on Sixth Avenue and A Street from the end of May through September.”  If the summer pilot is successful, city officials say they could finance year-round projects. “Anchorage Assembly member Daniel Volland says the project is being federally fun ..read more

Faith-Based Housing Brings Light Density With Less Resistance Diana Ionescu Thu, 05/02/2024 - 11:00 Primary Image Primary Image Caption Church in Riverside, California. Writing in The New York Times, Conor Dougherty describes the growth of the ‘Yes in God’s Backyard’ (YIGBY) movement that is making a small but significant impact on the housing and homelessness crisis in California and elsewhere. As Dougherty explains, building housing on vacant or underused land can benefit the organizations that own it, too. “In Los Angeles and around the country, faith organizations are often on prime ..read more

New Colorado Fossil Fuel Fee Will Fund Transit Diana Ionescu Thu, 05/02/2024 - 10:05 Primary Image Primary Image Caption An RTD train in Denver, Colorado. Colorado lawmakers have agreed to drop one set of air quality legislation and propose two new bills to “codify agency rules that cut smog-forming compounds from drilling operations into state law and establish a new fee for oil and gas production” in an effort to prevent a lengthy ballot process and legislative back-and-forth and to create a new source of transit revenue. “Kelly Nordini, the CEO of Conservation Colorado, said the agree ..read more

Houston Road Safety Project at Risk Diana Ionescu Thu, 05/02/2024 - 09:00 Primary Image Houston Mayor John Whitmire is threatening to derail a major road redesign project due to his recent opposition to vehicle lane reductions and bike infrastructure, reports Adam Zuvanich for Houston Public Media. “would rehabilitate the aging roadways, provide stormwater drainage improvements, bolster safety by reducing the incidence of fatal crashes and better accommodate pedestrians, cyclists and mass transit users.” The $100 million Shepherd and Durham Major Investment Project, Zuvanich explains, “wou ..read more

Portland Gas Tax Renewal Up to Voters Diana Ionescu Thu, 05/02/2024 - 08:00 Primary Image This month, voters in Portland, Oregon will decide whether to renew a local gas tax that would fund the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s road maintenance budget, reports Alex Zielinski for OPB. “Voters first approved the 10-cent-per-gallon tax in 2016, to address a mounting road maintenance backlog. It was renewed in 2020. The tax has generated nearly $150 million for PBOT over eight years.” Zielinski explains that the tax funded pedestrian crossing signals, sidewalks, speed bumps, lighting, and ot ..read more

It’s National Bike Month — Is Your City Safe for Cycling? Diana Ionescu Thu, 05/02/2024 - 07:00 May is National Bike Month, and cycling advocates around the country are both celebrating recent victories and calling attention to the work that remains to make U.S. bike infrastructure safe and comprehensive. While some cities have made significant strides in building out their protected bike lane networks and making it easier to connect biking with other transit options, others continue to lag behind. Despite a plethora of Vision Zero pledges, cyclist and pedestrian deaths remain at all-time hi ..read more

California Bills Take Aim at Robotaxi Regulation Diana Ionescu Mon, 04/29/2024 - 12:00 Primary Image Primary Image Caption A Waymo self-driving taxi in San Francisco, California. A series of proposed laws in California could clarify how commercial autonomous vehicles (or robotaxis) are regulated and give local governments more control over their deployment, reports Rebecca Bellan in Tech Crunch. “One bill, SB 915, stands out because it could give cities more power to set their own rules around robotaxis — things like hours of operation and appropriate pickup and drop-off locations.” Self ..read more

Tenants and Home Buyers: Do You Know Your Fair Housing Rights? Mary Hammon Mon, 04/29/2024 - 11:00 Primary Image As a term, fair housing seems like a pretty straightforward thing: under federal (and often state) law, it is illegal to discriminate against someone based on their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status when renting, selling, or financing housing. Done and dusted, right? Not exactly, says Justin Bower, director of community and environmental planning for the Houston-Galveston Area Council, who recently sat down with Laura Onyeneho of the Def ..read more

A Win for Single-Family Zoning in California Irvin Dawid Mon, 04/29/2024 - 10:00 Primary Image “A controversial housing law that abolished single-family zoning across California has been ruled unconstitutional by a Los Angeles County judge — but the narrow ruling is likely to be appealed by the state, and it’s unclear how it might ultimately affect the Bay Area,” reported Kate Talerico for The Mercury News on April 25 in a 'subscriber-only' article. [Other articles without paywalls are linked in this post.] See Planetizen's legislative tag for Senate Bill (SB) 9 ..read more

Brightline Founder Predicts a Passenger Rail Resurgence Diana Ionescu Mon, 04/29/2024 - 09:00 Primary Image Primary Image Caption A Brightline train in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As a new high-speed rail line breaks ground between Las Vegas and Southern California, Brightline founder Wes Edens says “A new era of fast passenger rail is poised to sweep across the US” — and his company is ready for expansion. “The Texas triangle of Dallas, Houston and San Antonio is among the promising routes, as are Atlanta-Charlotte, Portland-Seattle and Chicago-St. Louis, the Fortress Investment Group co ..read more