Urban freeways continued: Seattle

The Alaskan Way Viaduct is a three story barrier, separating Seattle from its historic waterfront. Continuing the thread started yesterday on urban freeways and the CNU Teardown Survey, we have a guest blogger today. Cary Moon is the co-founder and director of the People’s Waterfront Coalition, which is a grassroots group that formed a few … Continued

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National Commission Report Shows Federal Transportation Program is Broke — and Broken

Joint statement by the Smart Growth America, Reconnecting America and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership to the report of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission. For Immediate Release: Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008 Contact: David Goldberg, 202-412-7930 WASHINGTON, DC – The National Surface Transportation Study Commission has provided an invaluable service in marshalling … Continued

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Jobs and Internships at SGA

Smart Growth America is looking to fill several internships and one full-time paid fellowship. (See the links at left) The National Complete Streets Coalition is seeking a Complete Streets Fellow. This is a tremendous opportunity for a recent graduate to take on significant responsibility while learning about transportation reform issues and working directly with a … Continued

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Introducing the Smart Growth Implementation Toolkit

We’d like to alert you to this important annoucement from the Smart Growth Leadership Institute: Join us for a Knowledgplex Experts (Online) Chat as we introduce the Smart Growth Implementation Toolkit on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 2 p.m. ET The Smart Growth Leadership Institute, through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is … Continued

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Less auto-dependent development is key to mitigating climate change

The growing demand for conveniently located housing in walkable, accessible, compact neighborhoods with a mix of uses has been well-documented, but according to research released today, meeting that demand could significantly reduce the growth in the number of miles Americans drive, shrinking the nation’s carbon footprint while giving people more housing choices. A new book, … Continued

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Alarming developments for federal transit funding

Ed. note: Read the “background” below for a detailed explanation of what this means. Contact Your Senator or Congressman TODAY as they work on the Transportation Appropriations bill. Ask them to STOP the proposed rule for New Starts and Small Starts and give US DOT clear directive that FTA must: Comparably weigh all 6 project … Continued

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Katrina: A watershed for a nation and a movement

ed. note: this essay by David Goldberg originally appeared in September 2005. On the second anniversary of Katrina, we remember the storm, its aftermath, the people affected—and ponder the future. There’s something about an event such as Katrina’s devastation of the Gulf coast region that tempts hyperbole. Just as we fell into the habit of … Continued

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Aligning land use policies and water protection programs

An announcement from the Smart Growth Leadership Institute (SGLI): SGLI, working with The Trust for Public Land (in partnership with the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators and the River Network) launched a new program to help state governments develop innovative ways to protect drinking water sources by improving the coordination between state land use … Continued

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How walkable is your neighborhood? Check WalkScore.com

As more and more people realize the drawbacks of living in solely auto-centric places—obesity, lost time, high cost of fuel, energy dependence, dangerous emissions—demand is growing rapidly for homes in walkable areas, where it’s not a given that a one-ton automobile is required to get one dozen eggs from the store. But how does one go about finding out just how “walkable” is that new home or apartment?…

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