Cities & Planning

Seattle's massive number of zones hide a couple very weird outliers. Or they would be outliers, if there weren't so many.

Late Friday afternoon, walk-on passengers heading to and from Colman Dock on Seattle's waterfront were able to use a brand new pedestrian bridge directly connecting the terminal with First Avenue over Alaskan Way, a final element in the $489 million overhaul of the city's flagship Washington State Ferries terminal. The new facility provides a wider

A rapid mode shift from planes and lanes to trains is a healthy climate solution. Many thanks to Stephen Fesler for his reporting on the new Amtrak Cascades Plan. As he describes, it’s better than current service -- but insufficient to meet 2030 climate imperatives. Washington law has multiple climate-mitigation requirements. Most are ignored or

On November 13, the greater Miami area will see the biggest transformation in where you can go on public transit since Metrorail opened almost 40 years ago.  Not a new rail line, but a huge redesign of the bus network that will make it useful to more people for more trips, all over the […]

In the mid-1900s, people flocked to Reno, Nevada — not for frontier gold or loose slots, but to get out of bad marriages.  The city became known as the “Divorce Capital of the World.” For much of modern history, it has been relatively easy to get married, and extremely difficult to get divorced — and

On Being an Advocate for Public Transit When the Public Realm Is Disintegrating

Solar energy costs have fallen 90 per cent over the last decade, while new discoveries have seen efficiency rates rise

Hidden on the back of the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., is an engraving of Kilroy, the ubiquitous graffito that accompanied American GIs through Europe and, later, around the world. Some earlier inscriptions: Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia has stood since 537, built by Justinian I as the patriarchal cathedral of Constantinople. It wasn’t until 1964 that runic inscriptions were discovered in the southern gallery, apparently engraved by members of the Varangian Guard during the Viking Age. Their meaning isn’t certain, but one may have read “Halfdan carved these runes” and the other “Ári made the runes.” More may...

The state has a chance to oust unpopular investor-owned utilities — and set a precedent for the rest of the country.

The pandemic kicked off a "doom loop" that has gutted cities and towns across the country. Big banks are making it worse.

Here's the first section of a new paper on electrification in developing countries that I wrote for the Alliance For Responsible Citizenship

New HVAC companies are working on more climate-friendly designs to tackle the "doom loop" of air-conditioning.

Sansei Technologies manufactures amusement park rides for Disney and Universal, as well as independent Japanese resorts. At the Tokyo Mobility Show, the company displayed their newly-developed SR-02, a prototype for a four-legged people mover: The electric-powered vehicle measures 3.6m in length, 2.0m in width and 2.1m

When drivers rule the road, irresponsibility becomes fatal.

Standing on the platform of SeaTac Airport Station after midnight, straining to see whether the next light rail train is coming, I can’t help but wonder whether I would have been better off taking a $60 taxi home. The $3 train would be coming, my transit app assured me, but it wouldn’t be taking me

Short answer:  Because the buses are timed to meet each other, and this is harder than it looks. Long answer:  If you’ve used public transit in an area that has infrequent trains, including the suburbs of many cities, you’ve probably wondered why the bus and train schedules aren’t coordinated.  Why didn’t they write the bus […]

Protecting culturally significant public lands and expanding outdoor access should be a political priority.

Solar advocates in southwestern Virginia say being local, proving the tech works, and building a coalition to support it have been key to their success.

Designs at the Venice Architecture Biennale are rethinking the modern flush for a water-strained world.

Google Wallet will soon support digital ORCA cards and allow for contactless payment via Android-powered mobile devices. That will save many Puget Sound transit riders the need for a physical ORCA card. Mobile payments have been a highly anticipated feature since the new ORCA system launched last year. Google will have the distinction of being

Congestion Pricing is Coming to Manhattan. Will It Work in Other Cities?

by Scudder Wagg Suffolk County is a vast and variegated place covering the eastern two-thirds of Long Island, New York. It includes a range of historic towns like Babylon, Huntington, and Port Jefferson, many of which grew up around the Long Island Rail Road. The western two-thirds of the county is largely developed in an […]