In the past I have posted about the hidden cost of transportation when making a home purchase decision.  Building on the work from the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Housing and Transportation Affordability Index, they have launched Abogo which let’s you put in your current (or potential) address and see what the estimated transportation costs and CO2 impacts is per month.  Research...

One of the challenges that will continue to influence transportation policy (and funding availability) will be the demographic shifts as the Baby Boomer Generation moves into retirement (assuming the economic environment does not limit their ability to retire).  GE put together this pretty cool Infographic where you can compare different countries and their projected demographics distribution...

Bikes are great. They don’t pollute. They’re great exercise. They can travel short-medium distances relatively quickly, sometimes more quickly than driving and parking. But bikes aren’t always wonderful for long-distance trips (although I hope I’ve proven by example that long-distance bike commuting is neither impossible nor always undesirable!). That’s why pairing them with transit makes...

Really fascinating Migration Maps from an online tool put together by Forbes.com that shows the net migration patterns of any county in the United States in 2008.  The maps below show the amazing growth in local counties like Harris and Fort Bend.  Drawing people from all over who are  attracted to the opportunities of the region.  (Black indicates net inward migration; Red indicates net outward...

In our own work with client we have found that improving the timing and synchronization of traffic signals along a corridor can reduce delay and emissions by 5-25% (obviously dependant on the starting point).  This is in line or above what has been shown through repeated studies.  One of the most difficult thing in a project like this is to manage for driver behaviour that can offset some...

I came across this in the Nudge Blog that Rickard Thaler and Cass Sunstein write, building on their book Nudge which you will probably enjoy if you like books along the lines on Gladwell or Freakonomics.  It shows how the City of Gainesville, FL is using signage to share feedback on drivers behavior in the likelihood or yielding for pedestrians in the crosswalk.  It provides a nice reminder...

  Nice recent write up by Tom Vanderbilt, author of the book Traffic, in Slate magazine on designing a better stop sign.  It included this link to a great parody video on the development of a new stop sign.  It was not that long ago that stop signs were yellow so maybe we have made some progress.  He also references Gary Lauder’s TED talk which we mentioned previously on this...

FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY! That’s right folks. Friday. If you’ve been reading my blog posts this year about bike commuting to work, and have been thinking “gosh, that guy sure is cool for riding 16 miles to work; I’ve got to try it sometime,” well, this Friday is your day. Or if you’ve been reading and thinking “that jerk sure must be full of himself to write about his bike riding so much,”...

The City of Houston planning department recently undertook the exciting and challenging task of  looking at improving parking requirements.  It is one of the things that frequently gets overlooked and has a big effect on transportation mode choices and development patterns.  Couple links that talk about the topics as food for thought here and here and the recent ITDP parking report...

Over this past weekend, the TEI Bike Team mounted our two-wheeled bike beasts and traversed over 150 miles and quite a few hills from Houston to Austin on the mega bike ride known as the MS150. I’m sure you’re familiar with the ride and its 13,000+ participants and noble goal of funding research to cure the debilitating disease multiple sclerosis, so I’ll spare you the nitty gritty details. Instead,...