The Brake: A Streetsblog Podcast: Recent Episodes
StreetsblogUSA
A sidewalk isn't just a strip of asphalt; it's a place where countless laws collide, whether they're governing our movement, our safety, our right to free speech, our economy, or even just who's responsible for shoveling after a snow storm. But most communities don't have a single agency that manages all these competing concerns — and maybe it's time they create one. Today on The Brake, we interview sidewalk law expert Michael Pollack about his new book "Sidewalk Nation: The Life and Law of America's Most Overlooked Resource." And in that book, he untangles the dense web of policies that shape our pedestrian spaces, which might just change the way you look at sidewalks forever.
Affordability is the buzzword in American politics — and when it comes to transportation affordability, the policies that would give the most families the most immediate relief would also do the most to address the climate crisis. So why aren't things like fast, free buses, better connected sidewalks, and quick-build bike lanes sitting front and center of every politician's platform? And if they were, could it help climate champions across the country finally take power? Today on The Brake, we speak to Emmett Hopkins, transportation policy manager for the Climate and Community Institute, and one of the authors of a new report called Stop Greed, Build Green. Hopkins breaks down an agenda that could help save the planet and end the income inequality crisis — and why "Green Economic Populism" is so different than the predatory breed of populism that's claimed Washington right now, or the flawed "Bidenomic" approach that proceeded it.
Robotaxis from companies like Waymo are already rolling onto roads across America, whehter or not cities are ready for them. How can cities take back their power and put shared autonomous vehicles in their proper place, understand what impact they're having on local transportation goals, and avoid amplifying some of the worst impacts of old-school car dependency? Today on The Brake, we're talking to Josh Naramore of the National Association of City Transportation Officials, which released a new report on how cities can meet the robotaxi revolution, and do it on their terms. And if they do it right, they can do it without losing momentum on building livable streets for people outside cars, too.
Even before the Trump administration and the current congress started rescinding federal grants left and right, it was hard to get major sustainable transportation projects across the finish line in America. That's why one livable streets legend is stepping up to help push those efforts forward — including a few that lost funding since his own time in Washington On this episode of The Brake, we're joined by Christopher Coes — the third-ranking member of USDOT under President Biden and superstar alum of Transportation for America, Smart Growth America, and the Brookings Institution — to talk about his new initiative, AmericaFWD. With the help of former WashDOT head and guest of the podcast Roger Millar and a deep network of infrastructure experts, they're helping a select group of U.S. communities push forward major multimodal infrastructure efforts, projects to reconnect communities, and more. And you might even recognize a few of those efforts from the list of projects that had their funding rescinded under Trump. Give it a listen, then check out AmericaFWD's State of Play report, apply to be a part of its Project Delivery Accelerator Lab, and explore its Advisory Network.
The idea of providing a "universal basic income" to ensure every U.S. resident can afford the fundamentals is gaining traction with the rise of AI. But even that much-needed money might not guarantee much of a life to people who live in neighborhoods with dirty air and water, insufficient housing, and — yes — no transportation to access to all the things they need.
Enter the idea of a Universal Basic Neighborhood: where every community has built in all the ingredients necessary for its average neighbor to live to at least 80, including a transportation system where their chance of dying in a car crash is low and they enjoy a multitude of mobility options. And those ingredients didn't come out of nowhere: the researchers behind the study scoured the literature to find neighborhoods where residents have a healthy life expectancy, thanks in part to policies governing their immediate communities. On today's episode of The Brake, we talk to one of the authors of that study, Michael O. Emerson, about how to adapt the "universal basic neighborhood" concept for unique places, what a universal basic transportation system really looks like, and why giving the basics to every neighborhood matters — even to people who already live in places that are providing them all the mobility, safety, and longevity they need.
Highway teardowns are messy, multi-decade projects that spark countless debates and competing narratives — even among livable streets advocates who broadly agree that replacing autocentric infrastructure is a good idea. In his Peabody Award-winning podcast The Big Dig, though, Ian Coss was able to do the impossible by encapsulating the Boston project of the same name into nine astonishing, thought-provoking episodes — and now, he's doing telling the story of similar projects in cities across the America. In October, Coss embarkedo on what he's calling The Highway Teardown tour, which has already taken him to four cities that either have, or are trying to, reimagine their worst infrastructure. And with eight more cities to go and follow up podcast of tapings from those shows forthcoming this spring, the tour has become an opportunity to reflect on the larger freeway fighting movement across America, how advocates are pushing forward even under Trump, and how to do these projects even better.
Washington State is on the brink of completing America's first comprehensive, statewide inventory of every single sidewalk and pedestrian path — and along with it, a collection of tools that make it easy for transportation professionals and every day travelers to see exactly where those paths fall short. But why did it take any American state so long to create something like this, even in an era of Google Maps and ubiquitous AI? And what will it take to bring it to communities across the country in a way that lasts — and allows the data to keep getting better? Today on The Brake, we chat with Dr. Anat Caspi about the resource she's calling OS Connect — short for Open Sidewalks — and the upcoming conference to explore the challenges and opportunities of leveraging big data for big change in the pedestrian realm. And along the way, we explore how her late daughter, Aviv, helped inspire her work, the tool named in her honor, and the importance of "anti-ableist AI" and bringing the human perspective to technology.
Protests are raging in the streets of Minneapolis and across the country as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents accelerate their campaign to deport migrants — with increasingly violent and deadly results, particularly in the transportation realm. But what is the transportation reform advocate's role in that fight? And can the battle to remake our violent transportation system help support the goal of making the entire country less susceptible to violent governments? We're sitting with those difficult questions on today's episode of the Brake, as well as the deaths of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Silverio Villegas Gonzales, and more.
How can transportation start-ups help fight climate change, and who are the leaders pushing them forward? We sat down with Josh Dorfman, host of the podcast 'Supercool', to talk about what he's learned from interviewing the founders behind companies like CityThread, Veo, Brompton Bicycle, Zum, and Upway. And along the way, he unpacks why it's critical to harness 'market momentum' in the battle to decarbonize our cities and make them more livable for everyone — especially as Washington gears up to rewrite our federal transportation laws in 2026.
There's a big difference between knowing what is best of your city's transportation system, and knowing how to fight the often fierce political battles you need to win in order to make it real. Fortunately, one author has written a manual to help transit advocates across America do exactly that, from picking campaigns out of the tangle of interlocking transportation challenges that ensnare our cities, to winning over the skeptical — and everything in between. On this episode of The Brake, we're joined by Carter Lavin's to discuss his new book "If You Want to Win, You've Got To Fight: A Guide to Effective Transportation Advocacy," which host Kea Wilson called "the book the transportation reform movement has been waiting for."
What will it take to wake more of the world up to the dangers of mass automobility — and could a book be help Americans imagine a future beyond car dominance? That's what Sarah Goodyear and her co-authors are hoping as they release their new book "Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves From the Tyranny of the Automobile." Along with Doug Gordon and Aaron Naperstek, with whom she co-founded the legendary "War on Cars" podcast, she's bringing the conversation about transportation reform to a new audience, and hoping to give even veteran advocates new tools to talk about why we need to radically rethink our streets. We sat down with Goodyear at the Vision Zero Cities conference in New York City last week to dig deep into the research about how, in her words, "cars ruin" so much of our world, why we can't dismantle other forms of violence without confronting our violent transportation system, and the one politician she most wants to pick up this book.
Hey everyone, it’s Kea; welcome the brake.
If you’ve ever taken a stroll on New York’s High Line or ridden along Missouri’s Katy Trail, you might assume that it was a no-brainer for communities across the U.S. to rip up the old abandoned train tracks that used to run there and build a sanctuary for people outside cars. In actuality, though, the story of the rails-to-trails movement is one of the most epic, controversial, and still ongoing tales in the history of American advocacy — and now, it's finally getting a film that's worthy of that epic narrative. On October 15th PBS.org and member stations near you will air a new documentary called From Rails to Trails, which “captures the 60-year struggle — and transformative triumph — of one of America’s most unlikely grassroots movements.” It’s a star-studded affair featuring narration by academy award nominee Edward Norton and cameos from folks like Pete Buttigieg, but one of its highlights are interviews with author, activist, and now, executive producer Peter Harnik, who literally wrote the book on the history of the rail-trail movement and its role in challenging car dependency.
On this episode of the Brake, we sat down with Harnik to talk about the secret history of one of the fiercest battles over public space in U.S. history, the time rail-trails ended up before the Supreme Court, the Trump administration's recent clawbacks to trail funding, and more.
Car culture has a higher body count than both world wars combined. So why don't we think of automobility in the same way we think about the bloody and destructive global conflicts that dominate the news — and what would it take to transform our streets into a tool to make our whole society more peaceful, rather than more violent? Today on the Brake, we sat down with PhD candidate Ashton Rohmer to talk about her fascinating new paper that looks at our transportation culture through a "peace and conflict studies" lens — and why car domination is a kind of warfare unto itself, even if claims of a counterattack are seriously overblown. And then we dig into what shifts when we approach transportation reform advocacy as a part of the larger "peacebuilding" project — and why self-proclaimed peacebuilders need to embrace ending car culture, too.
Active transportation advocates constantly get accused of waging a "war on cars." But when you look around our communities, it sure looks more like we’re in the middle of a war on walking and biking — and the wrong side is winning. In today’s episode of The Brake, we sat down with Dr. Tepi McLaughlin, who co-authored of a provocative new paper that argues it’s time to name the “enemies of physical activity” and dismantle policies they push, rather than just focusing on the additive benefits of building more sidewalks and bike lanes. And along the way, we talk about some of the hidden ways that corporations and policymakers have made non-automotive transportation so dangerous and rare, and what we can do to change it.
Secretary Sean Duffy withholding grants for America’s first high speed rail line. Congress surprisingly showing up for Amtrak in its annual budget. Elon Musk pushing for privatization. A surprisingly strong showing for trains in the Senate's budget proposal, and advocates who have even bigger hopes for the future. It seems like every time you turn on the news, there's an explosive new headline about passenger rail in America — but what's really driving them all? On this episode of the Brake, we sat down with the most plugged-in rail advocate we know, Jim Mathews of the National Rail Passengers Association, to break down some of the biggest rail stories of the day and give us a sense of where the State of the Union stands for this critical mode. And along the way, we dig into some stories you might have missed, like the massive freight merger that should make Amtrak passengers nervous, and more.
USDOT is accepting public comments about what it should propose for the next surface transportation reauthorization bill — and one advocate is hoping that legislation will finally give victims a voice at USDOT. Today on the Brake, we're talking to Marianne Karth of AnnaLeah and Mary for Truck Safety, who's pushing for the creation of a new, non-partisan "National Roadway Safety Advocate" position, which will give victims, survivors, and advocates against traffic violence a champion at the nation's highest transportaiton advocacy. Already the subject of bicameral legislation, Karth calls the job the "missing piece" in our roadway safety puzzle, and a key guide to help the public understand what it takes to enact laws that save lives — and help DOT officials understand what victims need from them, too. Listen in to learn more about what a National Roadway Safety Advocate would do, and check out Karth's step-by-step directions to leave a comment in support of this idea here.
Autonomous vehicle giant Waymo is starting to experiment with subscription packages for teens — including those too young to drive. But as America's kids gain high-tech motorized independence, what will they lose in exchange? Today on the Brake, host Kea Wilson is going solo for an informal chat about the debate over driverless cars as a youth mobility solution, how autonomous vehicles could even further isolate young people from their communities, and the dangers of relying on corporations for our basic human needs. And along the way, she touches on teen driving safety, the concept of "bumpability," and why parents are scared to let their kids outside on their own, even if they're not worried about car crashes.
We’ve all heard the argument that the soul of America’s economy is based on how much we all love to drive. But does the data support the narrative that cars connect us to far-flung opportunities to make and spend more money — or has our country's car-powered productivity revolution actually stalled out? Today on The Brake, we're talking to Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute about his new paper on the “mobility-productivity paradox”, and why so many economic indicators actually go down the more we collectively rely on automobiles — and many go up when we build a more multimodal future. And then we get into the really hard question: how to get our fellow Americans to believe it.
As the Baby Boomer set ages out of driving, are American cities ready to support their changing transportation needs — and what policies should they be writing right now to help seniors and their neighbors weather the silver tsunami? Today, we're posting an extended audio version of our earlier conversation with the fantastic author, attorney, and law professor Greg Shill about his contributions to the new book “Law and the 100 Year Life”. And in it, we dig into thorny questions about whether we need to reject what he calls “design essentialism” and accept the necessity of traffic enforcement; what it will take to get America’s seniors to move to places that can support their changing mobility needs (or for the leaders of the places they already live to make it possible for more seniors to get around in more ways); and, of course, golf carts.
One in five U.S. college students are also parents with children of their own — and in many cases, a single unexpected expense can be enough to force them to drop out before they earn their degrees. And too often, that emergency comes in the form of a transportation challenge like a cancelled bus route or a flat tire that keeps them from ever reaching the classroom. In honor of Mother's Day and Father's Day on The Brake, we're talking to Abigail Seldin of Scholarship America about the 3.8 million students who are earning degrees while raising families, and how they're helping them access the emergency funds they need to keep moving towards their higher education dreams. And along the way, we revisit Seldin's past work on the challenges of getting students of all ages to class in a car dependent country, and explore why the "safe routes to school" movement tends to stop around 12th grade.
Listen up below, visit their site to donate, and learn more about the stories of the parent-scholars whose lives they've already helped. To donate to St. Louis's tornado relief efforts, please visit ActionSTL, LoveTheLou, the Urban League of St. Louis, the St. Louis Community Foundation, or any of the organizations listed here.
Are Americans really more "car-brained" than their peers in the UK or the Netherlands — and if they are, what can make us change? The Brake is back from its spring hiatus with the return of two of our all-time favorite guests: researchers Ian Walker and Marco te Brömmelstroet, who teamed up for a new paper about how "motonormativity" manifests across their respective nations and the US. And along the way, they learned some fascinating insights about where our autocentric attitudes come from in all those coutnries — and what it would really take to change them.
Tune in now, read the original paper, or check out the innovative crowd-funding platform that fueled this research.
How does our popular media normalize dangerous behavior on our roads — and does it even help create it?
Today on The Brake, we're talking about the role of culture in driving our road violence crisis, including car ads that make reckless driving seem like it never has deadly consequences, action movies, video games, and even social media trends. And my guest today, documentarian and journalist Myron Levin, wrapped all of that into a really fascinating, full length documentary that you can watch for free right now.
Decades of research prove that highways tear apart the physical fabric of our cities, segregating neighborhoods by race and income and making it harder for anyone outside a car to access the jobs, services and communities they rely on — at least if those things happen to be located on the other side of a dangerous road.
But what impact do highways have on the invisible social fabric of our places — and does the internet provide a bridge between these disconnected communities, or only a digital mirror of the sharp divides that highways draw between our neighborhoods? Today on the Brake, we’re talking to data science researcher Luca Maria Aiello from IT University of Copenhagen, who found a fascinating way to quantify exactly how much downtown highways disconnect our social networks, in addition to our sidewalk, bike lane and transit networks. And along the way, we discuss what those divisions cost us in social mobility, democratic cohesion, and real dollars and cents.
Cities across America have been trying — and mostly failing — to achieve Vision Zero for more than a decade. But is it really time to trade the goal of ending road deaths and serious injuries for the aim of reducing them 30 percent by 2030? And would we be better positioned to eliminate the other 70 percent of fatalities if we made that strategic shift, or not? Today on the Brake, we sit down with the presdient of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, David Harkey, to talk about his organization's pivot to push for a five-year full-court press on traffic violence, and why he doesn't believe that means giving up on ending road deaths overall. And along the way, Kea presses him to examine what strategies would really rise to the surface if we set a tighter time horizon for more modest road safety gains, and why we have to sweat our strategy when it comes to saving lives.
What’s a little bigger than a bike, a lot smaller than a car, and might be the tool you didn’t know you needed to get a big haul home from the grocery store two miles away in the pouring rain? The answer is actually an entire category of vehicles that aren't common on U.S. roads — but with the right mix of policy, code, and infrastructure reform, we could see a lot more of them. Today on the Brake, we sit down with Karina Ricks of CityFi and Benjie De La Peña of the Shared Use Mobility Center to talk about all things mini-mobility, also known as light urban vehicles (LUVs), personal light moblity (PLMs), Neighboorhood Electric vehicles, (NEVs), and about a million other acronyms. Whatever you call them, Ricks and De La Peña recently won a $750,000 federal grant to help American communities encourage their use – only to find out, days later, that the grant might be in jeopardy thanks to President Trump’s executive orders.
Listen in to learn more about their project and how you can help keep it alive.
What if there were a single document that told every U.S. resident exactly how safe their state is — or isn't— for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other vulnerable road users, as well as what that state is doing to save lives ? Turns out there is: the Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment, or VRUSA. And since the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, every DOT in the U.S. has been legally required to write one – even if they don't always do it in ways that are particularly helpful to transportation reform advocates, Today on the Brake, we're sitting down with Michael Kelley of Bike Walk KC in Kansas City, Mo., who recently co-authored a new report that digs deep into how six states are approaching the all-important VRUSA — and how every state could make this document a more meaningful blueprint for saving lives. And along the way, we touch on why there are so many ways to quantify carnage on our roads, and why even in uncertain times, documents like this matter more than ever.
If you’ve been following Streetsblog for a while, you might have heard of famed planner/engineer/all-around transportation superstar Roger Millar, not least for his recent leadership as the head of the Washington state DOT. But you might not have heard that, while at WashDOT, Millar and his team did something quietly radical: they challenged every decision maker in their state to confront the role of land use in saving lives in our roads, by changing the very framework on which the state’s Vision Zero program rests.
On this episode of The Brake, we sit down with Secretary Millar on the eve of his departure from WashDOT to talk about not just why that change could be so impactful, but how he wants his career to be remembered, even as he transitions to a new chapter. And along the way, we get into a deeper conversation about what state DOTs are really for, and how advocates can push them to do better.
More than a decade ago, Kate Gallego had a seizure that temporarily cost her the ability to drive – and opened her eyes to the difficulty of getting around her city of Phoenix, Arizona without a car. Now, in her third term as Phoenix's mayor, she's pushed for some of the most aggressive multimodal transportaiton investments in the city's history, including a new shade plan to tackle the impact of the community's notoriously sweltering heat on people who walk, roll, orwait for a ride. On this episode of The Brake, we dive deep into how Phoenix is using next-level data to put shade investments into the neighborhoods that need them most, how shade structures can do double-duty as public art and play space, and the cultural challenges of fighting for multimodality in a place built around the car. Check it out, and if you appreciated this show, include Streetsblog USA in your holiday giving, or sign up to be the first to know when our new SB-branded rain gear is available from Cleverhood.
Across America, a new class of developers are building car-free neighborhoods from scratch — or at least, they're building places where residents don't need to drive quite as much as their suburban neighbors. But can these greenfield developments really serve as a model for communities across America, or will they always be a rare and coveted commodity for those who can afford the luxury of living at human scale? Today on the Brake, we sit down with Scott Snodgrass of Meristem Communities, whose new development, Indigo, is bringing slow streets, hyper-local agriculture, and "mews" to and suburban Houston. And along the way, we have a deeper conversation about "new suburbanism," childhood autonomy, and how car-light living can scale. Listen in now. And if you enjoyed this episode and would like to support Streetsblog this holiday season, make your tax-deductible contribution to Streetsblog today, or sign up to be among the first to grab a Streetsblog-branded Cleverhood for 15% off, with 15% of proceeds benefitting our organization.
Tirana, Albania has gained international recognition for putting kids first on the road — especially their award-winning "School Streets," where cars are either banned or significantly limited from driving near learning centers and play spaces for kids are built instead. As the Balkan city grows its bike network, though, its mayor says it's still reckoning with a post-communist culture that sees cars as an aspirational symbol of success. And he has some fascinating thoughts about what it takes to shift that paradigm before it takes root any further. Today on The Brake, we finish up our dispatches from Bloomberg Citylab with Mayor Erion Veliaj. And along the way, we dig into some fasciating questions about America's "soft power" over European countries, why kids deserve a bigger say in how our cities are built, and why building places where grandmas want to sit and knit is better for public safety than any smart-city gadget.
Quelimane, Mozambique might not be the first city that comes to an American's mind when she thinks of an active transportation paradise. With 40 percent of trips taken on foot and 35 percent in the saddle, though, the east African city has already been ranked as the most walkable city on Earth — and now, it's setting its sights on becoming an international model for how to support people who walk and roll through visionary leadership and policy.
This week on The Brake, we continue our dispatches from Bloomberg Citylab with an inteview with Quelimane's mayor Manuel de Araújo. In his 13 years in office, de Araújo's made it his mission to elevate the social status of his city's cyclists and use the bike as a tool for social change, even building the country's first cycle lanes the help of a $400,000 grant from the Bloomberg Initiative for Cycling Infrastructure. In the process, though, he's come up against many of the same cultural and political challenges that American advocates face, even in a wildly different landscape where car dependency hasn't yet taken hold — and his leadership could be a powerful example for the U.S. as we head into uncertain times.
Highways and other federal transportation investments have destroyed neighborhoods of color across America, even as the current presidential administration attempts to heal those wounds through grants like the Reconnecting Communities Program. But what is it like to actually be a local leader fighting to win that money — especially when the sheer volume of disconnected communities makes the competition dauntingly steep? On this episode of The Brake —and our first dispatch from Bloomberg Citylab 2024 — we sat down with Lansing, Mich. Mayor Andy Schor, who's going above and beyond to win his town the money it needs to address the harms caused by Interstate 496, whose construction claimed more than 800 homes and businessess and even the dirt on which they sat. And along the way, we talk about how local officials and advocates can play a bigger role in resisting bad highway projects, and how mayors are exchanging tools to help in the fight. Listen in, and read interviews with three other small-city mayors who are getting into the federal grant game with the help of experts at the Local Infrastructure Hub.
Over the past few weeks, U.S. news has been flooded with images of hurricane disaster: endless traffic jams full of evacuees, communities destroyed by deadly winds, and residents struggling to access the resources they need to survive while multiple feet of water stand in the streets. But how has car dependency impacted the course of these unthinkable events — and how can addressing it make us more resilient to whatever climate change throws at us next? On today’s episode of the Brake, we’re sitting down with two experts from the Institute, Sara McTarnaghan and Will Curran-Groom, who are thinking deeply about the intersection between disaster planning and everyday urban planning, and how making our neighborhoods less centered on the automobile can help everyone when the big storm comes — which, as we’ve been reminded this week, can happen just about anywhere.
And along the way, we get into hard questions about how to evacuate people who don’t have cars, how ending exclusionary zoning now can pay dividends when communities set up resource hubs after a disaster, and so much more. Note: this episode was recorded after Hurricane Helene, but before Hurricane Milton. We are sending all our thoughts to the people in the path of both of those storms, and all the storms to come. If you are looking for ways to support the victims, here are a few resources.
Cities that have done the work to attract a lot of cyclists aren't just safe for people on two wheels — they're safer for drivers, pedestrians, and everyone else on the road, too. But why, exactly, is that true, and how can we use that insight to sell bike-friendly infrastructure and policy to a public that barely rides at all? On this episode of The Brake, we're back with Nick Ferenchak and Wes Marshall, who co-authored a new study of seven mid-sized cities that have gotten a lot of their residents into the saddle, and found that they reported 61 percent fewer traffic deaths than peer communities where everyone drives. And that finding may signal the need for a "new framework" for talking about what "bike" infrastructure is really for — and what kind of interventions can best protect people across all modes, if only by getting more residents out of their cars. Listen in, and when you're done, check out our previous episodes with Wes and Nick.
Our sister podcast, Talking Headways is about to hit its 500th episode. But how did host Jeff Wood accomplish that massive milestone, and how does he keep finding all these powerful stories about how our cities work? On today's episode of The Brake, our host Kea Wilson sits down for a long conversation with Wood himself to talk about how he's grown this incredible audio archive of interviews, how Streetsblog got lucky enough to host it, and how he spends his time when he's not behind the mic. And along the way, we chat about his dream guests — living and dead — and the single topic both he and Kea are dying to explore, but haven't found the perfect guest yet. Check it out, and listen to a few of Jeff's favorite past episodes below:
- Episode 27: Walt Disney, City Planner
- Episode 85: You Can't Surf After the Storm
- Episode 177: Peak Experience with Jarrett Walker
- Episode 325: Designing Fair Transport Systems with Karel Martens
- Episode 422: The Messiness of Family Travel with Jennifer Kent
"Reclaiming public space" isnt just about turning vacant lots into parks — or bulldozing homes for highways. And in a recent report, the Regional Plan Association of the tri-state area argues that the planning profession needs a new approach towards repurposing our land and giving residents more "psychological ownership" over their communities.
Check out RPA's recent case studies of how four U.S. cities are pushing the concept of "reclaiming public space" to new heights, then listen in to our conversation with Vanessa Barrios, the group's director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives to learn more.
A lot of ink has been spilled on what autonomous vehicles could mean for America, especially if the tech-industry fantasy of a 100% driverless future somehow comes true. But my guest today argues that policymakers need to dig a lot deeper if they want to anticipate the potential side effects of the AV revolution — especially when it comes to public health and equity.
In his new paper, "Equity issues ssociated with the widespread implementation of autonomous vehicles," Dr. Andrew Dannenberg of the University of Washington runs down all the questions communities should be asking before they let robocars run wild. Questions like: How expensive will it be to retrofit our roads so AVs will be able to read them, and will the money come from other modes? How will people with disabilities really be impacted by the rise of "driverless" cars — and the loss of human paratransit drivers to help them get around? And maybe most importantly, what community problems will this technology actually solve that couldn’t be solved in other ways?
When a fatal car crash happens, authorities act fast to stablize the victims, clear the road, and get traffic moving again like nothing ever happened. But what if, instead, they treated those streets as the site of a catastrophic transportation failure — and took immediate action to prevent the worst from happening again? On this episode of The Brake, we spoke to Kevin Krizek and Tila Duhaime, who are hoping U.S. cities will try a radical new approach to post-crash response they're calling "Emergency Streets." The idea, in essence, is that transportation officials will act fast to slash local speed limits and to install temporary, modular traffic-calming infrastructure within a half-mile radius of the spot where someone just lost their life, and keep those changes for at least two weeks — or until the community can have a serious conversation about how to make roads safer permanently. And in the process, Krizek and Duhaime hope that cities can not just save lives without more police enforcement, but also change collective attitudes about who's responsible for stopping traffic violence in the first place. Listen in, and if you'd like to chat with the advocates about their idea more, reach out at kjkrizek@gmail.com and tilatila2@gmail.com.
"Project 2025" purports to be a blueprint for an ultra-conservative federal government should Trump win a second term as president in November. But what does that document actually say about the issues that sustainable transportation advocates care about most — and does either party really understand our issues? On this episode of 'The Brake', we sat down with Transportation for America's Beth Osborne to chat through some of the standout passages of Project 2025 and break down what it would really mean if the next administration took the Heritage Foundation's advice to slash transit funding, let states raise more of their own transportation dollars, and push communities towards building more single-family-only neighborhoods. And we also explore where liberals, conservatives, and other political ideologies tend to overlap, and what it will take to push all of them towards a better conversation.
Enrique Peñalosa Londoño has an international reputation for using the humble bus, bikeway, sidewalk and park to make cities more equitable, starting with his game-changing two terms as the mayor of Bogotá, Colombia. And in his new book, Equality and the City: Urban Innovations for All Citizens, he unpacks how those tools can transform communities into advanced cities where the transportation is an equalizer rather than a divider. Tune into this guest episode from Scott Shepard of the #CitiesFirst podcast, and check out a transcribed excerpt from their converasation on Streetsblog USA
Who, exactly is designing America's notriously deadly road network — and how on earth do they keep getting away with it? On today's episode of The Brake, we’re talking to traffic engineer, academic and now author, Wes Marshall, whose new book — “Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies Our Transportation System” — unpacks the mountain of wildly outdated, severely limited, and often downright non-existent research that underlies so much of our national road design manuals. More importantly, though, Marshall's book also unpacks the more fundamental reasons why engineers keep widening lanes and saying no to crosswalks, even when the manuals give them permission to do something better — which, more often than not, they do.
Listen in, and read an excerpt from "Killed by a Traffic Engineer" here.
The Dutch are known around the world as global leaders in sustainable transportation. But as excellent as they are at designing cities to optimize the mobility experience, what about all the other reasons residents might move through their communities — and what other questions should the Netherlands and America be asking about what public space is really for?
Those questions are at the heart of the new Dutch book “Movement: How to Take Back Our Streets and Transform our Lives,” which is now out in English for the first time. And on this episode of the Brake, we sit down with authors Thalia Verkade and Marco te Brömmelstroet to talk about how much of their country treats bikes as “cars on two wheels,” the good and bad ways that e-bikes are reshaping their landscapes, and how American communities can continue to learn from the Dutch example, while also joining them in the fight for even better streets.
Most American communities don’t even bother to count what percentage of the population can't legally drive. In the handful of states that have tried, though, the answer has been around 30 percent – which is just enough to create a real movement for change, if we'd all just band together On today’s episode of The Brake, we're bringing you an extended audio version of our conversation with author Anna Zivarts, who has been quietly building that movement of non-drivers through her work with groups like Disability Rights Washington and America Walks. And in her new book, "When Driving is Not an Option: Steering Away From Car Dependency," Anna outlines what you can do right now to to center the needs of people who are the least well-served by our auto-dominated transportaiton system — and how that shift would benefit even those who are able and willing to spend much of their lives behind the wheel.
Across the country, grassroots advocates are fighting a David-and-Goliath-style battle against massive, powerful departments of transportation who are attempting to widen highways in their neighborhoods. And in her new book, City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America’s Highways, author Megan Kimble introduces us to the many Davids who are taking on one of the biggest Goliaths of all: the Texas Department of Transportation.
In this extended audio version of our recent interview, Megan unpacks not just why the Lone Star state is so uniquely emblematic of the larger movement to re-imagine our cities around people rather than cars, but what’s happened to these projects in the months since she finished her essential book — and what advocates in states without a visible freeway fighting contingent can do to galvanize their neighbors.
Across the country right now, cities and transit agencies are taking steps to address violence on their systems — particularly against the people who work to keep our buses and trains running, clean, and safe for everyone to ride. But what are the root causes of that violence — and are strategies like deploying armed police actually addressing them? On today's episode of The Brake, we speak to Urban Institute Senior Research Associate Lindiwe Rennert about her research into how violence against transit workers correlates with larger problems like police brutality and income inequality – and what that means for transit advocates who want to keep people safe on board. Listen in, and check out our earlier coverage of Rennert's work here.
Is it possible to build streets that are slow enough to keep vulnerable road users safe and lightning fast when an emergency service vehicle needs to reach a person in need? That's been a hot topic of debate among U.S. sustainable transportation advocates lately — and it's also the subject of a fascinating new research paper from the Dutch Cycling Embassy. In this episode of The Brake, we sit down with study co-authors Shelley Bontje and Chris Bruntlett to unpack how the Netherlands and other countries have navigated the challenge of building EMS-friendly streets that aren't hostile to people outside cars. Spoiler alert: it's not only about the famous Dutch culture of collaboration.
This week, we’re bringing you an interview with former Bicycling Magazine editor and cycling journalism veteran Peter Flax, to talk about Flax's new book, Live to Ride. Flax and guest host Gersh Kuntzman dig into the reasons why so many of us love to spend time on two wheels, and why people on bikes from all backgrounds come together around the simple joy of pedaling — as well as how they might come together as advocates to build coalitions that win real policy change. Listen in, and check out an edited transcription of this interview here.
Sustainable transportation advocates know all the stats about how many people die in car crashes on global roads every year. But what about all the deaths and injuries that car culture causes — not to mention all the other ways it diminishes and destroys our communities? On this episode of The Brake, we're bringing you an extended interview with the lead author of a new literature review that took on the impossible task of answering that question, and offered an astonishing glimpse into the many "car harms" that researchers around the world have tried to quantify. And then, we talk a little bit about how the costs of automobility measure up against its supposed benefits — and what it will take to shift the balance sheet towards human-scaled places. Listen in, and read a shareable digest of Miner's paper here.
A 'walkability study' can be a powerful tool to help cities and towns identify transformative strategies to welcome and protect pedestrians on their streets — and craft a plan to put those approaches into action. But what would it take to do this critical analysis in every American community that needs it? On this episode of The Brake, we sit down with Jeff Speck and Chris Dempsey of the new firm Speck/Demspey, which is trying to do just that. And along the way, we talk about some of the low-cost ways that any community can get a little more walkable, whether or not they bring in the pros. (Hint: it might be time to trade some traffic lights for stop signs.)
Black North Americans face massive and disproportionate barriers to the safe and free enjoyment of public spaces — particularly on North American streets and roads. But despite mountains of research on racial disparities in jaywalking stops, police brutality, traffic violence, and so much more, we still don’t have a complete picture of what it’s really like to be Black in the public realm, especially as that identity intersects with everything else North Americans might be.
Today, we sit down with placemaker and mobility justice icon Jay Pitter to talk about why she's launching the 'Being Black in Public' survey, which hopes to bring that conversation back to the center of the discourse — and inspire policymakers to adopt new strategies and approaches to "transform Black public space precarity into equitable and joyful public space through policy reform." And along the way, we also chat about her path to this work, how urbanism has (and hasn't) changed since the murder of George Floyd, why we need to talk more about "the cost of advocacy."
For years, experts have been perfecting sophisticated technologies that could virtually end impaired driving on U.S. roads — and thanks to a new bill, regulators are already exploring making it a requirement on all new cars. But will Washington take that historic step in the next two years, as advocates hope, or will the legislation get tied up in the misinformation campaigns that have plagued these life-saving ideas so far? Today on The Brake, we’re talking to someone for whom passing the fight to stop drunk driving before it starts is uniquely personal: Rana Abbas Taylor, who endured the unimaginable in 2019 when her sister, brother in law, and the couple’s three children were all killed by a heavily intoxicated driver in a single horrific car crash. Now, the Honoring the Abbas Family Legacy to Terminate Drunk Driving (HALT) Act could prevent tragedies like theirs— but it needs your help to pass. Listen in, and learn more about how to support the mandate here.
Whether they were in political office, in the board room, or simply behind the wheel of an SUV, Baby Boomers have been behind some of the worst climate decisions in recent memory. But they may also a unique opportunity — and a unique responsibility — to repair the planet they helped wreck, especially when it comes to the transportation sector. At least that's the argument behind the new book "Am I Too Old to Save the Planet?: A Boomer's Guide to Climate Action" by Lawrence MacDonald, a card-carrying member of that generation and an activist with climate organization Third Act. In this epsiode of The Brake, we sit down with MacDonald to talk about how Boomer helped perpetuate and expand the transportaiton system their parents created, how advocacy changes with age, and how to talk about how car dependency and climate are intertwined, no matter our stage of life.
As co-founder of the Congressional Bike Caucus Rep. Earl Blumaneuer (D - Ore.) has long been one of Washington's most staunch advocates for sustainable transportation — not least during the writing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which he fought to make better for vulnerable road users through the inclusion of programs like Safe Streets for All and Reconnecting Communities. Now, on the two-year anniversary of that law's passage, we sit down with Earl himself to reflect on the BIL's bright spots — as well as his own 27-year career in Congress, which he recently announced is about to come to an end. And along the way, we also chat about how bikes can help unify a polarized political landscape, how a federal parking cash-out law could create a more just society, and why he considers a little site called Streetsblog the 'secret weapon' of advocates everywhere.
This Halloween, we're giving you a treat instead of a trick, in the form of an extended (but still bite-sized) interview with legendary author and climate activist Bill McKibben. On today's episode of The Brake,we're revisiting our conversation from earlier this month about why the 350.org founder thinks the Week Without Driving campaign was so critical to the movement to curb the worst effects of man made climate change. We also talk about why advocates need to promote the joys of active transportation as much as its challenges, as well as what American advocats can learn from one small town in Brazil.
If you'd prefer to read rather than listen, check out an edited version here, and don't forget to check out McKibben's excellent essay at the New York Review of Books, "Toward a Land of Buses and Bikes."
Artificial intelligence is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the U.S. transportation landscape. Beyond headline-grabbing crashes with driverless cars, though, some advocates may not realize how else this rapidly-emerging technology is shaping their streets right now — and how it might be used in the future. On this episode of The Brake, we sit down with Renee Autumn Ray of Hayden AI to talk about her recent Eno Center report, "Understanding AI & Transportation," which unpacks the concept of machine learning and its many applications for cities, transit agencies, and more. And along the way, we explore some of the pitfalls of over-relying on AI, as well as how transportation leaders can best use it "as a tool to help humans do their jobs" — whether that's analyzing crash data to identify interventions to save lives, spotting and ticketing bus lane blockers, or just helping advocates illustrate what a human-centered street might look like.
Many sustainable transportation advocates fear that the era of autonomous vehicles will spur us to even further optimize our streets for the efficient operation of machines rather than the cultivation of experiences that make us fully human. By adopting a framework that radically centers 'livability' on our roads, though, could we make the robo-cars work for us — and maybe, undo the damage of the first wave of automobobility? On this episode of "The Brake," Kea Wilson sits down with author Dr. Bruce Appleyard to talk about his new paper, "Designing for street livability in the era of driverless cars", as well as his book, Liveable Streets 2.0, and the the legacy of his father, Dr. Donald Appleyard, who wrote the original edition. And along the way, we talk about why "livability" is about so much more than safety and the difference between "desigining" and "programming" our places to prioritize our humanity.
A lot of ink has been spilled on the long-term impact of COVID-19 on American transportation. But less has been spilled on the impcact of long COVID on individual people who walk and bike — and what happens when the disease makes active transportation impossible. On today's episode of "The Brake," Kea Wilson sits down with John Bolecek, who built his career in bicycle and pedestrian planning for the state of Virginia before a COVID-19 infection picked up from his son's daycare changed his life, despite the fact that he was "fit, vaccinated, and boosted. That initial infection eventually led to myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome that forces him to get around mostly by car — but it didn't lead to him questioning his commitment to building great places to bike and walk. Listen in, and check out the article that inspired this story at the Virginia Mercury.
Climate-conscious cities around the world are scrambling for ideas to cut how many miles their residents drive. But which strategies work the best — and which ones will residents actually accept? Today on The Brake, Kea Wilson sits down with researcher and best-selling author Dr. Kimberly Nicholas to talk about a recent study of the most effective ideas European cities have tried to transition away from car dependency — and what it might take to bring them to America. Listen in, and check out her Substack We Can Fix It here.
Federal transportation leaders are doling out billions of dollars to reconnect communities torn apart by highways. How exactly they should do it, though, is a matter of fierce debate — and some advocates say that even the most radical solutions aren't radical at all when seen through the lens of the radical harm that racialized and low-income communities are still enduring.
On today's epsiode of "The Brake," we sit down with Alex Burns and José Antonio Zayas Cabán of the nonprofit Our Street Minneapolis to talk about why they're fighting to turn two highways in their region into boulevards, and why they don't accept "band-aid" compromises like pedestrian bridges and cap-and-cover projects. And along the way, they share some wisdom on how other advocates can encourage their own communities to dream bigger.
With billions of federal dollars promised to reconnect communities torn apart by highways, America could be the brink of one of the largest mobility justice movements in decades. To really right the wrongs of our transportaiton past, though, author Veronica O. Davis agues we need a new playbook for how to engage and empower the Black, brown and low income communities we harmed — and her book, "Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities," could be a fantastic candidate.
We sat down with Davis to talk about her deep and diverse experience as a planner, engineer, journalist, and advocate, how to make tough decicions when communities have massive needs, and why an equitable future cannot be car dependent.
State transportation bills may not get as much attention as their federal counterparts, but they have a colossal impact on how we get around. And the state of Minnesota may have just created one of the most exciting blueprints yet for progressive governments across the country to follow — even if it took them the better part of three decades to do it.
On this episode of The Brake, we sit down with two Minnesota lawmakers and transportation committee chairmen — Senator Scott Dibble and Representative Frank Hornstein — to unpack what's in their massive new transportation finance and policy bill, as well as how it will help the Land of 10,000 lakes meet its ambitious driving reduction goals, and what other communities can learn from their fight to get it over the finish line.
Listen in, check out the full text of the bill here, or head over to Streetsblog for a cheat sheet.
On paper, a lot of people care about making their cities less car-dependent — but not all of us are taking action to actually do it. So why do so many people stay on the sidelines, and what will itake to get them into the fight? Today, we're sitting down with Carter Lavin, a Bay-area activist who's made it his mission to give people the skills, vision, and capacity to campaign for better sustainable transportation policies in their town, whether they're candidates for office, bike/walk nonprofits dealing with burnout, or just a couple of neighbors who just want a speed bump on their street already. Listen in, check out our past coverage of Carter's work, and check out his website for more info — including free online trainings, opportunties to sponsor other activists, and more.
late's cities reporter Henry Grabar's new book, Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World (Penguin Press), could have been a sleeper, aimed at livable cities nerds who already know how drivers' obsessive demand for free car storage has ruined our cities and enabled sprawl, all the while devastating our air quality and congesting our roads. Instead, it's quickly becoming a media sensation that's catching the attention of people far outside the movement — and getting them talking about the need for reform. On this episode of The Brake, guest host Gersh Kuntzman gabs with Grabar about some of the most shocking stories from America's long love affair with asphalt, including Chicago, where a privatization-obsessed mayor undervalued parking spaces — and lost $1 billion in a deal with Wall Street in the process— Los Angeles, where downtown merchants were so obsessed with "getting back" suburban shoppers that they turned their entire neighborhood into a shopping crater, and more.
What is an electric car, really? Is it a godsend that could save the planet from climate catastrophe by slashing emissions in the sector that contributes the most greenhouse gases in virtually every developed country in the world Is it an important tool for climate harm reduction that we have to invest in big, even if it doesn’t solve all of the problems of car dependent transportation systems? Or is it just a heavier and more heavily subsidized car that makes nearly all of the core problems of car dependency worse, while using its climate benefits as a screen to shield us from those harms?
On today's episode of The Brake, we sit down with Agnieszka Stefaniec,co-author of the new paper "A wolf in sheep's clothing: Exposing the structural violence of private electric automobility," to get her take — and talk about why the EV debate is so polarizing.
One in nine Americans live in poverty, and millions more live in a precarious place somewhere between precarity and true security. A new book argues, though, that it doesn't have to be this way — and that we can all play a role in challenging the systems and individual choices that "keep poor people poor" for benefit for everyone else. On this episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson sits down with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Matthew Desmond to talk about his new book Poverty by America, the poverty abolition movement, and how it intersects with the movement to end car dependency. (Hint: it's not just about hefty monthly car payments.) Listen in, and buy your copy anywhere books are sold.
Look up traffic fatality stats for almost any country in the world, and you'll find that men are almost always drastically over-represented among the dead, even in countries like the Netherlands and Sweden which have made the most progress towards Vision Zero. But if good road, vehicle and systems design isn't saving as many male-identified lives, what will — and why is it so hard to talk about cultural forces without denying the dangers of our built environment? On this episode of the Brake, host Kea Wilson sits down with researcher and urban planning professor Tara Goddard to talk about how toxic masculinity plays out on our roads and what can we be done to stop it. Listen in, and check out the resources below mentioned in the show:
- Tara's recent presentation on transportation safety culture at Portland State University
- Cara Daggett's "Petromasculinity: Fuel and Authoritarian Desire"
- "French Warn Parents of an Underestimated Roadway Danger: Toxic Masculinity"
"Roadway safety is a shared responsibility, and people in cars and outside of cars play an equal role in keeping each other safe."
"Sprawl is good, actually, because it means people can have big, beautiful houses and some quality alone time on their daily commutes."
"We won’t need to worry about transportation emissions or the broader impacts of automobiles on the environment for that much longer, because haven’t you heard? electric cars are here!"
Those phrases might spike make the average sustainable transportation advocate's blood pressure spike. But in the world of corporate disinformation, they're simply a handy way to reframe the conversation about car dependency — and to manipulate the public into accept ing the avoidable deaths of their loved ones and their planet.
On today's episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson brings you an extended interview with Grant Ennis, author of Dark PR: How Corporate Disinformation Harms Our Health and the Environment. Listen in, and check out a sharable summary of the "nine devious frames" he outlines in his book here.
Most bikeshare rides taken on U.S. soil happen in a handful of gigantic cities, on systems maintained by big corporations. At YoGo Bikeshare, though, Ronnell Elkins and his team are building a bespoke micromobility option specifically for his neighbors in Youngstown, Ohio — and hoping to create a model for other small cities to combat car dependency. On this episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson sits down with Elkins to talk about what makes this Black-led, family-owned bikeshare stand out, why YoGo's investing only in e-bikes, and what it takes to get a town of 60,000 people on board a revolutionary new transportation mode. Learn more about YoGo Bikeshare on their website.
Across America, a shocking number of drivers are illegally hacking their cars to be as loud as possible — and evidence is mounting that the phenomenon has a huge impact on public health. But what can cities do about it? Today on The Brake, we sat down with researcher Nick Ferenchak, whose work on traffic safety we've been following for years. Now, he's turning his attention to the link between vehicle noise pollution and dangerous driving — and launching a company to help cities put equitable and effective noise camera programs on their streets. Join us for a deep dive on noise cameras, and learn more Not-A-Loud and Nick's research on his website.
If the typical professional athlete talks about transportation at all, it's usually in the context of a mulit-million SUV commercial. Soccer star Tesho Akindele, though, isn't the typical athlete — and as he transitions out of his career onthe field, he's making building walkable, bikeable, equitable cities his full-time job. Today on The Brake, we talk to Tesho about how he fell in love with urbanism, why he uses his platform to talk about parking minimums, and the secret to getting non-wonks on board the movement to end car dependency and create people-centered places. Follow Tesho at Twitter @Tesho13.
Not enough U.S. mayors make sustainable transportation a priority, and even the ones that do don't always get much done. On today's episode of The Brake, though, we spoke with one elected official who'smaking massive progress to make streets safer, greener and more equitable in his small town — and sharing lessons in leadership that can scale to even the biggest cities.
In this extended conversation with Mayor John Bauters of Emeryville, Calif., we learn more about his successful effort to put a seat at every bus stop in his town, which Streetsblog covered last month, and what it takes to get humble yet ambitious mobility projects like this done. And along the way, we chat about why he thinks climate change is a losing campaign issue even though it's the most important issue of our time, why elected officials should get outside more, and why he thinks that you — yes, you — should run for office.
Mass memorials to the victims of traffic violence are a rarity on American roads. But it wasn't always that way — and there's a fascinating history behind why so many lost lives have become virtually invisible in the public realm today.
On this episode of The Brake, Kea Wilson sits down with historian and author Peter Norton to talk about how America used to memorialize car crash deaths in the early days of the automobile, and why automakers invested so much into reshaping the way we grieve. And then they chat about what it might take to bring the national traffic violence epidemic out of the shadows, and why even everyday non-lethal road trauma deserves to be called out. Listen in, and learn more about traffic violence memorials in our earlier coverage.
In communities across the U.S., city leaders have reacted to safety concerns about the shared e-scooter industry with fleet curfews, neighborhood restrictions, and even outright bans. Those blunt policies, though, might hurt more people than they help — especially when it comes to socially and racially marginalized communities without other ways to get around.
On today's special edition of The Brake, we're re-broadcasting an episode of Charles T. Brown's Arrested Mobility podcast about what happened when the city of St. Louis forced e-scooters out of its downtown, featuring an interview with our own host Kea Wilson, who covered the story for Streetsblog last year. And along the way, we'll explore why so many places beyond Missouri's borders have enacted similar policies — and why Black and brown Americans, in particular, deserve so much more from their transportation leaders.
In 2012, Jeff Speck’s Walkable City sparked a conversation about why pedestrianized places matter and became one of the best-selling books about the built environment in recent memory. Ten years later, though, so much about the world has changed — even as human-centered communities have become more important than ever.
On this episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson sits down with Speck to talk about an update to his classic book featuring 100 pages of new material, and how new technology, pandemics, and the movement to make cities anti-racist have reshaped his view of America’s transportation future. And along the way, he shares some of the highlights from his reading list, and how his goals as a pedestrian advocate are continuing to evolve.
Read an exclusive preview of Walkable City: 10th Anniversary Edition here.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans lose a loved one in a car crash every single year. So why don't more of us talk about it — and why don't more of us take action to prevent other families from enduring those tragedies, too?
On this special episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson has an emotional conversation with advocate Dan Langenkamp about the people they've each recently lost to traffic violence, and what it means to mourn through advocacy.
Dan's wife, Sarah, was a celebrated diplomat to Ukraine and a mother of two young sons before she was killed by a right-turning truck driver as she biked home from her children's new elementary school on August 25. Now, Dan is gathering cyclists from around the country to retrace Sarah's route and ride all the way to Congress to demand safer streets, vehicles, and systems — and he wants you to take part.
Register for the Ride for Your Life, support the Langenkamp family's ongoing fundraising efforts for bicycle safety organizations, and learn more the life and legacy of Sarah Langenkamp.
In communities across America, people are getting angry about traffic violence. But what does it take to turn that anger to a full-blown movement, with neighbors fighting alongside one another to change the status quo?
Today, we tapped Elizabeth Creely of the San Francisco-based grassroots advocacy organization Safe Street Rebel, which has been making good trouble to change the transportation status quo since 2020. Along the way, they've done pop-up traffic calming on the sites of recent crash deaths, put up people-protected bike lanes where the city wouldn’t build ones out of concrete, and gained some critical wisdom on how to not just create, but sustain and grow a movement to end car dependency, even when they don’t win every battle.
Learn more about Safe Street Rebel on their website.
Epidemiologists around the world have sounded the alarm about the health risks of rising noise pollution, and called out cars as one of the largest sources of the crisis. In our quest to make cities quieter, though, noise researcher Dr. Erica Walker says we're missing a critical conversation about how unique communities experience their local soundscapes, both in the streets and beyond — and who we harm when we police decibel levels without listening to marginalized people first.
In this episode of The Brake, we sit down with Dr. Walker to explore not just why ultra-quiet electric cars won't actually turn down the volume on our neighborhoods much, but who gets to decide what our cities should sound like, how we enforce arbitrary auditory standards, and why a peaceful, walkable street is often the opposite of silent.
Learn more about Dr. Erica Walker and the Community Noise Lab here.
Europe is on the brink of putting "Intelligent Speed Assist" technology on all new cars to slow drivers down to local limits — and even some U.S. states are hoping to follow suit. But the minute "speed governors" get mentioned, tempers flare, and it could make the movement to throttle U.S. drivers a challenging fight to win.
Today on The Brake, we asked mobility researcher David Zipper to give us a breakdown of the most common speed-limiting technologies available today, and to share how he responds to six of the most common concerns about them — from the valid to the downright silly.
Read more of David's past writings on this topic here and here, and check out the highlights of our conversation on usa.streetsblog.org.
Free transit pilots are popping up around the world — and so are heated debates about whether they will stymie agencies' efforts to delivery the high-quality service that U.S. riders need. But what if that argument is missing something fundamental about why we commodify basic mobility in the first place, and the many ways marginalized people are impacted when they can't afford a fare?
Today on The Brake, we sit down with Dr. Destiny Thomas to unpack some of the most common arguments against fare-free transit and talk about what our transportation system might look like if we treated mobility as a human right — and why only giving some people a free ride isn't enough.
Listen in, and learn more about the Thrivance Group, their past collaborations with Streetsblog, and the conviction of Raquel Nelson, which was referenced in the episode.
Last time on the Brake, we chatted with authors Robert Braun and Richard Randell about why automobility isn't really about cars at all — and how it's beocme what they call a "totalitarian system" that touches virtually every part of our lives.
Today, we bring you part two of that conversation, and dive into the difficult question of what a world beyond automobility might look like — and how on Earth we might get there. Would it be good enough to just make automobility less destructive by equipping cars with batteries and automated driving features? How different would our world look if the evidence of automobility's violence wasn't immediately hidden from the public eye? And could the tobacco industry serve as an example for regulating not just the car itself, but the culture that surrounds it?
Listen up, and check out Post Automobility Futures today.
Car culture is all around us. But is it really just about vehicles, roads, motorists and violent commercials on TV, or is it is a political system as deeply entrenched in cultures around the world as our governments, economic systems, and structures of oppression?
On this episode of the The Brake,we sat down with authors Robert Braun and Richard Randell to talk about their book Post Automobility Futures, and how our collective obsession with speed, efficiency, and ruthless technological progress has transformed the way we define what public space is for and what forms of violence we find acceptable. And they argue that this obsession began long before the automobile — and that getting beyond it will require dismantling a value system that is becoming more and more deep set, even as the car as we know it evolves.
This is part one of a two-part conversation; check back in two weeks for the second installment. And in the meantime, check out our earlier conversation with Braun and Randell about their work.
Even as gas prices hit historic highs, many Americans aren't driving any less — because so many of their communities are so car-dependent, they don't really have a choice. But what about people who could skip the pump but don't, simply because they're in the habit of driving everywhere they go?
On this episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson sits down with environmental psychology expert Dr. Ian Walker to talk about why conventional strategies to disincentivize driving don't always work, and why even incentivizing other modes can't always tempt people onto buses, trains, bikes and sidewalks. And then we explore what it will really take to shift Americans' deeply-ingrained travel routines — and why every policymaker needs to understand the irrational, emotional, and deeply human reasons we make our travel choices.
Give it a listen, and check out Dr. Walker's website and the Twitter thread that inspired the episode here.
Planning and engineering students are poised to play a major role in shaping America's transportation system for decades to come. But do either of them agree with sustainable transportation advocates about what that future should look like — or even with each other?
Today on The Brake, host Kea Wilson spoke with researchers Kelcie Ralph and Nick Klein, who conducted a new survey on how well these two groups of future built environment professionals understand fundamental concepts like "induced demand," as well as their opinions on the fundamental importance of reducing driving. Then, we dug into what it will take to get both disciplines and the public on the same page as transportation reformers — and why no one shouldn't take it for granted that doing it will be easy.
Countless communities across America say they're planning for a future where more residents walk, bike, and roll to get around. So why do transportation leaders spend so much time drafting "pedestrian master plans" and "bike master plans" without accompanying "car master plans" aimed at building a world where fewer people get behind the wheel?
Today on The Brake, we're joined by urban planner, community organizer and all around rad person Cathy Tuttle, who actually sat down and wrote a car master plan for her own city of Portland, Oregon. And she hopes that advocates and transportation leaders in other communities will follow her lead — because if they don't, she argues, we'll never truly reckon with the impact of car dependency on our communities, much less chart an effective strategy to dismantle it.
Neighborhood walking tours, group bike rides, and organized strolls in the park aren't typically thought of as front-line strategies to break a city's dependence on automobiles. Some advocates argue that without events like them, though, U.S. neighborhoods will never transform into truly people-centered places — particularly in socially and racially marginalized communities.
On this episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson sits down with Olatunji Oboi Reed, president and CEO of Equiticity, to talk about what he and his colleagues calls "community mobility rituals," or regular, free, hyper-local events that dismantle barriers to sustainable transportation and build the social infrastructure that neighborhoods need. Along the way, we chat about what makes a "mobility ritual" different than your standard-issue Critical Mass ride, why white-dominated transportation authorities tend to overlook the power of community programs, and how mobility rituals might be integrated into the planning process itself.
Listen in, check out Equiticity's webinar series on community mobility rituals here.
The humble zoning code may be the single most important tool that sustainable transportation advocates can wield in the fight to end car dependence ... if they can make heads or tails of their communities' hundreds of pages of local laws. But what if any American could tell at a glance how her unique local land use policies influence the way she and her neighbors get around, without having to dig through a mountain of arcane jargon to get there?
Today on The Brake, we're talking to Sara Bronin, law professor at Cornell University and the mastermind behind the National Zoning Atlas, a collaborative effort to make the basic building blocks of land use policy make sense to more Americans — and help them see how other communities stack up.
We talk about why proponents of people-centered transportation can't afford to overlook zoning, how changing something as simple as a parking code can transform a community, and what bad land use policy can mean for the housing market in walkable neighborhoods (spoiler: death by a thousand cuts.)
Anyone who's ever tried to get a new crosswalk in their neighborhood knows how hard it can be just to figure out who to call — never mind how to get whoever's on the other end of the line to listen. And any transportation professional knows how challenging it can be to get that call from a resident, and realize that they don't have the faintest idea of how decisions actually get made on our streets.
But what if cities offered a crash course that got both groups speaking the same language — and in the process, transformed ordinary citizens into effective and well-informed transportation advocates?
Today on The Brake, we welcome Keith Bartholomew of University of Utah and Nathan McNeil of Portland State University, who are hoping to bring the concept of the "Citizen Transportation Academy" to communities across the U.S. Give it a listen, and be sure to check out the beta version of McNeil's curriculum handbook if you're curious about starting a class in your town.
Streetsblog's America's Best Bus Stops Contest is down to its final two contenders. Nationwide, though, the United States have a lot more sorry stops than good ones — and to understand how our top two wonderful waiting areas bucked the trend, we brought in an expert for some game-time commentary.
Today, we're talking with bus stop expert and Transit Center Senior Research Associate Mary Buchanan, author of the indispensable report From Sorry to Superb: Everything You Need to Know About Great Bus Stops. Host Kea Wilson chats with Buchanan about how cities can create — or fight for — the structural conditions that help create great bus stops, and keep them well-maintained for years to come. And then we dig into why America's best bus networks might not have a whole lot of "great" stops at all — but they would have plenty of adequate ones. Give it a listen, and don't forget to cast your vote in the final round of America's Best Bus Stops by Friday, April 15 at 10am ET.
Streetsblog USAOn this episode of The Brake, Kea talks to Benjie de la Peña, chair of the Global Partnership for Informal Transportation and author of the must-read Substack newsletter Makeshift Mobility, about all the ways that people navigate their cities on shared modes without the support of taxpayer-funded public institutions. And though they're easier to spot in the global south, these modes exist in U.S. cities, too — though not everyone thinks that's necessarily a good thing.
Still, de la Peña points out that makeshift mobility may move more people than every traditional train, buses, and taxis around the world combined — and it may "represent probably the single greatest lever to decarbonizing the transportation sector" we have.
Tune in for a fascinating conversation about tuktuks, matatus, jitneys, and everything in between, and what the world of informal transportation has to do with decolonizing our collective ideas about what transit can — and should — be. And don't forget to click over to Streetsblog to take a look at a few makeshift mobility vehicles for yourself.
In lieu of our traditional transcript, check out just a few of the makeshift mobility options that are serving neighborhoods around the globe:
A new zine from a top transit nonprofit explores not just why the needs of women need to be at the center of U.S. transit planning, but what it's actually like for gender-marginalized people who are working to change the status quo — in their own words, images, and even songs.
In their unconventional and inspiring new zine, Subtext, editors Stephanie Lotshaw and Ashley Pryce of the nonprofit Transit Center sought to provide a radical new platform for the women and nonbinary people who keep our transportation networks running by looking beyond the stats and white papers and letting leaders speak about their experiences in whatever mediums they chose. Still, those stats are sobering. A majority of transit riders today are women (55 percent), but a shocking 83 percent of U.S. agencies are helmed by men — and women of color have even fewer opportunities to lead than their White counterparts, even as they increasingly become one of the largest single demographics left riding during the pandemic. And Lotshaw and Pryce argue those disparities will persist until we really listen to each other's experiences, and turn up the volume on the too-often unspoken realities of being a gender-marginalized person in the transportation space.
On today's episode of The Brake, we sat down with Lotshaw and Pryce to talk about why they chose to take a page from the riotgrrl playbook to tell this important story, what it's like for them to be women in the transportation field, and how shifting away from male-centric notions of leadership could change transit in the U.S. forever.
This week on Streetsblog, we looked at two communities who each planned to calm an ultra-wide, ultra-dangerous road with the support of the vast majority of the residents they asked, only to have those plans scuttled in the face of vocal opposition.
In San Antonio, Texas, that opposition is coming from the top down, as state DOT leaders and the governor himself step in and insist that 7-lane Broadway Avenue must continue to prioritize motorist speed over local safety; in Philadelphia, Pa., it's coming from the bottom up, as a coalition of business owners and residents of color claim that cutting five-lane Washington Avenue down to three would eventually result in their displacement, successfully persuading the city to rethink their plans.
Both stories, though, prompt the same thorny questions: why is redesigning killer roads so difficult in American communities? Who should get the final say on how safe — or fast — a road through a neighborhood should be? And which structural changes could make it easier for road diet projects to actually make it across the finish line — and make sure that new dangerous, car-centric roads are never built in our neighborhoods in the first place?
On today's episode of The Brake, we sat down with Beth Osborne, director of Transportation for America, to tackle those tough questions, and talk about what strategies could get road diet resisters on board.
The phrase "car accident" has become so ubiquitous in American life that most people don't blink when they hear it, at least if they're not a street safety advocate who understands just how much damage that term has done. But not even the most diehard Streetsblog readers may realize just how recent the concept of a traffic "accident" is — or how deeply it impacts our ability to prevent future crashes.
In her new book, There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster — Who Profits and Who Pays the Price, veteran journalist and sustainable transportation advocate Jessie Singer digs into the disturbing history of "accidents" in America — and not just on our roads. And in the process, she offers a glimpse of a world where everyday tragedies are treated as urgent problems we can and must solve, where powerful interests are held to account, and where our desire for blame and retribution doesn't get in the way of lasting, systemic change.
Today, we're launching our new podcast, The Brake, with this extended interview between Jessie and host Kea Wilson.