Here's the federal Commission of Fine Arts, whose mission is "to preserve the dignity of the nation's capital," suggesting that "the world's most colossal parking garage" be built next to DC's new NFL football stadium. What an embarrassment.

Hey Colorado! I'll be in town on April 21 to keynote this event at the University of Denver. My topic: How electric and self-driven vehicles can — and can't — make streets safer, cleaner, and more vibrant. Registration is $20, or whatever you can afford: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-road-a...

A car driver is orders of magnitude more likely to kill a pedestrian than an e-bike rider

In Austin, Waymo robotaxis keep driving past stopped school buses with their lights flashing. The school district bent over backwards to help Waymo fix the problem. Nothing worked, and Waymo won't comment. Doesn't exactly fill you with confidence about AV safety. www.wired.com/story/a-scho...

Fascinating new research about Big Highway's power over Capitol Hill and state capitals: "Resources are used to frame road building as critical to economic growth and job creation, worthy of support through increased spending and dedicated user fees." scholar.google.com/scholar_url?...

Picked up an old map "The Land of Moses" (1938)

Excellent framing. This kind of positive language is way more likely to win people over than “cars are bad.”

👀 via @kirstenkorosec.bsky.social

Happy birthday to the Washington Metro, which opened 50 years ago today with service on 4.6 mi of Red Line between Rhode Is. Ave & Farragut N. System now serves 130 mi. The DC Metro shows that, with good planning & enough investment, the public sector can succeed & build something extraordinary.

NYT editorial board issues a full-throated endorsement of congestion pricing: "Over its first 14 months, the [NYC] congestion pricing system has exceeded even the high hopes of many supporters. It has reduced traffic, improved the quality of life and even provided a boost for businesses."

Federal regs and company practice largely define AV "safety" as AVs not running into things. So when AVs get confused, they stop and call home. To the Philippines. If this were rare, it would be a nuisance. At scale, it's capacity loss, like removing a freeway lane - or rail line - from your city

The most congested parts of Chicagoland roadways aren't actually in the Loop, so instead of a cordon we should be looking at tolling the radial expressways, all of which are paralleled by free surface streets and high-capacity frequent transit: two important equity considerations for new tolls.

Manhattan's congestion pricing program has been a stunning success. Other US cities have noticed. Could Chicago go next? In @bloomberg.com, I explored. 🧵

Ahh, Mobility-as-a-Service. Never before has an innovation spurred so much excitement among transportation researchers while eliciting a collective shrug from the traveling public. doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...

US pedestrian deaths fell 11% in the first half of 2025. The death rate -- 0.9 per 100k people -- was the lowest since 2020. I'm curious why. Was it reversion to pre-COVID norms? Something else? (Note, US ped deaths are still way up over the past decade). www.ghsa.org/resource-hub...

This is bad. Governments shouldn't subsidize ridehail commutes. Research shows that even shared ridehail rides increase total miles driven, creating more congestion and pollution. (Study: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...)

Looking forward to visiting Hunter College next month to discuss the future of AVs in NYC. Join @norton.bsky.social, Sam Schwartz, Rachel Weinberger, and yours truly in person or online: www.roosevelthouse.hunter.cuny.edu/events/first...

Truly wild how the White House's needless war is giving a giant tailwind to EVs, transit, and bikes — basically, every form of transportation it hates.

It's still early, but Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker might have given us the Worst Transportation Idea of 2026 h/t @wtyppod.com www.inquirer.com/education/ub...

Another study finds that AVs will increase total driving. This one focuses on shifting parking behavior: "AV commuters may choose to park outside the CBD in equilibrium, increasing both vehicle hours and vehicle miles traveled." More VMT --> More congestion pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1...

​An obvious truth that NHTSA and state DOTs don't talk about: Less driving --> Fewer crashes​

IMO the more interesting takeaway is that 44% of Americans prefer to live within walking distance of schools and stores. Safe to assume that most of them currently don’t. The US forces car-dominated sprawl on millions of people who don’t want it.

Ominous. I was really impressed with Nice’s car-light planning when I visited last year.

Here's a quick story to show how Tesla and Musk have sown confusion about autonomous driving, putting everyone in danger. 🧵

For your weekend reading consideration: "Autonomous vehicles will cause urban traffic jams that governments cannot untangle."

Currently reading one of Jane Jacobs' lesser known books, written decades after Death and Life. Her loathing for cars (and Robert Moses) did not diminish with age. "Not TV or illegal drugs but the automobile has been the chief destroyer of American communities."

Don’t be fooled. Removing protected bike lanes along 15th St. near the National Mall doesn’t alleviate congestion – it will cause more of it as accidents increase. It’s yet another effort by the federal government to politicize common-sense safety measures in the District.

Wild idea: Drive less, not just slower

This, from Jake, is a great read on antigrowth politics

Latest Mad Libs entry from the 2026 news cycle: will.i.am launches an AI-powered autocycle

New analysis suggests that researchers moved the goalposts in their randomized control trial evaluating fare-free transit in Pittsburgh, making results seem better than they were. Eliminating fares had minimal effects on income or healthcare use. nospin.evidencebasedpolicy.org/articles/fre...

Removing a critical section of DC's 15th St cyclectrack is awful, esp with Cherry Blossom season around the corner. Note: I'm told this is a Trump move involving federal land. The city doesn't have jurisdiction or veto power. (DC's sections of the cycletrack will remain.)

E-biking shouldn't require a driver's license. "E-bikes don’t pose greater risks than conventional bicycles. On average, e-bike crashes are equally as likely and severe as conventional bike crashes. And research from Denmark even shows e-bike riders are more likely to follow traffic laws."

"[Minicars offer] an affordable, clean alternative for short distance travel, saving emissions & serving a diverse demographic that includes marginalized groups such as older people, rural populations and individuals who receive low incomes. Yet they remain sidelined in sustainability discussions."

Remember:

Currently reading US transit engineers of the 1970s argue over the best ways to alleviate train station overcrowding. How I wish that remained one of transit's greatest problems.

"Measuring deaths per mile driven is like measuring deaths per cigarette smoked." From the new episode of @lookbothwayspod.bsky.social, out later this week on all podcast platforms.

The recommendations in this piece are key, in cities space is a precious resource. Where, how, and for how long vehicles can operate are key questions for creating economically viable, walkable, and pleasant cities. Cities are now clawing back years of bad policy, let's not repeat that mistake.

The techbros don't realize how quickly they are going to drive (ahem) us toward universal congestion pricing

I'll admit that it had not occurred to me that travel lanes will be used for "parking" empty autonomous vehicles.

As they scale, autonomous vehicles are likely to cause crippling congestion. Two reasons: 1) Their users will take more and longer car trips 2) They often drive around empty Result: More vehicles on the road, more pollution, and more traffic Me in @bloomberg.com 🧵

Years ago some out-of-town visitors asked how far to a restaurant. I said, "Well, it's twenty minutes to walk. Or it's five minutes to get to the car, five minutes to drive, five minutes to park, and five minutes' walk from the parking lot. We walked.

Significant road safety win in Norway! 30 km/h is now the default for built up areas 🚴‍♂️🚶‍♂️ Norway's public roads administration have just turned the way speed limits are set in built up areas on it's head. From now on, traffic engineers now have to meet clear criteria to use any higher speed limit.

There have been several times that I’ve decided to drive based on Google’s estimates only to have the trip take as long by car as by bike. This is largely due to sitting in traffic, which can be unpredictable, but also due to having to park blocks away from my destination and walk.

Finding parking can take a lot longer than Google/Apple Maps suggest. For instance, navigation apps ignore time drivers spend looking for a spot and then walking from it to their destination. Result: Trips that are stressful and travel planning that’s biased toward cars. Me, in @fastcompany.com 🧵

"kind of a moron"

Looks like @jfh01.bsky.social's departure was the canary in the coal mine. In her second term, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is taking a big step backwards on transportation reforms.

“When insurance, gas, repairs and maintenance are included, the total cost of owning a vehicle has risen more than 40% since January 2020.” This is not sustainable.

Somebody should write a book disputing this nonsense... oh wait

Yes, because congestion pricing famously turned NYC, London, and Milan into ghost towns