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Yes, this, too. There is a truly gross amount of bad faith argument over things like sidewalks/bike lanes which would take away car space in the name of friendliness to the disabled. As if ensuring the nearly-mandated costs of car ownership ALSO apply to people with disabilities is any kind of...

^^"Of course that sounds horrible because it threatens individual autonomy, the very principle held as sacrosanct in the West—and especially America—that is also the core "value" that prevents any sensible or rational policy that benefits the community over the individual." Unless you, as an...

100%. I'd never seen these until I moved to the PNW (Metro Portland, OR, specifically.). They do not work. All you're doing is creating another merge point, which is...always a challenge for people, but especially out here, where people do not pay attention while driving, traffic slows...

Wouldn't this require signalling upgrades? I know that's a project, but I agree that ultimately it'd be well worth doing.

NH needs to get real about its future. The boom times of the 70's-90's are probably never coming back, as most of the cheap, easy-to-develop areas are already gone, and the whole state is obviously still very dependent on Mass for a lot of its economic activity. If cheap housing isn't a draw...

1. I shouldn't have to tell you that it's not that simple; "what people want" is not a value that exists in a vacuum, nor is "profitable to build". 2. Yeah, but there really, really wasn't. Post the '08 financial crisis, housing construction dropped precipitously, and has still not reached that...

^^Don't forget, too, that the last-mile issue has 2 very cheap and efficient solutions that can be provided for very, very cheaply: walking and rolling (bike, wheelchair, etc.). Maximizing people's comfort with those mixed mode trips--with better infrastructure, and as often, frequent and...

I'm always, always, always going to contest this, mostly because the counterfactual--that people don't like SFH and are essentially forced into it--is as untestable as the initial claim. There are almost too many factors to count: 1. It's not a secret to anyone here, I'd think, that in the vast...

^^At this stage, most Americans aren't used to being able to expect their government to do things for them...at least in ways they're conscious and conscientious of. The truth of it, too, is that NSRL is probably in a real sense logistically and publically easier than Regional Rail-ification...

I ought to have been more specific. The “importation” I’d like to do is as much Euro/East Asian ideas about transit/urban planning as much as foreign experts themselves, though of course the latter would be welcome, too, if they’d not (fairly enough) consider it a downgrade. It’s part of the...

All true, but it’s not right to pretend that Mass’ government spends its money wisely and well. Inefficient use of public funds is the norm across the entire country, especially regarding infrastructure spending. We have a lot to learn from other developed countries; only our stupid and...

The framing of the article sure makes it seem like she might've been joking, but it's not clear, and knowing little/nothing about her bona fides besides that she's an American "transportation professional"....Sincerity in those thoughts seems, tragically, possible.

I can sympathize...ish. I used to live a literal block away from a freight rail line going through central Beaverton, OR (have moved elsewhere in the city), and it can be genuinely disturbing--though only in the most literal sense. The FRA regulations about freight train horns are really too...

Sad thing is, because the wages are so low back east, doing the same job as I am here in Metro Portland--Oregon--I can (relatively) comfortably afford a nice 2BR at 1700/month, while I still get recruiters contacting me in Greater Boston offering at best 2/3's the pay I make here. The whole of...

Figures I'd start to see the sorts of developments in NH that I'd expected to see in Oregon, yet mostly haven't. It's definitely exciting to consider how much more lively downtown Manch could be with all these projects in place!

I know little enough to ask: is a half-measure not better than none? After all, considering that we know it's just physically impossible to overhead any railways in America beyond those that already have it--it just can't be done; it's science--electrifying with a model that...

It should be said that technocratic planning isn't inherently a bad thing, either. The problem is from a category error: we treat cars as mass transportation, use them as such, when at most a car holds 9 people per vehicle. Buses can hold many dozens, and trains can move hundreds per vehicle...

Don't you think have a hotel immediately adjacent to Amtrak services would be a nice thing for tourists wanting to stay in Boston? The fact that both of those are probably desirable uses shows just how important South Station is--and this is before a hypothetical...

Well then, it's extra stupid, because real estate is space for people, highways are spaces for cars, and the latter directly eats into the former. Pretending that there's no connection between the two is dumb, to be kind.

It's so tragic that that's true. You look at places like Austria, Korea, Italy, Spain....In Korea in particular, they're tunneling everything, even things they arguably shouldn't like trams. It's not like the U.S.' geology is so special we can't do it; we just have so many...