Christian May

Sixth Street wasn’t always one-way.

Our new post looks at Austin’s mid-century shift to one-way streets, what we’ve learned since, and how restoring two-way flow could make downtown safer and more vibrant.

Read “The Case for Two-Way Streets” at buff.ly/rv47Erc
#SafeStreetsAustin #TwoWayStreets

Any chance this is specifically the CAFE standards? This is absolutely a bad policy, but - if it goes through - there might be a small silver lining in that it closes the 'light truck loophole' that incentivizes everyone to buy SUVs. (albeit closes the loophole in the worst possible way).

Honestly gotta give credit for this one to the Dutch - they just came to the Americas, built a fantastic city, and peaced out.

As of 11a CT today, Minnesotans can apply for an e-bike rebate of up to $1,500.

Story: www.startribune.com/starting-wed...

Application: www.revenue.state.mn.us/electric-ass...

In Bloomberg CityLab, I interviewed engineering prof Wes Marshall about his new book, Killed by a Traffic Engineer, and the reasons why US road designers prioritize car speed over street safety.

Short 🧵

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

It's a profession that extracts value without providing any.

They sell a product that they did not make - with little-to-no local competition - to people who are essentially *forced* to buy them, since you can't navigate most American communities without a car.

This is cool, but it would likely be much more impactful - and cheaper - to simply not build so many god damn highways.

A large concrete tile plaza with a large crowd of people. A child in a yellow shirt is in the foreground. To the left is a stage - to the right is a canopy, behind which is the CapMetro train. Above the CapMetro train, you can see the lights on in the windows of several multi-story buildings. The sky is dark, but with the faintest amount of light, as if the sun set only recently.

One of the local train stations here in Austin just hosted a night market - it really brought the station to life 🙂

Had a fantastic time, and I hope there are more events like this to come.

(Still mostly unstyled - I'm focusing on the functionality first)

Sneak peek of something I'm working on:

Always wondered how they got the cars into malls. Very polite of the car to take the stairs instead of crowding the elevator.

Ideas are easy! Execution is really, really hard!

Create an urban neighborhood that has:
- Safe street design
- Noise control
- Daycare facilities *right next to* apartments
- Local grocery

And you've created a paradise for parenting. Suburban parenting requires *endless* errands for parents, and urban design can fix so much of that.

A large crowd (in the hundreds), from all walks of life, gathered outdoors around a stage in an outdoor area. There are small homes visible in the background, and trees stretching up over the crowd. The sky is blue, with moderate cloud cover.

Was thrilled to be a small part of the Rethink35 rally yesterday to oppose the expansion of I-35 through Austin. Huge amount of credit to @kelseyhuse.com for making it actually happen.

No one wants this project to happen - and we're going to do everything we can to make sure it doesn't.

These are my thoughts as well. The caps/decks would definitely be an improvement over current expansion plans, but it's so expensive that the "bang for your buck" of that kind of money is just too low.

Oh, gotcha, yeah always fair to ask "what is the best way to spend this money to support non-car transportation?" Not sure if the grant here could have been used for something like that.

re: subsidizing EV cycle co, MetroBike is owned by CapMetro, which is part of city gov't.

In a study published in Ecological Economics, it was estimated that society generally foots the bill for 41% of the total costs associated with car driving - with the total cost being ~$640k per driver over a lifetime.

Much cheaper for a city to maintain a fleet of e-bikes.

Source in link card.

As alternatives to cars - which we already subsidize very heavily.

Cars have a lot of hidden costs. There are those associated with pollution and noise pollution. Cities provide free roads and parking. Cars are dangerous, and require dedicated law enforcement. E-bikes are none of these things.

Sarcasm or no?

They're also very valuable for anyone who wants to "try out" e-bikes before committing to buying one. I live car-free thanks to my e-bike, but I never would have had the confidence to buy an e-bike if I wasn't able to rely on Citibike for months beforehand.

Amazing!! Thank you for your advocacy on this important topic.

It's a great day to be an Austin urbanist. Huge shoutout to everyone at AURA who pushed this one to the finish line.

My heart mourns for the person who died here, as it does for all victims of traffic violence.

These people die because of choices we make. We need to start making different ones.

A top-down Google Maps photo of the intersection of S I-35 Frontage Road and Powell Lane in Austin, TX. Drawn over the photo are 3 features - a red arc around the curved curb at the intersection, labelled "Large curb radius" in red. Then, two long yellow lines across the intersection labelled "current pedestrian crossing". These lines mark the distance pedestrians are currently required to walk. Then, further down the street - where the road narrows to its normal width -are two green lines, labelled "width of pedestrian crossing without curb radius - 75% smaller."

A pedestrian died here today in Austin. It was likely preventable.

The intersection has a large curb radius (red). This has two effects:
1. It allows cars to turn without slowing.
2. It forces pedestrian crossing to be longer - in this case, 75% longer.

Both are very dangerous for pedestrians.