Featured Articles From the Fall 2016 Issue

Cities Zero In On Safety

Cities Zero In On Safety

Ambitious, Rapidly Expanding Vision Zero Movement Seeks to End Vehicular Deaths

How do you get from 38,000 to zero? It’s a life-or-death question that has fogged minds, baffled and simply eluded policymakers, transportation professionals and the general public for years.Thirty-eight thousand is the number of people killed nationwide in motor vehicle accidents, including pedestrians, in 2014.

Eyes on the Streets

Eyes on the Streets

Apps, Intelligent Transportation System Improving Safety

On a busy city street in Minneapolis, a blind pedestrian needs help figuring out his next move. He pulls out a cell phone, points it straight ahead and taps the screen once. A recorded voice provides information about his location, the street’s geometry and what direction he’s heading.

Creative Crossings

Creative Crossings

Changing the Function and Design of Crosswalks

Cross Ocean Avenue at Broadway in Santa Monica, California and you can see the sun slowly rising, painting the sky in oranges and reds. This vibrant scene, with the Pacific Ocean in the distance, is visible at any time of day—it’s painted on the pavement.  Santa Monica is one of many cities across North America that has been getting creative with crosswalks at busy intersections

Greenways Aiming High

Greenways Aiming High

High Line Success Inspires Projects Around the Globe

In St. Louis, a non-profit group is seeking to integrate an abandoned train trestle into its ambitious plans to complete a 600-mile trail network connecting rivers, parks and communities. In Chicago, the city this year celebrated the first birthday of The 606, a recreation trail along an abandoned rail line. In New Jersey, the City of Newark is planning to expand the initial phase of its Riverfront Park built on reclaimed industrial properties along the Passaic River.

Encouraging Street Smarts

Encouraging Street Smarts

New Jersey Pedestrian Safety Campaign Aims to Improve Behaviors, Reduce Fatalities

They’re called smartphone zombies. Walking head down, so engaged in their phones they don’t notice other people around them, obstacles in their path or oncoming traffic. Waking them up from their cell phones is one of the focuses of the “Heads Up, Phones Down” message