Category Archives: Urban Issues

Los Angeles THREW AWAY all their RED-LIGHT cameras?

At one point, Los Angeles had over 100 cameras to catch red-light runners. Then the city tore ’em all out. Here’s why. Research: “Police look to cameras to catch traffic violators”The Los Angeles Times, 13 Jun 2000, p.B4A “Voices: A Green Light on Red-Light Cameras”The Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep 2001, p.B21 “Red-Light Cameras Focus […]

These new BIKE LANES didn’t last two weeks!

San Diego installed “Edge Lanes” (also called “Advisory Bike Lanes”) along a short neighborhood block in Mira Mesa, California. And the people living nearby lost their collective minds. Here’s why these lanes aren’t quite as bad as local TV coverage claims.

Stop lights can… RUIN a street for bicyclists?

Crossing the street on your bike should be easy and safe. Stop lights to help you, also invite cars onto your bike route. Engineers in Tucson, Arizona solve this dilemma with two special signals just for bicycles (Toucans and BikeHAWKs).

Can this “HAWK” STOP LIGHT make walking feel SAFE again?

Middle-of-the-block crosswalks are terrible. Most do not qualify for a stop light. I meet the inventor of the Pedestrian Hybrid (HAWK) beacon, a traffic device that fixes America’s forgotten crosswalks.

Phoenix without freeways?

In the 1970s, Arizonans resoundingly voted “NO” to completing Interstate 10 through downtown Phoenix. But that’s because I-10 would have been a ten-story tall freeway bridge through the north of downtown. But the “NO” vote canceled all new freeways, including finishing Interstate 10 coast to coast.

Safety on Provo 500 West

I’m exploring a site along Provo’s 500 West, which a SafetyAnalyst project identifies as one of the most crash-prone stretches of road in the county. SafetyAnalyst allows a transportation researcher to combine data and other analytical tools to identify roadway segments and nodes which are statistically more dangerous than others, controlling for many other factors. […]

Amazing Signal Sync: Wilshire Blvd

Have you seen these signs along Wilshire Blvd? I don’t often drive Wilshire. But when I do, it always seems to be the peak of afternoon rush hour. (Maybe Wilshire always feels crowded?) So as I sit at another red light, I look at these signs and just shake my head in frustration. It turns […]

New: Galena Park Bridge

There’s a series projects which demonstrate some good long-term thinking in Draper, Utah. When UTA built its Frontrunner commuter rail line, it built this overpass even though there isn’t a road for yards around (I’d say miles, but there are many roads within a mile).  Good thing, too, since it’s a looooooong drive around (red).  In […]

Safety: House and Car

North of Brigham Young University’s campus boundary sits a house at a T-intersection. Well, I should say “sat” a house.  Because a young adult with a medical issue (I suspect suicidal depression, but we’ll never know) plowed an early-90s Suburban into it.  And from the looks of it, the Suburban won: The force from the crash was […]

Safety: Triple Right Turn?

I had to get on the phone with UDOT right away when I saw this. Crews added two new “right-turn only” arrows.  But why?  That sounds really unsafe.  The intersection does back up a lot during rush hour, but I think painting a protective “free right” stripe would’ve been a better option.  What’s UDOT (or […]