Yglesias I look forward to people explaining that highway travel may work in Europe, but that the United States isn't populated nearly densely enough to make it viable as a mode of transportation.....
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Slate "The subway is one of the few places in a large urban center where all races and religions and most social classes are confronted with one another and the same situation."....

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[This is another in what we hope will be a large series of expert blogs on TOD highlighting work and research that experts are doing in the field.  Today's post is by David Dixon FAIA, principal-in-charge

  Transportation economist Gary Barnes discusses the problems faced when planners and policymakers attempt to address traffic congrestion by moving more trips to transit. His November 14, 2003,  paper, "Using Land Use Policy to Address Congestion: The Importance of Destination in Determining Transit Share," argues that to effectively move those vehicle trips to transit policymakers must focus on increasing the size of downtowns, and on developing downtown-like centers in suburban locations. But unlike most research and policy discussion on this topic, Barnes does not advocate focusing on housing density around transit centers as the first goal.

"The conclusion of this paper," Barnes writers, "is that the development and expansion of very large, high-density job centers is the best tool available for most cities to achieve substantial increases in transit use."

As…

Canwest News On my first day, I didn't see a car: Much of downtown is a pedestrian zone reserved for people and quietly gliding trams....
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Bloomberg News "What we're saying to them is we're one of the few cities coming in with our own money"
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