By Matt Tester, Project Associate.   …is increasingly called a bicycle.   American cities are warming to the idea that bike-sharing systems are a valuable means of generating downtown activity, providing viable alternative transportation, and encouraging healthy living. And this, despite their European roots! Several major cities debuted or announced major downtown systems in 2010, and some recent federal policy changes could continue building bike-sharing momentum. ...

By Alex Pearlstein, Senior Project Manager.     I’ve recently relocated to Des Moines, Iowa as my wife attends medical school here. Needless to say, there are more than a few differences between Iowa’s capital city and Georgia’s (Atlanta), where I spent the last eight years of my life. All in all, government seems to work better here, as do city services. Metal plates lodged in the roadway during repair projects are actually removed in a day or two; in Atlanta, they become permanent...

By Alex Pearlstein, Senior Project Manager.   Well, the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) has released its latest Urban Mobility Report and the most respected traffic-congestion analysis in our fair land has determined that traffic-related delays have actually DECREASED in recent years.  As numerous catty newspaper reports have noted, tell that to John and Jane Doe stuck in their idling Taurus on any number of clogged U.S. highways.  TTI also poured a mountain of salt on the report...