As a longtime bike commuter I have watched with great interest as the design of bicycle facilities has evolved in recent years. Traditional bike lanes were a welcome addition and a good place to start, but often were not addressed through street intersections, leading to confusion and potentially unsafe conditions when bike and vehicle traffic mix. The lack of clear guidance at these conventional intersections may also contribute to a high rate of cyclists ignoring traffic signs and signals, which we’ve all seen. My colleague Jim Sandlin has previously discussed how roundabouts offer safer bicycle conditions at intersections. However, most intersections are controlled via a stoplight or a stop sign. Let’s look at some of the best new ways to integrate bike traffic in intersections.

I’ve long advocated for skinny local road standards and implementing “road diets” for existing streets. While often controversial, the idea of narrow streets just makes sense.  Streets largely determine the “feel” and livability of our neighborhoods. Narrow streets increase the sense of connection between those living in a community, decrease travel speeds, increase safety, decrease construction and long-term O&M costs, and dramatically reduce environmental impacts (for both stormwater and the “heat island” effect of asphalt). And to me, neighborhoods built around narrow street sections just feel right.

We are all keenly aware that the buying power of our dollar simply isn’t what it used to be.  But how often do we look at the buying power of our tax dollars? I imagine that most of us agonize about how much we individually pay into the tax system, but don’t consider how those tax dollars buy less and less as time goes on. Unfortunately, agencies at every level are dealing with the financial difficulty of less buying power, and many of them are dealing with declining revenues as well. That’s two trends heading in the same, albeit wrong, direction.

Transportation funding is one of those nagging topics subject to the same declining trends of buying power and incoming revenue. Whether we are thinking of state or local transportation funding, or funding at the national level, there are alarming trends that put the future of infrastructure, and the economy, at risk.