Handbuilt Votes 2022: Urbanism At The Ballot Box

Three counties in Southeast Michigan will vote on transit funding next week. There are also a number of other transit and infrastructure-related votes around the country.

Read more

The Oakland County GOP Is Courting Literal Nazis To Fight Infrastructure Funding

For reasons that don’t seem to make any sense but were probably completely predictable, a nonprofit advocacy group in the northern suburbs of Detroit has enlisted a prominent Nazi sympathizer to fight against the real scourge of America: modern transportation infrastructure!

Read more

Oakland County Approves Universal SMART Millage For Fall Ballot

It’s official: Oakland County will have an opportunity to vote on transit investment in the fall! Such was the determination

Read more

Infrastructure: Think Outside The Smartphone-Driven Profit Motive

One of Michigan’s most visible mobility spokespeople recently said in a webinar that smartphone ownership and profitable markets were the two hindrances to developing sustainable mobility solutions in the state. It’s a politically horrific, functionally dubious, but baffling thing to say.

Read more

Into Exurban Oblivion: Auburn Hills Mulls Ditching Transit Service

In one of the farthest-north suburbs of Detroit, a municipality’s elected representatives are discussing the possibility of eliminating fixed-route transit, which has the support of an overwhelming percentage of the electorate, to save around $800,000 per year. In this guest co-editorial, Calley Wang and Nat Zorach argue that this is a really, really terrible idea.

Read more

Recharging the Aquifer Underneath Detroit’s Transit Desert

Martha Connell looks at some hard questions about the future of Detroit’s transit.

Read more

“You’re Entitled For Suggesting People Take Public Transportation Instead Of Stranding Themselves On I-95” – Midatlantic Liberals

A rare, intense blizzard in the Midatlantic US snarled traffic on I-95, leading us to wonder: how is the car obsession even so engrained on the East Coast that people can’t imagine not driving cars?

Read more

MDOT: Rebrand And Replace. Some Ideas From The MAP Conference.

Nat is attending the Michigan Association of Planning’s annual conference. It’s going great– especially with regard to figuring out new ways to refashion state agencies that aren’t doing their jobs.

Read more

MDOT: “Making VMT Reduction A Mobility Goal Is Punitive, Combative, And Might Hurt People’s Feelings”

Representatives of Michigan’s Department of Transportation have, at two recent public meetings, firmly pushed back on the proposal that the agency must tie a reduction in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to funding considerations for new projects– using a dubious rationale.

Read more