transportation Archives - The Handbuilt City

Policy Mobility Sustainability Transit infrastructure Government

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

August 27, 2021August 27, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments AASHTO, aashto green book, brad sharlow, carbon footprint, climate change, congestion, department of transportation, green book, highway design standards, infrastructure, judd herzer, level-of-service, LoS, mdot, MEDC, michigan, michigan department of transportation, Michigan DOT, michigan economic development corporation, mobility, niles annelin, public transit, state law, state policy, toll roads, traffic, transit, transportation, transportation engineering, transportation planning, trevor pawl, vehicle hours traveled, vehicle miles traveled, VHT, vmt, vmt reduction

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.

the sears tower looms beyond the brutalist campus of the university of illinois chicago, where the summer institute on sustainability and energy (SISE) takes place.

Mobility Public transit Transit infrastructure

Best Nerds Podcast No. 2: Innovation and Equity in Transportation

July 14, 2021July 14, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments argonne national lab, best nerds, best nerds on earth, best nerds podcast, bike lanes, bike lanes and gentrification, bike lanes are white lanes, city planning, DDOT, detroit department of transportation, economic justice, equity, ian edward munroe, ian munroe, JCESR, kelsey zlevor, kunal sahasrabuddhe, lisa nuszkowski, Mikki Taylor-Hendrix, mobility, MoGo, mogo detroit, Nat Zorach, public transit, racial justice, summer institute on sustainability and energy, thomas alaan, transit, transit justice, transit organizing, transportation, transportation justice, university of illinois chicago, university of new orleans, Urban planning, wsp

Our second podcast is finally out. I take responsibility for the delay. There were some technical issues I ran into,

Detroit Public transit Michigan Transit infrastructure

What If We Can’t Wait? Public-Private Partnership Solutions for Infrastructure

February 2, 2021February 2, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments amtrak, Amtrak NEC, augean stables, austerity, ben stupka, brooks patterson, BRT, bus, chicago parking meters, dave coulter, Detroit, economic development, FRR, l. brooks patterson, macomb county, MBA, mba capstone, megan owens, metro detroit, michigan, mikel oglesby, mobility infrastructure, new york fear city, oakland county, philanthropic capital, PPP, private sector, public sector, public transit, public-private partnership, regional infrastructure, regional planning, regional transit, regional transit authority, robert moses, RTA, ryan friedrichs, stephanie farmer, transit, transit infrastructure, transportation, transportation riders united, TRU, why is macomb county awful

The RTA is planning on returning in 2022– again- to revisit a ballot measure to fund regional infrastructure investment in Southeast Michigan. Can we wait for 2022? Should we explore alternatives in the meantime?

Driven: The Race To Create the Autonomous Car, by Alex Davies

January 20, 2021January 21, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments alex davies, anthony levandowski, argo, argo AI, auto industry, automotive industry, automotive sector, autonomous cars, autonomous vehicles, AV's, AVs, big tech, connected vehicles, Cruise, cruise automation, DARPA, driven, driven the race to create an autonomous car, driven the race to create an autonomous car alex davies, Ford, Ford Corktown, ford motor company, general motors, GM, infrastructure, mobility, mountain view, nevada, new mobility, palo alto, tech, tech bros, the race to create an autonomous car, transportation, william mitchell

Weekend Read. This book, Driven: The Race To Create the Autonomous Car, is worth reading for anyone who is interested

Politics Policy

2020 Election: Why I Voted How I Did

November 2, 2020November 2, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments automotive industry, biden, billionaire class, billionaires, corporate debt, corporate subsidies, corporate welfare, covid, COVID19, covid19 pandemic, democracy, Donald Trump, economy, federal deficit, federal reserve, Gretchen Whitmer, infrastructure, joe biden, millionaires, mobility, obama, obama administration, pandemic, pluralism, policy, politics, taxes, transit, transportation, trump administration, xenophobia

Unsurprisingly, rhetoric usually becomes increasingly political as we approach the 2020 presidential election. To paraphrase a staffer on Aaron Sorkin’s

Policy Public transit Transit infrastructure

Gretchen Whitmer: When We Say “Mobility,” We Really Mean “Cars”

October 26, 2020October 26, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments cars, chrysler, decarbonization, fca, Ford, general motors, GM, governor whitmer, Gretchen Whitmer, infrastructure, infrastructure funding, market transformation, michigan, mobility, policy, transit, transit infrastructure, transportation, whitmer

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Council on Future Mobility is not about mobility, it’s about cars. That’s got to change if we’re serious about decarbonizing transportation– or building an equitable future of any kind.

Urban Planning Mobility Transit infrastructure

Transportation Bonanza 11: The Rural, The Urban, And The MDOT

February 17, 2020February 20, 2020 Nat Zorach 0 Comments conferences, field trips, green stormwater infrastructure, lansing, mdot, michigan, mobility, planning, stormwater, transit, transportation, transportation engineering, transportation planning, Urban planning

Nat takes a snowy Thursday trip to the capital to attend the Transportation Bonanza in Lansing with other planners, engineers, and nerds.

Public transit Travel

Bridging The Transit Gulf: APTA Conference in Tampa

December 20, 2019December 20, 2019 Nat Zorach 0 Comments APTA, BRT, climate change, conference, ferry, florida, growth management, HART, LRT, public transit, Sprawl, st. petersburg, suburbs, tampa, tampa bay, taxes, transit, transit infrastructure, transit initatives, transportation, travel, urban growth boundary

I just wrapped up a few days in Tampa for APTA’s Transit Initiatives workshop. The mini-conference, produced by the DC-based

Urban Planning Public transit Transit infrastructure

The New Mobility Requires A New Workforce

December 9, 2019December 9, 2019 Nat Zorach 0 Comments amazon, amazon bid, amazon hq2, autonomous vehicles, bay area, cass corridor, economic development, Ford, garlin gilchrist, Gretchen Whitmer, jeff bezos, Midtown Detroit, mobility, nissan, smart city, sustainable mobility, talent attraction, talent retention, techtown, transit, transportation, wayne state university

This morning I attended “Driving Our AV Future,” an event produced by the Michigan Mobility Institute (MMI) and the Partnership for

Urban Planning Transit infrastructure

New Mobility Needs Old Mobility, Too!

October 30, 2019November 5, 2019 Nat Zorach 0 Comments AAA, bikeshare, Bird, Detroit, lime, limebike, lisa nuszkowski, lyft, MoGo, net impact, ni19, nico probst, prashanth gururaja, public transit, scooters, shared use mobility center, Spin, TNC, transit, transportation, Transportation Network Companies, Uber, USDoT

I admit that I often approach discussions of “new mobility” with trepidation. Many mobility-themed events in Detroit are launched with

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