Category Archives: Mobility

Mobility refers to land use as it concerns mobility, all transportation modes including roads, aviation, public transit, pedestrian programs, bicycle programs, ground transportation, taxicab regulation, Lone Star Rail, core transit corridors, and related matters.

How Access Management Improves Traffic Congestion

The question has come up about how raised medians, consolidated driveways, and left-turn and right-turn lanes, which are grouped together in mobility jargon as “access management,” improve traffic congestion, the top priority of the mobility bond. At first glance, taking away the chicken lane in the middle of a four-lane urban road and adding dedicated turn lanes while limiting drive ways doesn’t seem like it would address slow traffic.

The answer becomes clear, however, when you ask a different question: Do traffic accidents cause traffic delays? Of course they do, so anything we can reduce traffic collisions on busy roads will reduce traffic congestion. What makes intuitive sense to you and me is backed up by the Federal Highways Administration at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Continue reading →

DOT NAMES AUSTIN “MAYORS’ CHALLENGE LADDERS OF OPPORTUNITY” WINNER: Austin honored for pilot project in Rundberg area

PrintToday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx named Austin one of the winners of the Mayors’ Challenge for Safer People, Safer Streets. Austin, which won for its Smart Trips Austin program in the Rundberg neighborhood, is the Mayors’ Challenge Ladders of Opportunity (Large City) Award Winner.

“This award is designed to support a community that creates opportunities through bike and pedestrian efforts. Let me say this, because I found the statistic alarming when I read it, that fewer than 50% of low-income neighborhoods have adequate sidewalks and crosswalks around the country,” said Sec. Anthony Foxx at the 2016 Safer People, Safer Street Summit in Washington, D.C., this morning. “I’m pleased to announce Austin as winner of the Ladders of Opportunity Award. The City of Austin has launched a new program in a low-income, predominantly minority community that highlights the health and safety benefits of walking and biking. They have also installed more than 30 new pedestrian signals and beacons to make crossing safer for those with disabilities.”

“We piloted our Smart Trips Austin program in the Rundberg neighborhood, because of our commitment to improving equity,” said Mayor Steve Adler. “By helping people learn to take trips by walking, biking, and transit, in a way that works for their lives, we gave them a leg up on getting to work or school safely and more affordably – with a health and fitness bonus too.” Continue reading →