Last week we discussed eight Complete Streets 2.0 design principles that serve as a framework for successfully integrating new and emerging mobility options into our streetscapes. These principles allow us to adapt current designs, in response to new and shifting modes of transportation, while better balancing a street’s uses and services. Today, we’ll take a […]
Signs of Change Over the last several years, the rise of ridesourcing (a.k.a. TNCs, ride hailing, and ridesharing, such as Uber and Lyft) has brought the challenge of curb management to the forefront for cities large and small. Unmanaged curb access can impact a surprisingly broad range of critical city goals, such as transit access, […]
By Cynthia Hoyle, Planner, Alta Planning + Design When the American Planning Association agreed to publish the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) report on Traffic Calming in 1995 it was considered a very radical concept. I took graduate coursework in transportation engineering and planning in the mid-1980’s and streets were very emphatically to be designed to […]
By Bryan Jones, PE, AICP, Principal, Alta Planning + Design As a young engineer and planner, I was trained to think these were the top transportation issues: level of service (LOS) C or D, on-going maintenance of roads, funding for expansion of freeways and roads to relieve congestion, perfecting the travel demand model forecasts for […]
by Joe Gilpin, Principal at Alta Planning + Design At Alta, we believe the protected intersection will become a standard treatment in 2016. To help achieve this, we are releasing a white paper on protected intersection design guidance, sharing what we have learned helping Salt Lake City with the design of their intersection, as well […]
By Paul Wojciechowski, PE, AICP, LCI, Principal, Alta Planning + Design So you installed low-stress bikeways…now what? For communities across the country, installing low-stress bikeways such as bicycle boulevards or protected bike lanes can be a long, hard road. A ton of work leads up to reconfiguring a roadway. The process of building community and […]
By Phil Goff, LEED AP, Senior Associate, Alta Planning + Design For many of us in the transportation planning and engineering field, nothing beats seeing a project implemented, especially benefiting your friends and neighbors. For me that project is the recent reconstruction of Massachusetts Avenue (Mass Ave.) through East Arlington, where I live. For decades, […]
By Joe Gilpin, Principal Regardless of whether you live in Portland, Oregon, Portland, Maine, or anywhere in between; improving our communities for active transportation requires change. This change must occur at a political level, continue to be supported at the staff level, and be accepted by the public in order to achieve success. This change […]
By Katie Mangle, Principal, Alta Planning + Design There are many reasons we do what we do here at Alta Planning + Design. Most of our staff love to bike. We love to walk. We have fond memories wandering trails with our friends and family. But Alta’s mission — to create active communities — is part of a much, […]
by Ryan Johnson, Planner, Alta Planning + Design I recently returned from a two-week trip to Europe, and I obviously spent a lot of time observing pedestrian and bicycle culture and infrastructure. Rather than simply envy our neighbors across the pond for their walkable and bike-friendly cities and believe that we Yanks could never match […]
