My favorite graphics in "Transportation and the Shape of Cities" #12: For sidewalks, width makes a big difference.

For once, I’d like to see a city claim itself as “the city with no neighborhoods.” That would actually be unique!

Blair Lorenzo / The Fox and the City@thefoxandthecity.com · 5d ago

Wow, Wikipedia, that's such a unique claim and totally unique to the city! </cynicism>

My favorite graphics in "Transportation and the Shape of Cities" #11: Because trains are tall and bad at going uphill it takes a lot of space to ramp up or down for a road/railroad grade separation.

My favorite graphics in "Transportation and the Shape of Cities" #10: How a railroad classification yard works.

Amtrak along the Hudson at the Bear Mountain Bridge.

This train is not maximizing shareholder value. (Opposite Poughkeepsie, NY.)

My favorite graphics in "Transportation and the Shape of Cities" #9: Three distinct schools of thought — classical, landscape, and modernist—have shaped pedestrian urban design in the age of the car. All have different ideas about land use, separation from traffic, safety, and visual interest.

My favorite graphics in "Transportation and the Shape of Cities" #8: A bike lane can be built with paint and plastic, made more durable with curbs and planters, or built into the infrastructure of a rebuilt street. All take the same space, but the cost and the feel of the street are quite different.

My favorite graphics in "Transportation and the Shape of Cities" #6: A typical transit route gets its ridership from lots of shorter trips that overlap each other, not from end-to-end trips. The more destinations along the way, the more of those trips it can serve, and the higher ridership is.

My favorite graphics in "Transportation and the Shape of Cities" #5: The structure of US transportation funding and decision making is complicated (example: Houston.) That shapes what we build and what we don't, and it makes it harder for the public to figure out how to change things.

$218M CRISI grant to extend Amtrak Chicago-Milwaukee service to Madison! (But it still needs the legislature/governor to provide the state match and operating funds.) captimes.com/news/governm...

Amtrak’s Madison-Milwaukee passenger rail plans get $218M boost

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Sen. Tammy Baldwin announced the federal funding for track upgrades and new stations along the proposed Hiawatha West line.

captimes.com

My favorite graphics in "Transportation and the Shape of Cities" #4: A typical office worker has less space in their cubicle than their car does in the parking garage.

The season of the dock removal boat has come!

My favorite graphics in "Transportation and the Shape of Cities" #3: Work trips peak at rush hour but lots of other trips fill in at midday.

My favorite graphics in "Transportation and the Shape of Cities" #2: North America has one big rail network and many little ones, and those networks are defined by federal law as well as infrastructure.

One of the places in the US that most needed bus lanes. Hopefully, this is only the first step.

David Powe@davidpowe.bsky.social · 2w ago

Absolutely smashing new bus lanes on Michigan Ave! 🚌❤️ Really proud of CDOT's work to deliver this 1.5-mile stretch of dedicated lanes serving 1,700+ buses every day. We're laser-focused on delivering faster, more reliable bus service across Chicago. Excited to keep this momentum rolling into 2027!

The book has been out two months now, and it's fun seeing what people like. Here's some of my favorites, all testament to my talented coauthors.

Christof Spieler@christofspieler.bsky.social · 2w ago

My favorite graphics in "Transportation and the Shape of Cities" #1: Motorized transportation (trolleys and then cars) changed the scale of cities.

My favorite graphics in "Transportation and the Shape of Cities" #1: Motorized transportation (trolleys and then cars) changed the scale of cities.

This isn't an industrial spur -- it's the CPKC mainline between Minneapolis and Kansas City. (Lansing, Iowa)

Addison station on Chicago's Blue Line.

Metra Electric under Chicago's convention center.

Chicago local freight. (Mayfair, where the ex-Milwaukee crosses the ex-CNW.)

Stumbled across this from the Swiss Rhätische Bahn -- is there any other railroad in the world that publishes daily rolling stock assignments on its website? www.rhb.ch/en/railway-e...

The SEPTA Reimagining Regional Rail report is out! It's a vision for making the system more useful for more people and a roadmap on how to get there. wwww.septa.org/initiatives/...

British urban planners in the 1960s: "You get a flyover! You get a flyover! Everyone gets a flyover!" (Birkenhead, across the river from Liverpool.)

Britain's West Coast Main Line: kind of like the Northeast Corridor (125+ mph express trains, lots of commuters, all on legacy track with rounds of modernization), but with freight.

Some of you may point out that your local commuter rail line is not through running but should be, but is it as comically not through running as one? (Ormskirk, UK, where electric Merseyrail trains meet diesel Northern services.)

In Toronto for #MpactTO26? Spare time to explore? Check out my transit tour guide. www.trainsbusespeople.org/transit-tour...

Approaching Saltaire, North Yorkshire. The rows of matching houses, stores, public buildings, and mill are the "model village" built in the 1850s by mill owner Sir Titus Salt so his workers (unlike most of their peers elsewhere) would have clean housing, educational opportunities, and recreation.