One in five U.S. college students are also parents with children of their own — and in many cases, a single unexpected expense can be enough to force them to drop out before they earn their degrees. And too often, that emergency comes in the form of a transportation challenge like a cancelled bus route or a flat tire that keeps them from ever reach…

This week we’re joined by Ross Peterson to talk about non emergency medical transportation and his new wheelchair accessible transportation company RIDEtoo. We talk about transportation funding for medical visits and how they can be more efficient. Also find Ross on Linked In +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Insta…

This week we’re joined by bridge engineer Daniel Baxter to talk about his almost daily running commute. We chat about bridges, the gear you need for running in cold weather, staying safe on the roads, and the benefits of running to work. Check out Daniel's specially curated spotify playlist. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Follow us on Bluesky…

This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we're joined by Chrissy Mancini Nichols to talk about how Americans are losing interest in buying cars, how scientists found out how to break through climate apathy, why Florida's real estate prices aren't reflecting climate futures, food deliveries in San Francisco, and how Secretary cut University Transpo…

This week I’m joined by Kevin Krizek and Tila Duhaime to chat about an idea called Emergency Streets which focuses on the proper response from cities after a fatal crash. We chat about traffic deaths as an epidemic, and how an Emergency Streets protocol could alert people to the traffic deaths happening in their communities. +++ Get the show ad fre…

Are Americans really more "car-brained" than their peers in the UK or the Netherlands — and if they are, what can make us change? The Brake is back from its spring hiatus with the return of two of our all-time favorite guests: researchers Ian Walker and Marco te Brömmelstroet, who teamed up for a new paper about how "motonormativity" manifests acro…

This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we're Han Solo but don't worry, we've got you covered with lots of great news about cities and transportation. We cover Texas preemption against bike and bus lanes, the short sightedness of housing people in parking lots, and what makes cities more walkable. Below are the items we shared on the show: Main I…

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Anthony Flint of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy to talk about his book Mayors Desk: 20 Conversations with Local Leaders Solving Global Problems. We chat about the future of cities through the eyes of a mayor, those who operate like urban mechanics, and the challenges that connect citie…

This week we’re joined by Leah Rothstein to chat about her book she wrote with her father Richard entitled Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law. We discuss building wealth and ideas for building more equitable housing policies as well as convincing people why they are important. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreo…

This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we talk state preemption, pandemic era block parties that continue on, and warehouse transportation regulations in California. Below are the show notes! Speed limiters - Streetsblog USA Block party - WHYY State preemption law in Idaho - Idaho Statesman Federal preemption - Streetsblog USA CA warehouse regul…

This week we’re joined by journalist and host of KQED’s Forum Alexis Madrigal to discuss his book The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City. Alexis connects containerization to globalization and its direct impacts on an Oakland neighborhood. We also chat about histories of determining blight, silicon v…

This week we’re listening in on a conversation hosted by Seamless Bay Area about the 2024 update to the California State Rail Plan. Adina Levin of Seamless Bay Area hosts Shannon Simonds Chief, Office of Rail Planning & Implementation at Caltrans, Eric Goldwyn of the Marron Institute of Urban Management, and Adriana Rizzo of Californians for Electr…

This week we’re joined by Kelly Porter, Assistant Director Tranportation & Public Works for the City of Fort Worth. We talk about the city’s incredible growth, its first ever comprehensive transportation plan, plans for Panther Island and Butler Place as well as dreams for high speed rail. Get the show ad free on Patreon! Follow us on Bluesky, Thre…

This week on Monday's we're Han Solo, but don't let the smuggler fool you, we've got some great loot in the cargo hold. We chat about states focusing on shifting road funds to active transportation, a Brooklyn apartment building put together like a lego set, and a battery fire used to oppose batteries. Lots of great items this week, below are the s…

This week we’re joined by Kyle Paoletta to talk about his book American Oasis: Finding the Future in the Cities of the Southwest. We discuss the growth and history of southwestern US cities, how indigenous people didn't disappear but adapted, the importance of language and identity, and climate adaptation lessons for cities from the driest region. …

How does our popular media normalize dangerous behavior on our roads — and does it even help create it? Today on The Brake, we're talking about the role of culture in driving our road violence crisis, including car ads that make reckless driving seem like it never has deadly consequences, action movies, video games, and even social media trends. An…

This week we’re joined by Congressman Rick Larsen of Washington State, Ranking Member for the Democrats on the House Transportation Committee. We chat about USDOT’s recent guidance for stripping sustainable projects of funding and why active transportation advocates should focus on safety. Find committee hearing schedules here. Find the TNI Democra…

This week we're Han Solo, but we talk about trends in state preemption, state capacity and road project costs, the possible death of the North Star commuter rail line, and how utility companies in California can't cry takings when transit projects ask them to move equipment. Links to the items we chatted about below the fold How to Meet Your Neighb…

This week Yonah Freemark of the Urban Institute is back again for Part 2 of our annual discussion. This week we make predictions! We look at what we predicted last year and what might happen in 2025. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon [email protected] Support…

Decades of research prove that highways tear apart the physical fabric of our cities, segregating neighborhoods by race and income and making it harder for anyone outside a car to access the jobs, services and communities they rely on — at least if those things happen to be located on the other side of a dangerous road. But what impact do highways …

This week we’re joined once again by Yonah Freemark of the Urban Institute to discuss his annual transit project updates at Transit Explorer. In Part 1, we talk about housing strategies for properties near transit, exciting transit openings in 2025, and which cities could use a subway project. We also talk about government deference to local offici…

This week we’re joined by Yoni Appelbaum to discuss his book Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity. We talk about the history of moving in the US and how the different traditions of land ownership and management in the US evolved. We also talk about how much people loved apartments at the turn of the …

This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we're Han Solo! But don't worry, we cover a lot of ground including congestion pricing's sparing match with a wannabe King, Canada's high speed rail plans, microplastics, and a big bike experiment in Denver. For more links to items discussed on the show, see below: USDOT wants end to congestion pricing - St…

Cities across America have been trying — and mostly failing — to achieve Vision Zero for more than a decade. But is it really time to trade the goal of ending road deaths and serious injuries for the aim of reducing them 30 percent by 2030? And would we be better positioned to eliminate the other 70 percent of fatalities if we made that strategic s…

This week we’re chatting with Stacy Mitchell of the Institute of Local Self Reliance about her recent article in the Atlantic entitled The Great Grocery Squeeze. We chat about the deregulation mood of the 70s and 80s and what that’s meant for shopping, access, and how much we drive. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Sub…

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we’re joined by Ren Yee of UN Studio at the Mpact Transit + Community conference in Philadelphia. We chat about the cognitive workload of pedestrians and creating safe opportunities for mind wandering and absorbing information. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @the…

This week at Mondays at The Overhead Wire, we're joined by Streetsblog USA's Kea Wilson to chat about the new USDOT directives from the Trump administration. We talk about rescinded memos, funding memos, and Kea thinks Jeff might be trying to hard to find logic in the reasoning for using birth and marriage rates to steer transportation funding. Bel…

What’s a little bigger than a bike, a lot smaller than a car, and might be the tool you didn’t know you needed to get a big haul home from the grocery store two miles away in the pouring rain? The answer is actually an entire category of vehicles that aren't common on U.S. roads — but with the right mix of policy, code, and infrastructure reform, w…

This week on Talking Headways we’re joined by Member of the Welsh Senedd (Parliament) Lee Waters and Dr. Jennifer Kent of The University of Sydney. They talk about how Wales set climate targets, did a roads review, got to a 20 mile per hour speed limit across the country, and what it might take for other places to do the same. They share the import…

This week on Talking Headways we’re joined by Mike Eliason of larch lab to discuss his new book Building for People: Designing Livable, Affordable, Low-Carbon Communities. We chat about single stair buildings, development on arterials, building back after climate disasters, and the problem with RFPs. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, Yo…

What if there were a single document that told every U.S. resident exactly how safe their state is — or isn't— for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other vulnerable road users, as well as what that state is doing to save lives ? Turns out there is: the Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment, or VRUSA. And since the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastruct…

This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we're Han Solo, but that doesn't stop us from talking about all the podcasts we've got coming up, news about the LA wildfires, modular homes, and surveillance technology. More news than you can use this week on the Talking Headways podcast feed. Main News Items Essential eternal apartment - JSTOR Daily Reth…

This week on Talking Headways we’re joined by Jon Kramer, CEO of engineering and planning firm OHM Advisors. Jon chats about going from Intern to CEO over a 30 year period, competing against large engineering firms, and the state of engineering education. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr ... @theoverheadwire Follow us o…

This week on Talking Headways we’re joined by Bridget Marquis, Director of Reimagining the Civic Commons. Bridget chats with us about connecting public assets, the importance of creating metrics that matter, and better ways to think about community engagement. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr ... @theoverheadwire Follow…

If you’ve been following Streetsblog for a while, you might have heard of famed planner/engineer/all-around transportation superstar Roger Millar, not least for his recent leadership as the head of the Washington state DOT. But you might not have heard that, while at WashDOT, Millar and his team did something quietly radical: they challenged every …

We're Han Solo this week but have a lot to share from the end of December and the start of 2025. As we get back into the new year we cover new ways to think about housing construction, transit expansion from Yonah Freemark, and worries about the brightness of headlights. Check out the show notes below. Transit Openings 2025 - Transport Politic Radi…

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Ben Ross and Joe Cortright to discuss their article in Dissent Magazine discussing how modeling is being used to expand highways around the country. We chat about their critiques of highway modeling, politics, and some potential solutions to the problem. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, In…

This week we’re joined by Professor Sara Bronin to talk about her book Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes Our World. We chat about all the ways that land is regulated. And why zoning is an opportunity for people to reshape their communities. We also chat about food policy, connecting the street to property, and the relationship between land and nat…

This week for our holiday break we’re going back in time to episode 108 which we recorded in Cambridge England with Daniele Quercia and Luca Aiello of Bell Labs. We chatted about using social media to map sensory experiences in cities including smells and soundscapes. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr ... @theoverheadwir…

This week we’re joined by Austin Gibble, currently of Stantec but formerly of the City of Indianapolis and IndyGo. We chat about the history of planning for BRT in Indy, the Cultural Trail bike network, transit and infrastructure costs, and the interpersonal relationships that can make or break projects. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram…

This week we’re going back to 2021 to chat with Professor Andres Sevtsuk of MIT about his book Street Commerce: Creating Vibrant Urban Sidewalks. I really liked this discussion and he just had an MIT News profile out yesterday about his work so I thought it might be of interest to folks. We chat the importance of location in urban retail, the city …

More than a decade ago, Kate Gallego had a seizure that temporarily cost her the ability to drive – and opened her eyes to the difficulty of getting around her city of Phoenix, Arizona without a car. Now, in her third term as Phoenix's mayor, she's pushed for some of the most aggressive multimodal transportaiton investments in the city's history, i…

This week we’re back at the Mpact conference in Philadelphia and joined by Ruth Miller of Jawnt. Ruth shares her superhero origin story and how employer transit pass programs like SEPTA’s Key Advantage Program work to support employees, agencies, and the region overall. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr ... @theoverheadw…

Across America, a new class of developers are building car-free neighborhoods from scratch — or at least, they're building places where residents don't need to drive quite as much as their suburban neighbors. But can these greenfield developments really serve as a model for communities across America, or will they always be a rare and coveted commo…

This week we’re at Mpact in Philadelphia chatting with King County Metro’s Rachel DeCordoba about her work educating the next generation of transit riders. She chats about transit education and curriculum and the importance of learning with peers. Also apologies for the audio difficulties 2/3rds of the way though. You can read the transcript of thi…

This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we're Han Solo, but that doesn't stop us from sharing upcoming episodes of Talking Headways and news from the last month or so. We chat about greening concrete, a car free Congress Avenue, Hamburg's green space compact, and rainways in Vancouver BC. Links from the Show! Reimagining Congress Ave - KUT Greeni…

This week we’re joined by Ryan Kelley, Community development Manager for Hennepin County in Minnesota. Ryan chats with us about the county’s transit-oriented communities program and how they support commercial preservation and aid businesses. This episode was produced in partnership with Mpact. For more information, visit http://mpactmobility.org +…

Tirana, Albania has gained international recognition for putting kids first on the road — especially their award-winning "School Streets," where cars are either banned or significantly limited from driving near learning centers and play spaces for kids are built instead. As the Balkan city grows its bike network, though, its mayor says it's still r…

This week we’re joined by writer Rob Walker to talk about his book, City Tech: 20 Apps, Ideas, and Innovations Changing the Urban Landscape. We discuss data collection, misconceptions, impressive transportation technologies such as e-bikes, and how technology has progressed in the last decade. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, …

A Flashback! That’s right we’re flashing back again to Episode 308 of the Talking Headways podcast with Sara Hendren discussing her book What a Body Can Do. Sara chats with us about how we think and talk about disability, reframing independent living, and designing a humane world for everyone. This is one of my favorites and I’m glad we’re getting …