The Brake: A Streetsblog Podcast

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 Infrastructure Law, every DOT in the U.S. has been legally r...

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 decision maker in their state to confront the role...

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, including a new shade plan to tackle the impact of...

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 commodity for those who can afford the luxury of living...

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 reckoning with a post-communist culture that see...

Quelimane, Mozambique might not be the first city that comes to an American's mind when she thinks of an active transportation paradise. With 40 percent of trips taken on foot and 35 percent in the saddle , though, the east African city has already been ranked as the most walkable city on Earth — and now, it's setting its sights on becoming an international model for how to support people who walk...

Highways and other federal transportation investments have destroyed neighborhoods of color across America, even as the current presidential administration attempts to heal those wounds through grants like the Reconnecting Communities Program. But what is it like to actually be a local leader fighting to win that money  — especially when the sheer volume of disconnected communities makes the compe...

Over the past few weeks, U.S. news has been flooded with images of hurricane disaster: endless traffic jams full of evacuees, communities destroyed by deadly winds, and residents struggling to access the resources they need to survive while multiple feet of water stand in the streets. But how has car dependency impacted the course of these unthinkable events — and how can addressing it make us mor...

Cities that have done the work to attract a lot of cyclists aren't just safe for people on two wheels — they're safer for drivers, pedestrians, and everyone else on the road, too. But why, exactly, is that true, and how can we use that insight to sell bike-friendly infrastructure and policy to a public that barely rides at all?  On this episode of The Brake, we're back with Nick Ferenchak and Wes...

Our sister podcast, Talking Headways is about to hit its 500 th episode. But how did host Jeff Wood accomplish that massive milestone, and how does he keep finding all these powerful stories about how our cities work?  On today's episode of The Brake, our host Kea Wilson sits down for a long conversation with Wood himself to talk about how he's grown this incredible audio archive of interviews, ho...

"Reclaiming public space" isnt just about turning vacant lots into parks — or bulldozing homes for highways. And in a recent report, the Regional Plan Association of the tri-state area argues that the planning profession needs a new approach towards repurposing our land and  giving residents more "psychological ownership" over their communities.  Check out RPA's recent case studies of how four U.S...

A lot of ink has been spilled on what autonomous vehicles could mean for America, especially if the tech-industry fantasy of a 100% driverless future somehow comes true. But my guest today argues that policymakers need to dig a lot deeper if they want to anticipate the potential side effects of the AV revolution — especially when it comes to public health and equity. In his new paper, "Equity issu...

When a fatal car crash happens, authorities act fast to stablize the victims, clear the road, and get traffic moving again like nothing ever happened. But what if, instead, they treated those streets as the site of a catastrophic transportation failure — and took immediate action to prevent the worst from happening again? On this episode of The Brake, we spoke to Kevin Krizek and Tila Duhaime, who...

 "Project 2025" purports to be a blueprint for an ultra-conservative federal government should Trump win a second term as president in November. But what does that document actually say about the issues that sustainable transportation advocates care about most — and does either  party really understand our issues?  On this episode of 'The Brake', we sat down with Transportation for America 's Beth...

Enrique Peñalosa Londoño has an international reputation for using the humble bus, bikeway, sidewalk and park to make cities more equitable, starting with his game-changing two terms as the mayor of Bogotá, Colombia. And in his new book,  Equality and the City: Urban Innovations for All Citizens, he unpacks how those tools can transform communities into advanced cities where the transportation is...

Who, exactly is designing America's notriously deadly road network — and how on earth do they keep getting away with it?  On today's episode of The Brake, we're talking to traffic engineer, academic and now author, Wes Marshall, whose new book — "Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies Our Transportation System" — unpacks the mountain of wildly outdated, severe...

The Dutch are known around the world as global leaders in sustainable transportation. But as excellent as they are at designing cities to optimize the mobility experience, what about all the other reasons residents might move through their communities — and what other questions should the Netherlands and America be asking about what public space is really for? Those questions are at the heart of t...

Most American communities don't even bother to count what percentage of the population can't legally drive. In the handful of states that have tried, though, the answer has been around 30 percent – which is just enough to create a real movement for change, if we'd all just band together  On today's episode of The Brake, we're bringing you an extended audio version of our conversation with author A...

Across the country, grassroots advocates are fighting a David-and-Goliath-style battle against massive, powerful departments of transportation who are attempting to widen highways in their neighborhoods. And in her new book, City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America's Highways , author Megan Kimble introduces us to the many Davids who are taking on one of the biggest Golia...

Across the country right now, cities and transit agencies are taking steps to address violence on their systems — particularly against the people who work to keep our buses and trains running, clean, and safe for everyone to ride. But what are the root causes of that violence — and are strategies like deploying armed police actually addressing them?  On today's episode of The Brake, we speak to Ur...

Is it possible to build streets that are slow enough to keep vulnerable road users safe and  lightning fast when an emergency service vehicle needs to reach a person in need? That's been a hot topic of debate among U.S. sustainable transportation advocates lately — and it's also the subject of a  fascinating new research paper from the Dutch Cycling Embassy. In this episode of The Brake, we sit do...

This week, we're bringing you an interview with former Bicycling Magazine editor and cycling journalism veteran Peter Flax, to talk about Flax's new book, Live to Ride . Flax and guest host Gersh Kuntzman dig into the reasons why so many of us love to spend time on two wheels, and why people on bikes from all backgrounds come together around the simple joy of pedaling — as well as how they might c...

Sustainable transportation advocates know all the stats about how many people die in car crashes on global roads every year. But what about all the deaths and injuries that car  culture  causes — not to mention all the other ways it diminishes and destroys our communities?  On this episode of The Brake, we're bringing you an extended interview with the lead author of a new literature review that t...

A 'walkability study' can be a powerful tool to help cities and towns identify transformative strategies to welcome and protect pedestrians on their streets — and craft a plan to put those approaches into action. But  what would it take to do this critical analysis in every American community that needs it?  On this episode of The Brake, we sit down with Jeff Speck and Chris Dempsey of the new fir...

Black North Americans face massive and disproportionate barriers to the safe and free enjoyment of public spaces — particularly on North American streets and roads. But despite mountains of research on racial disparities in jaywalking stops, police brutality, traffic violence, and so much more, we still don't have a complete picture of what it's really like to be Black in the public realm, especia...