The Brake: A Streetsblog Podcast

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 are hoping U.S. cities will try a radical new approach to post-crash response they're calling "Emergency Streets." The idea, in essence, is that transportation officials will act fast to slash local speed limits and to install temporary, modular traffic-calming infrastructure within a half-mile radius of the spot where someone just lost their life, and keep those changes for at least two weeks — or until the community can have a serious conversation about how to make roads safer permanently. And in the process, Krizek and Duhaime hope that cities can not just save lives without more police enforcement, but also change collective attitudes about who's responsible for stopping traffic violence in the first place. Listen in, and if you'd like to chat with the advocates about their idea more, reach out at kjkrizek@gmail.com and tilatila2@gmail.com.

"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 Osborne to chat through some of the standout passages of Project 2025 and break down what it would really mean if the next administration took the Heritage Foundation's advice to slash transit funding, let states raise more of their own transportation dollars, and push communities towards building more single-family-only neighborhoods. And we also explore where liberals, conservatives, and other political ideologies tend to overlap, and what it will take to push all of them towards a better conversation.

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 an equalizer rather than a divider. Tune into this guest episode from Scott Shepard of the #CitiesFirst podcast, and check out a transcribed excerpt from their converasation on Streetsblog USA

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, severely limited, and often downright non-existent research that underlies so much of our national road design manuals. More importantly, though, Marshall's book also unpacks the more fundamental reasons why engineers keep widening lanes and saying no to crosswalks, even when the manuals give them permission to do something better — which, more often than not, they do. Listen in, and read an excerpt from "Killed by a Traffic Engineer" here.

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 the new Dutch book "Movement: How to Take Back Our Streets and Transform our Lives," which is now out in English for the first time. And on this episode of the Brake, we sit down with authors Thalia Verkade and Marco te Brömmelstroet to talk about how much of their country treats bikes as "cars on two wheels," the good and bad ways that e-bikes are reshaping their landscapes, and how American communities can continue to learn from the Dutch example, while also joining them in the fight for even better streets.

Author Anna Zivarts discusses the movement of non-drivers in the US, focusing on inclusive transportation solutions and the challenges faced by those who can't drive. She explores the importance of addressing the needs of this significant population through alternative mobility options and collective action.

Author Megan Kimble discusses grassroots efforts in Texas to fight highway expansions, highlighting the campaign to remove I-345 in Dallas. They delve into the impact of highway projects on communities and the need to challenge auto-centric city planning, with a focus on envisioning cities without highways like Rochester, New York.

Lindiwe Rennert, Urban Institute Senior Research Associate, discusses the root causes of violence against transit workers, highlighting the correlation with police brutality and income inequality. The podcast explores community-driven solutions to address violence on transit and challenges the role of armed transit police and elected officials in tackling this issue.

Research paper co-authors Shelley Bontje and Chris Bruntlett discuss balancing traffic calming with emergency response times. They delve into the Dutch approach to street design for both cyclists and EMS vehicles. The podcast explores innovative governance models, cultural traits of Dutch engineers, and the importance of collaboration between bike advocates and EMS workers for safer cities.

Former Bicycling Magazine editor Peter Flax and guest host Gersh Kuntzman discuss the unity and joy of biking, advocating for collaborative efforts to improve biking infrastructure. They delve into promoting cyclist rights, transforming cities positively, addressing challenges in bike advocacy, and reframing the definition of a 'real cyclist' to foster inclusivity and safety in biking culture.