

Talking Headways: A Streetsblog Podcast
The Overhead Wire
A weekly podcast about the intersection between sustainable transportation, urban planning, and economic development. Hosted by Jeff Wood of The Overhead Wire.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 2, 2025 • 42min
Episode 178: Mondays at The Overhead Wire - A Subway for Cats
This week we're Han Solo but have a lot of great news to share. We talk about the smartest city in the world, Toronto's TOD ambitions, electric car range and much much more! Below are items we shared on the show: Main Items Toronto's TOD - Brandon Donnelly The smartest city - Reasons to be Cheerful Less range - InsideEVs Future of cooling is past - Atmos Grocery robot - The Verge DOT repaints Pulse crosswalk - Orlando Sentinel Homes made by robots - LA Business Journal Mercator Africa - NPR Bonus Items! Tax the rich - Commonwealth Beacon Construction Bubble - Yanko Design EV charger pollution - Electrive EVs cost more - Heatmap Heatwave aging - New York Times Tampa transit - Florida Politics +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site! And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Aug 28, 2025 • 54min
Episode 547: The Menace of Prosperity
This week on the Talking Headways podcast we’re joined by professor Daniel Wortel-London to discuss his new book The Menace of Prosperity: New York City and the Struggle for Economic Development, 1875–1981. We talk about urban growth and missed opportunities by reformers to allow cities to capture more of their value. We discuss Henry George and the land tax movement, what running a city like a business should really mean, and the origins of "highest and best use". There are also cameos by Lewis Mumford and Jane Jacobs. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site! And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Aug 21, 2025 • 38min
Episode 546: Designing and Delivering Bike Networks
This week we’re joined by Ryan Russo, Executive Director of the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO). Ryan shares with us more wisdom from the revised Urban Bikeway Design Guide and discusses the transformation of street systems and managing space for people and deliveries. NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide Online | Physical Book Urban Delivery by Bike Practitioner Paper +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site! And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Aug 19, 2025 • 39min
Episode 177: Mondays at The Overhead Wire - Cars Heat the City
This week we're Han Solo on Mondays but we've got a lot of news and information for you! We cover the bipartisan housing bill, the impact of new housing stock on older rentals, disgust for density, the car colors that make cities hotter and much more! Check out the show notes below! Bipartisan housing bill proposed - Washington Post New housing slows rent growth - Pew Trusts Cities shifting from social hubs - Yale News Disgust for density - NextCity MPO representation - Urban Institute Dark vehicles heat cities - CarbonCopy Privitization of public engagement - streets.mn Homeless health benefits from homes - Seattle Times Moss landing battery fire sparks nimbys - Heatmap Street lamps not light pollution main source - Forbes Smartphone dependent culture - NextCity Killing climate rule could backfire - E&E News NZ could get road user charge - Interest.co.nz Old EV batteries have new jobs - Texas Tribune Ford rethinks assembly line - Wired Magazine Moving to a walkable city could add steps - ABC News +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site! And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Aug 14, 2025 • 40min
Episode 545: The Powerless Brokers
This week on the Talking Headways podcast we’re joined once again by Colin Parent of Circulate San Diego to discuss a new report entitled The Powerless Brokers: Why California Can’t Build Transit. We talk about permitting delays and reforms, public sector capacity, and giving transit authorities more authority. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site! And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Aug 7, 2025 • 41min
Episode 544: Technical Assistance for Equitable TOD
This week we’re joined by Emily Laflamme of the Center for Neighborhood Technology in Chicago. Emily chats about the Elevated Works technical assistance program that helps developers bring equitable TOD to life. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site! And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Aug 5, 2025 • 1h
Episode 176: Mondays at The Overhead Wire - Get Your Steps Racing the Bus
This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we're joined by James Llamas, now at Nelson Nygaard, to chat about a number of different items including Vietnam's move to ban gas powered motorbikes in central Hanoi, the importance of walking to your health, racing the 8 bus in Seattle, Brightline's death toll, and the 8D magical city of Chongqing. Below are the show notes! Vietnam to ban gas bikes - Electrek 7,000 steps for health - The Lancet Race the L8 - Seattle Transit Blog Brightline's death toll - Miami Herald Chongqing the 8D city - Straits Times +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site! And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Jul 31, 2025 • 43min
Episode 543: Measuring Emissions Reduction for Bike Commutes
This week we’re joined by Mark Kabbash, founder of The Dandy Horse. He chats with us about a new system for measuring and verifying bike commuting to obtain carbon avoidance credits. We chat about how the system works and the funding it could generate. Find out more about Mark's work at Linked In +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site! And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Jul 24, 2025 • 56min
Episode 542: Measuring Transportation System Success
This week we’re joined once again by professor Karel Martens of Technion Israel Institute of Technology. We learn about how transportation engineering is good at measuring only one problem and ignoring others and a new tool to determine the success of transportation systems. Fair Transport Lab Website A scale for describing people's mobility status - Findings Press +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site! And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Jul 17, 2025 • 53min
Episode 541: Reclaiming the Road
This week we’re joined by Oxford Ohio City Councilor and Miami of Ohio geography professor, David Prytherch. We chat about his new book Reclaiming the Road: Mobility Justice beyond Complete Streets. We chat about how pandemic open street experiments were rediscovering original uses, the cognitive benefits of experiencing car free streets, the opening of a democratic space for a discussion of what streets could and should be. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site! And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com