Hourcar: Minneapolis-St. Paul nonprofit car share to shut down

Hourcar is a nonprofit car share organization serving Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.  Since 2005-21 years--it has been a rare non profit organization in the field that has survived

Most of the initial firms sold themselves to for profit providers around the time that they needed to raise funds for the first wholesale replacement of the original fleet of cars as they aged.

But now, faced with significant increases in repair costs, insurance, and recission of federal grants to the organization as well as to government partners led to a triple whammy--a $1.1 million deficit that the board was not able to raise funds for and cover ("HourCar calls it quits, Evie electric carshare ends Oct. 15," St. Paul Pioneer-Press).  From the article:

To maintain and expand operations over the years, the car-sharing service — which allows members to book a fuel-efficient car for hourly use via an app — has relied heavily on financial support from St. Paul, Minneapolis, Xcel Energy and other public, private and philanthropic partners, as well as federal grants.

LaGrange said the board convened Tuesday night and determined that while they had made headway on a $1.1 million budget gap, some $625,000 remained to be raised to complete a $5 million budget and keep the organization afloat. With most fundraising avenues already exhausted and cities, counties and fellow nonprofits expressing alarm about their own finances, finding the extra cash seemed unlikely.

So now it's going to shut down. From the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal ("Hourcar, facing budget gap, will end car-sharing service"):

HourCar was launched in 2005 by Neighborhood Energy Connection (now the Center for Energy and Environment). It outlasted some early rivals, such as Car2Go (which left the market in 2016) and expanded with partners including Xcel Energy Inc. 

According to a 2025 Community Impact Report, the service was used for 196,220 trips the past year. Most of the users responding to a survey in March 2026 said the used the service for entertainment reasons and for household tasks like grocery shopping. Forty-one percent said they used the service to get to medical appointments.

One of the problems with transportation demand management systems is that it's comprised of a mix of private, government and nonprofit providers.  US government actors aren't prepared to step in to cover losses, even if the service is worthwhile.

The Veo Trike ("Is the Electric Trike the Next Big Thing in Shared Micromobility?," Wired Magazine).

-- "Further updates to the Sustainable Mobility Platform Framework" (2018) [this entry needs an update compilation within the framework, like Veo trikes]

Maybe not in Minneapolis-St. Paul, but I know in DC, another problem is that car share is seen not so much as a mobility resource and as a way to reduce parking demand, but a profit center to be charged high rates for the use of public spaces.  And taxes.  In DC, a car share trip costs more in taxes than a trip on Uber or Lyft.

It's possible in a place like Hamburg or Berlin, where the city government is the main actor through a transit subsidiary, that agencies there could step in if there are problems, seeing the value of continuing the service.  But it's not guaranteed.

Similar problems have come up with bike share, as the way it usually works is that systems serving multiple cities are really set up behind the scenes, city by city, and this can lead to sub-optimal outcomes.

And the dockless systems, which pay cities a license fee.  But aren't always sustainable.  Also with the White's Ferry in Montgomery County, Maryland.

-- "Another example of the need to reconfigure transpo planning and operations at the metropolitan scale: Boston is seizing dockless bike share bikes, which compete with their dock-based system" (2018)
-- "New Jersey still has private transit carriers providing "public transit"" (2023)
-- "Revisiting the need for comprehensive transportation planning at the metropolitan and regional scales | For profit services, and White's Ferry, Montgomery and Loudoun Counties" (2022)

Scenario planning, like what I recommend for parks master planning in jurisdictions with parks operated by multiple agencies, is absolutely necessary in maintaining and improving the sustainable mobility platform/MobilityAsAService (MaaS).  DC was and somewhat is a leader, but it's not planned (this piece needs an update too).

-- "DC is a market leader in Mobility as a Service (MaaS)" (2018)

That way they are prepared for changing circumstances.  Ideally, in a system with various profits and losses, profits in one area could subsidize losses, with the aim of maintaining the ideal system.

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Berlin's integrated transit app: integrated apps as an element of brand leadership.  In Berlin, they've created a mobility app that integrates transit modes provided by the transport association and non-transit modes offered by private firms ("Berlin's new transit app Jelbi connects all modes in one place," Fast Company).

The app, Jelbi ... connects services that currently each have apps of their own, making it difficult to plan a trip or buy tickets given the number of choices. “We have eight bikesharing companies in the market, alone,” says Christof Schminke, the managing director in Germany for Trafi, the tech company that built the platform for BVG, Berlin’s public transport company. “I think it’s a good sign that Berlin has all the mobility options, but for every service you need a separate app on your smartphone.”

BVG, which runs the city’s subways, trams, buses, and ferries, wanted to become a broader mobility provider for Berlin. “They also saw a competitive threat, because there are also other players, like automotive companies or the Ubers of the world, that are also starting to integrate other modes of mobility… they didn’t want to leave it to private players to [take on] this integrator role,” Schminke says. Other companies, like the startups offering bikes and scooters, saw the benefits of connecting with a public transit platform and getting more riders.

Jelbi shifts, adds mobility hubs.  Photo: IMAGO/Funke Photo Services

The thing for me, is that while transport associations need to organize as systems, I don't think it matters as much to users.  They don't need an app with every possible option.  Instead, they are content to have apps for the services that they regularly use, which is a small subset of the total. 

But in Berlin, the transport association takes a more direct role in coordinating private services ("BVG keeps Berlin mobile – with a pleasing year-end result ," BerlinLive).

Underpasses don't always have to be grim, forgotten interstitial spaces

Freeway underpasses, spaces, and abutments tend to be grim and dingy interstitial spaces.

Some places have parking.  Others homeless encampments.

A homeless encampment on West Crowther Avenue and the 57 freeway in Placentia, CA will be cleaned out tomorrow. Workers cleaned out an area near there on Wednesday, April 1, 2020. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register)

Toronto has the Bentway under the Gardiner Expressway ("How Toronto transformed a highway underpass into a vibrant public space," Fast Company). (Still air quality issues.)  

I think the Bentway was first conceptualized as a winter feature.  But maybe the intent all along was year round use.  Photo: Bernard Weil, Toronto Star.

Miami's Underline predates The Bentway.  It was first a service road and then bike and walking path underneath the Miami Metrorail.  Metrorail is elevated because of the water table, and the line follows old railroad right of way.  It will be 10 miles long when finished.

There are a bunch of murals in places, on abutments, etc.

This is in Salt Lake.

This roadway underpass in the Central Ninth neighborhood abutting Mead Avenue has painted abutments, a ground treatment and a futsal court.

Public art adorns a freeway overpass and abutments on I-15 in Las Vegas Nevada.  Las Vegas Review Journal photo.

Freeway underpass abutments in Utah constructed of red rock and red tinted concrete, referencing geological history and regionally significant building materials.

Sometimes rocks, to discourage homeless camping.  Also Salt Lake: the underpass over the railroad tracks on 400 South.

Public art incorporated into an overpass, Loop 202 Freeway, Phoenix.  

Photo: Sky Schaudt, KJZZ:  "Q&AZ: Who Designs The Artwork Along Arizona Freeways?)"

Rendering, "Perked-up underpasses to link Detroit neighborhoods," Detroit News.

And Tampa, "Overpass art may be coming to St. Petersburg," Tampa Bay Times.

Sacramento, before and after.  The CalTrans Transportation Art webpage is a great resource.

Painted abutments complemented by plantings. 

 'Second Summer Reflections' is a public artwork created by local artist Andrew Frazer on the underside of the Mega-Bridge in Picton as part of the Wilman Wadandi Highway. The design was painted on the columns supporting the 382-metre-long bridge over a two-month period in late 2024.  

Mural painted freeway abutments, Great Rivers Greenway, St. Louis.  Report: Economic and social impacts of developing the Brickline Greenway

This is what I was looking for originally, painted abutments.  But Flickr's photo search function has stopped working, at least for me, on photos uploaded a long time ago.  I know I have painted abutment examples from Detroit, Toronto, and Salt Lake, but they aren't coming up in searches.  Very very frustrating because I pay for the account.

Eyes on the street + neighborhood stability ratings | When they aren't great public investment in placemaking may be too early

People out on a Sunday afternoon in 2012.

In 2002, DC did one of its first streetscape improvement projects, on 8th Street SE, the Barracks Row commercial district, which is embedded in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. 

At the time it was an early best practice example of this kind of transportation investment in cities as housing purchase preferences opened up to the possibility of living in the city--before people avoided the cities for the suburbs.

It propelled improvement on the corridor pretty fast.  A couple years later I was at a cafe with Rachel MacCleery, then the Ward 6 Transportation Planner, and we were trying to figure out "why".

I realized that rating systems for neighborhoods developed by HUD in the 1970s, a 5-9 point scale, basically A to D/E, some further subdivided into high/low or +/- should be conducted at three scales.  They had been focused on a single rating for the neighborhood overall.

But I realized that this could also be done at the block by block scale, and separately for the residential and commercial sections of a neighborhood ("Systematic neighborhood engagement," 2007, "Streetscape benefits," 2008, "To accelerate commercial district improvement you have to do more than build the one shiny new thing," 2018).

The reason that the investment had high ROI so quickly wasn't strictly because "it was a streetscape project" so that the city wanted to do them all over.  It worked because the residential section of the neighborhood had been healthy for a decade or more.  

At the same time, the commercial district lagged, partly due to the demographics of the bus riders frequenting the area.

8th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE is a main transfer point between two primary bus lines, Anacostia/East of the River to Capitol Hill to H Street to Florida Avenue to U Street, and Pennsylvania Avenue from deep SE to Wisconsin Avenue and Friendship Heights in the northwest.

And because there was a lot of public housing to the south.  

Interestingly, once black dominated commercial districts in the city post-1960s still attracted a lot of return visits from former residents so that the commercial districts tended to have visitor demographics that were becoming incongruent compared to the residential mix.

Lots of congregating, a methadone clinic or two, and a junior high right at this intersection.

I realized that by doing a more nuanced evaluation, the results could be used to infuse policy choices, such as when and where to invest.  In short, before, 8th Street SE wasn't so great, partly because of its customer and user base, but also because of some dinginess in the building stock and tired streets and sidewalks.

Investment in the street and sidewalks, complemented I think by facade grants to property owners, as well as independent investment attracted by the changes led to fast improvement.

When the city did similar projects in other areas where both the commercial and residential districts lagged, it looked better, but there weren't significant improvements in business and residential improvement.  

The Barracks Row investment, complemented by new housing development (partly the demolition and rebuilding of public housing which did lead to displacement), brought great changes.

Photo by Georg Stutzenberger.  

Salt Lake.  This comes up in Salt Lake.  A person on Nextdoor put up two photos of a dog sculpture that had been in Warm Springs Park on the city's northwest side.  

It was vandalized, the vandals couldn't figure out how to fully detach the sculpture from its base.  And the city put the sculpture in storage where it remains to this day.

Warm Springs Park is known for the Warm Springs hot springs building, which at its most popular point was known for pools and baths with water piped in from area springs (note to the geologically challenged, springs that are hot are hot because they are on earthquake fault lines).  But the building went dark--spring water corroded pipes and was hard to control (although plenty of other public and private establishments around the county still manage to do so.

There is a friends group trying to revive the building, Warm Springs Alliance ("Bringing Back Wasatch Warm Springs as Salt Lake’s Community Gathering Place," Utah Stories).  And the city has committed some monies to stabilization, but not to restoration.  

To my way of thinking the WSA approach to revival is super flawed.  They say don't bring the pool back because of the hard water issue.  I say, water is the unique selling proposition for the facility.  Without water why bother?

Plus there are programmatic issues.  Salt Lake City proper doesn't run community centers.  It may own the building but the County operates it.  And there is already a community center about two miles away.  

So the Warm Springs site is too close I think for the city and county to be willing to fund and operate a community center.  Would you rather have a four lane bowling alley or a hot spring fed pool?

A U of Utah architecture class did its projects on the building, and they were given the scope of "no water" in the building.  (I don't know why the clinical professor running the class acquiesced?)

Some of the students projects called for restoration of the water pools outside, others ignored the scope and proposed making the building once again a hot springs pool.  I preferred the proposals that featured water and made it if not front and center, a significant element.

The vandalism of the sculpture problem is an issue that comes back to the idea of rating places at the at the block scale.  

The residential neighborhood is fine--except for that road highway that splits the neighborhood, 8 lane arterial that connects to I-15.  So the neighborhood is split by the arterial and by the freeway.  At the same time it also abuts the State Capitol and Capitol Hill, so it's well located otherwise.  

But the land use context of the existing park isn't fine.  Iit's at the edge of the neighborhood so there aren't a lot of "eyes on the street" to help keep "natural order." 

While dog owners continue to frequent the park, there are just a few houses nearby and not a lot of people around.  It's one of many places where homeless people try to camp with all the problems that emanate from it.

The modified rating system is a good way to think about what to do with the site and how to build better connections to reduce nuisance factors.

Rating at the block scale, for a block rated C or lower, I argued you should be wary of putting in street furniture and other appurtenances because of the potential for vandalism and vagrancy. 

Warm Springs Park is not necessarily distressed at least in terms of the neighborhood.  But it is "poorly located" on the edge of the residential section next to that pesky arterial. 

So fewer eyes on the street, more opportunity for bad stuff, especially because the main buildng is derelict.

A point about pedestrianizing streets: Boulder; Alexandria, Virginia, Cleveland Park, DC

This post is spurred by Alexandria, Virginia expanding the pedestrianization of King Street from the 100 block to the 200 block.

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When I first got involved in urban revitalization, I learned more about pedestrianized streets.  I already knew some, because I had visited Kalamazoo, Michigan, home to the first pedestrianized downtown street, created in 1959 ("Kalamazoo Mall, nation's first pedestrian mall, opened 60 years ago today," Kalamazoo Gazette).  It still exists, but now provides for car access, not just on the cross streets.

Such pedestrian malls were created as a way to compete with suburban malls, which had taken a lot of the retail out of the city.  Although in the 1950s and 1960s downtown department stores still reigned, although many firms started suburbanizing along with their customers, adding branches in the suburbs.

Usually, a pedestrian mall wasn't/isn't enough to attract people downtown on its own because most people are satisfied by the retail options they have closer to home, so the spaces seemed pretty empty.  And because they were empty, it provided an opportunity for the development of disorder. 

When I moved to DC, there was a pedestrian mall on G Street in front of the Martin Luther King Library.  I don't remember when it was removed.

Some still exist.  One variant is transit malls, pedestrian, but with transit, such as in Portland, Minneapolis, and Denver.  But my experience is that filled with hulking, usually noisy buses, those spaces aren't particularly congenial.  Portland's was very urban renewal architecture, and recently has been renewed with more current urban design and street furniture.  

Many have been redesigned ("Revised Nicollet Mall redesign is unveiled," 2014, "Plentiful ideas to fix Nicollet Mall show it has a bright future," Minneapolis Star-Tribune).

The most successful pedestrian malls are in Boulder, Burlington, Vermont ("History of Church Street Marketplace," Burlington Free Press), Madison, Wisconsin ("Madison Wisconsin should be rethinking its pedestrian "district""), and Charlottesville, Virginia.  

All are college towns so they have a lot of students without cars, making it a natural draw for pedestrian activity.

Plenty of other places have them, more than I know, including Cumberland, Maryland ("I didn't know Cumberland Maryland "had" a pedestrian mall"), Winchester, Virginia (it has a college, but isn't that big and isn't that close to downtown), and the Pacific Oceanside tourist destination of Santa Monica, California.

And some places are adding them, like Newark Avenue in Jersey City, New Jersey, which is a small, but very dense, highly urban community across the river from Manhattan ("Pedestrianization of Newark Avenue in Jersey City").

Pedestrians walk past vacant retail storefronts for lease along the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica on March 20, 2023. (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)

Even the successful ones tend to peter out at the ends, with more vacancies there.  

Santa Monica's mall has been devastated by the closure of anchoring department stores, first Sears, then Nordstrom ("Third Street 3.0 in Santa Monica," Los Angeles Business Journal, "Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade is a retail relic. Can it be saved?," Los Angeles Times).

Programming is essential.  The thing I learned from Boulder is how important it is to heavily program and manage the space, which I wrote about in 2005 ("Now I know why Boulder's Pearl Street Mall is the exception that proves the rule about the failures of pedestrian malls").  Plants aren't enough.

Modern proposals for pedestrian malls.  With the revival of cities, many people have suggested pedestrian malls for their communities, not understanding whether or not they have good preconditions for success.  

I had been skeptical in the past about proposals for 18th Street in Adams Morgan (because of the topography there it's the only major arterial into the district going east-west, and is a major bus route) and 17th Street NW.

Pedestrian districts.  Europe has dozens if not hundreds of pedestrian districts ("No Cars Allowed: The 10 Best Pedestrian Streets Around the World," Axios).  But there are plenty elsewhere including Australia, China, Japan and even in Montreal, which has a mix of pedestrian districts like Old City and around McGill University and Summer only streets like Saint Catherine ("Walk Montréal's car-free streets all summer long!," "Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest: A renewed pedestrian experience," City of Montreal, "Montreal walks back pedestrian-only plans for sections of Ste-Catherine Street West," CBC-TV, "Beset by troubles, Ste-Catherine St. in Montreal’s Village will become a year-round pedestrian zone," Montreal Gazette).

A one-kilometre stretch of Ste-Catherine Street East will be redeveloped to become a pedestrian street year-round, with added greenery, amenities and an illuminated canopy. (Ben Shingler/CBC)

Photograph: Eva Blue.

Ironically, the street considered to be the first in Europe,Strøget in Copenhagen, came after Kalamazoo.

Since Copenhagen’s Strøget area eliminated cars in 1962, its popularity has influenced other global cities to implement the same type of pedestrianized areas. Photo by Kirk Fisher/Shutterstock

Such districts aren't a linear mall, but multiblock districts, often emanating from train stations, with retail and entertainment, and sometimes housing.

Capturing roadways to add pedestrianized space.  In the US, New York City, under transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, was a pioneer in pedestrianizing former roadways, starting with Broadway around Times Square in Manhattan ("Times Square's transformation into a pedestrian-friendly space captured in photos," CurbedNY, 

Start with a block.  I think it was getting exposed to pedestrian districts that I came to realize that while it is overwhelming to think of pedestrianizing many blocks in places that can't support it, why not start with one block, to pedestrianize places where it can be successful.

-- "Extending the "Signature Streets" concept to "Signature Streets and Spaces"," 2020
-- "From more space to socially distance to a systematic program for pedestrian districts (Park City (Utah) Main Street Car Free on Sundays)," 2020
-- "Why doesn't every big city in North America have its own Las Ramblas?," 2020
-- "Diversity Plaza, Queens, a pedestrian exclusive block," 2020
-- "Planning urban design improvements at the neighborhood scale: Dupont Circle, DC," 2019

and build out as it becomes more successful.  Alexandria, Virginia's waterfront is a perfect example.  King Street emanates from it, but the street was always open to cars.  

With a process that started in 2020 ("Alexandria Virginia looks to pedestrianize the foot of King Street abutting the waterfront (public meeting tomorrow)," Lower King Street Pedestrianization Project), they tested making pedestrian the foot block of the street.  

Now they are extending it by one more block, after piloting it since last fall ("Another section of Old Town Alexandria is now car free," WTOP-AM, "New expansion to the King Street Pedestrian Zone opens today in Old Town," ALXNow).  From the article:

According to a city survey of people who live in the area, 87% of locals approve of the car-free zone, and 12 of 16 businesses most directly affected are also in favor. A city council report on traffic impacts also concluded that “dedicating more space for people walking, relative to vehicles along these three blocks of King Street, is an equitable allocation of public right-of-way.”

That could work for 17th Street NW in DC, maybe just on weekends as a start, even as it wouldn't work in most areas of the city.

-- "More about making 17th Street between P and R a pedestrian space on weekends," 2019
-- "Planning for place/urban design/neighborhoods versus planning for transportation modes: new 17th Street NW bike lanes | Walkable community planning versus "pedestrian" planning," 2021

A variant is Cleveland Park in Washington, DC.  It's a less ambitious example, but just as important to the neighborhood's residents and a more graspable and comparable example for most cities as they lack NYC's density and pedestrian traffic.

Its main retail block on Connecticut Avenue was split with sidewalk, roadway, parking, and more sidewalk, with parking on the curb lane.

After years of advocacy, in the face of some opposition by retailers, the city agreed to fill in the parking lane with an extended sidewalk.

Silver Spring, Maryland has a pedestrian block, which has great potential for expansion ("Making "Downtown Silver Spring" a true open air shopping district by adding department stores").  Perhaps many places are equally fecund.  And you don't have to go to Europe to see the potential.

Diversity Plaza in Queens ("Diversity Plaza, Queens, a pedestrian exclusive block") is another example of pedestrianizing a block.

Sugar House, Salt Lake City.  Like Cleveland Park, a large section of street and parking offset from the main street of 2100 South was converted into Monument Plaza in 2015 ("Monument Plaza enlivens Sugar House after years in the making," Salt Lake Tribune).  

The Monument is art deco, dedicated to the area's history of growing sugar beets.  A water feature calls attention to the area's history of having canals to bring in water and support commerce.

It looks like it's been there for years, but all in all is pretty recent.  It's used for restaurant patios, public space, and events.

Mare Street/Narrow Way in Hackney, London.  London has multiple pedestrian districts and pedestrian streets.  Mare Street was pedestrianized in 2016 but it looks like it's been there for a few decades ("Going Dutch in Hackney Central," Hackney Cyclist).  It emanates from Hackney Central Overground rail transit station and is part of the borough's "downtown."

Still, there can be conflicts between pedestrians and micromobility modes like bicycles ("Pedestrians urge cyclists to be more cautious down Hackney’s Narrow Way," Hackney Gazette).

Residential examples: Milwaukie Avenue in Minneapolis.  Created in the 1970's, it's an example of a residential street converted to a pedestrian block, as part of a neighborhood historic district ("Milwaukee Avenue a model for change," "1970s Mpls. activists saved Milwaukee Avenue's modest homes from teardown," Minneapolis Star-Tribune).  This year is the 50th anniversary of the creation of the historic district ("Minneapolis residents celebrate the 50th anniversary of Milwaukee Avenue Historic District," Minnesota Public Radio).

The city wanted to tear down the block for urban renewal, residents fought that off and as part of the reinvestment in the community, a two-block historic district was created, as well as the conversion of the street into a greenway.

Both articles have a photo gallery, and at the time yes, the houses were decrepit and you can see why the city wanted to demolish them.  OTOH, the condition of the houses today is a perfect example of why historic preservation works.  The houses needed new investment, not demolition, and the creation of the historic district provided the framework for that to happen.

Many houses along Milwaukee Av. were built as temporary homes for railroad workers. The State historical society wants to preserve the area as an example of a "common man's neighborhood in the 1880s. Built as temporary homes for railroad workers in the 1880s, many of Milwaukee Avenue's buildings have lost some of their original character through patchwork repairs.

Courtyard housing.  Some communities have similar blocks, but usually offset from the street, so that there is a greensward and sidewalk in the front, and alleys in back, connecting to the grid.  Salt Lake's Boulevard Gardens is one such example ("Salt Lake City’s ‘street without a street’ is a 90-year-old hidden gem —one that homeowners and historians hope to preserve," Salt Lake Tribune), but there are many others throughout the city.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Boulevard Gardens, a unique Salt Lake City subdivision near 1800 South between Main Street and West Temple, on Friday, Nov. 16, 2018. The homes were built between 1929 and 1931 and face into a large landscaped courtyard, which runs the entire length of the development.

Marshall Court farewell potluck.  Photo: Ryan Stanton, Ann Arbor News.

Not realizing I was a trendsetter, I lived in two different sets of courtyard housing when going to college in Ann Arbor.  On Marshall Court ("Saying goodbye to Ann Arbor's Marshall Court," Ann Arbor News), which is now part of a large assemblage of property being converted into a new dorm.

And on Mary Court, off Mary Street, near the intersection of State Street and Packard Avenue.  The other side of the 8 house block is being consolidated into a 32 unit apartment building project, which has not yet commenced construction.  (Ann Arbor is going through a massive intensification of real estate development now, "50-plus Ann Arbor developments to watch in 2025," Ann Arbor News).

Urgh.

Bye, charm of Mary Court.

A book called Pocket Neighborhoods covers more modern examples of courtyard housing.

Open Streets events as a way to pilot pedestrianized blocks.  Streets closed to traffic for special events are often considered what is called an Open Street, which is a tactical urbanism intervention.  They can be a way to change people's thinking about what is possible ("Could Philadelphia’s embrace of the Open Streets program spur more civic innovations to come?," Philadelphia Inquirer) when it comes to shifting space from motor vehicles to people ("Open Streets DC as an event versus an agenda").  From the PI:

The initiative — a plan to promote more pedestrian traffic by temporarily closing some of Center City’s most vibrant commercial corridors to motor vehicles — is an example of Philadelphia leaders thinking big — and sticking the landing.

The concept of Open Streets is simple. Taking advantage of lower weekend traffic numbers, the Center City District takes space usually used by cars and trucks and gives it over to pedestrians, creating a plaza-like atmosphere. The idea is that with less noise and pollution from vehicles and more space to stroll, shoppers and diners will have a nicer experience, replicating pedestrian zones in cities like Paris, Tokyo, and Bogotá, Colombia.

A leisurely Sunday chat in the middle of the street: Michael d’Amico and Leah Parentela (rear) who live in the neighborhood, are joined by Karen Tracy of Center City and her granddaughters Thia (left), 9, and Kahlan, 7, visiting from the suburbs. The 1700 block of Walnut Street was among blocks that were car-free on four September Sundays. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer, Philadelphia Inquirer.

31st Avenue, Astoria, Queens, New York City.

In Minneapolis, bicycle advocates used the Milwaukee Avenue street as an example of how to create a greenway on the northside of the city ("Proposed North Side greenway encountering some bumps," Minneapolis Star-Tribune).  It's taken 10 years, but the city is planning to create it now ("Minneapolis is ready to design the Northside Greenway. Do residents want it?," MST).

Pilot of a Northside Greenway at an Open Streets event in 2014.

Houston Light Rail fountains: Railroad Beautiful for the 21st Century

20ish years ago, I came across the term "railroad beautiful" which referred to the architecture (H. H. Richardson) and landscape of stations (Olmsted) for the Boston & Albany Railroad ("A Railroad Beautiful," Journal of Education, 1904).

It was a precursor to the City Beautiful movement, and is what I call "transportation infrastructure as civic architecture."  Which I argue should be a key planning element for transportation projects.  Out here in Utah there is a lot of this for freeways--bridges and walls--not so much for transit.

I have an old post:

-- "Transit, stations, and placemaking: stations as entrypoints into neighborhoods" (2013)

that discusses this more in terms of neighborhoods if you look at the title, but in fact treats the entire system as a design product 

-- "Branding's (NOT) all you need for transit" (2018).  

Some systems do this in a systematic way, most don't, focusing on transit as a conveyance.  But if you want people to ride transit, perhaps for many it needs to be more design forward.

-- "Design forward trains and streetcars: Haga-Utsunomiya Light Rail and Brightline" (2023)

I haven't been to Houston in decades, so I didn't know that the Houston Light Rail terminal station on Main Street called Main Street Square, has a water feature--a fountain--and plantings, marking a recapturing of the concept of railroad beautiful for the 21st Century.