"If you build it they will come" | Pedestrians and bicyclists and the Gordie Howe International Bridge

I mentioned this bridge in a blog entry about Trump ("Fourth of July | US 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence").  

The Windsor Ontario-Detroit Michigan crossing is the #1 place for goods movement between the countries.  

The Howe Bridge was built to provide better connections in the face of access and environmental issues with crossings at the privately owned Ambassador Bridge and that the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is not big enough to accommodate the size of today's trucks, let alone the volume of traffic

Of course, Trump f* it all up.  Canada ended up paying for the entire cost, and will give a portion of toll revenues to Michigan.

But one of the most interest points from the standpoint of bicycle and pedestrian mode planning, is that the Bridge, even though it will require going through Customs/Border Patrol on both sides, because it is an international bridge, planned for bicycle and pedestrian access.

Pedestrians on the Gordie Howe International Bridge.  

Photos: Justin Wan, Detroit Free Press

And bicyclists

Even a wheelchair user

A lot of intra-nation/intra-state bridge planning ignores this.  This came up when I worked as a bike planner for Baltimore County Maryland.  While there are a number of bridges in the DC area like 14th Street from DC to Virginia and Wilson Bridge from Maryland to Virginia, many bridges in the Baltimore area don't have this kind of accommodation.

Under anti-sustainable mobility governor Hogan, Maryland deliberately didn't include bike and pedestrian accommodations on the Nice Bridge, which crosses the Potomac River, connecting Maryland (Charles County) and Virginia (King George County) via US 301, a bypass route, in the exurban part of the DC region ("No Bike Path for New Nice/Middleton Bridge," Maryland Matters).

There is another bridge crossing barrier on I-95, the Millard E. Tydings Memorial Bridge carries Interstate 95 over the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville, Maryland. (It's also an issue between Philadelphia and New Jersey.)

While it's said that a bike crossing isn't allowed because it's an Interstate freeway, technically that isn't true.  Maryland could put a bike path there because ultimately these decisions are made at the state level.

Conclusion.  Generally I don't believe in "build it and they will come."  Instead I believe in "build it in the right place and setting it up for success and they will come," Canada illustrates the latter.  The right infrasstructure in the right place will be successful.  And it's better to add to access and connections rather than to subtract it.

Kudos to Canada!  ("Crowds line up to walk and bike across new Gordie Howe bridge," Detroit Free Press)

Ana Guajardo crossing into the USat Laredo, Texas on a 1,555 mile journey from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon to Chicago, Illinois ("Cyclist with a cause passes through Laredo on 1,555-mile journey," Laredo Morning Times).

Pedestrians and bicyclists can cross on at least some of the bridges from Laredo or El Paso to Mexico.

And there is a special international crossing, for pedestrians, only, the Cross Border Xpress, from California to the Airport in Tijuana.  

And three international bridges in New York offer the same amenity, according to the DFP.

The Trump Administration and Stone Age Thinking | Announces bike lanes are "woke" (and hasn't been funding transit infrastructure projects)

It goes without saying that to most people in the United States "Fuel" = Gasoline.  

General Curtis LeMay is famous for saying the US would "bomb Vietnam back to the Stone Age" in the quest to "win" the Vietnam War.

The Trump Administration is reducing American resilience in many ways:

• Denying climate change
• Defunding science and medical research, especially at universities--programs are being cut, people are being laid off, and acceptance of new graduate students and postgraduate fellows are on the wane
• But also in various government programs, including the Park Service, the Forest Service, the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research because it focuses on climate change("What the US Would Lose If It Eliminates the National Center for Atmospheric Research," Inside Climate News)
• Promoting anti-vaccine beliefs and easing vaccine requirements and guidance, thereby increasing people's susceptibility to diseases that once were rare, like measles
• Ceasing health surveillance programs such as for germ-free produce, which likely has contributed to the current mass problem of cyclosporidia ("How Trump admin cuts have compromised food safety," CBS)
• Paying wind turbine companies to not build sustainable energy projects ("Here’s where Trump has canceled wind farms – and how states are pushing back," Christian Science Monitor)
• Deemphasizing support for electric vehicles, which helps to reduce the demand and dependence on fossil fuels, and puts the US automobile industry behind in the development of new technologies and their ability to compete with EV-focused companies especially from China ("Trump’s Isolationism Is Losing the Great E.V. Races," New Yorker, "The American E.V. Has Been Crushed. Will It Take the U.S. Auto Industry With It?," New York Times)
• Although the foolish/fuelish War with Iran has led to major rise in gasoline prices and a disruption in production and supply chains that will take years to unravel and this is encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles despite the lack of tax credits and other inducements ("California hopes to lure a new generation to electric cars, with help from rebates, high gas prices," Los Angeles Times)

Source: "Explainer: In gasoline-guzzling U.S., high pump prices can be political poison," Reuters.

• Firing competent military officials in favor of Christian Nationalists, and boosting them with testosterone, instead of focusing on how drones are completely changing the military "battlespace"
• Eliminating graduate military education programs at "woke universities" like Harvard, which means that military personnel are less well educated and innovative
• etc.

This to me, is a form of bombing the US back to the Stone Age.  Related is what historian Timothy Snyder calls the Trump Administration's actions as a form of "Superpower Suicide" where the country through its actions is reducing its power and relevance on the world stage.

A new car showroom.  The US automobile industry spends more than $12 billion per year on advertising and marketing, from manufacturing companies to dealerships to ancillary organizations financing cars, selling car warranties, etc.

To the Trump Administration, energy is derived only from oil (and coal and nuclear).  Not from solar, wind, or geothermal sources.  From the Politico article "The Trump administration wants more gasoline made in idled refineries from California to sunny St. Croix":

Three industry executives told the news outlet that the White House has had discussions about reopening refineries ranging from the Virgin Islands to California. “Energy security is national security, and America’s refining capacity is essential to ensuring the United States has continuous access to secure, affordable, and reliable energy,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement.

“The President’s National Energy Dominance Council will continue supporting the reopening of shuttered refineries and the construction of new ones to lower prices and strengthen our national security,” Rogers added.

In the meantime, truly advanced nations are building their resilience, which among other actions means a big shift away from fossil fuels.  In fact, China's ability to reduce their consumption has reduced what are the already high costs for gasoline as a result of the Iran War ("China's oil imports have plunged during the Iran war. How much will they recover?," Reuters).

Sustainable mobility as a financial and health resilience strategy and tactic.  You might not think so, but every transit user, bicyclist choosing biking over driving for trips, and pedestrians walking instead of driving, reduces the demand for automobiles and gasoline, and increases their household resilience by reducing dependence on expensive cars and gas--a new car now costs not quite $12,000 per year according to NerdWallet.

This in turn reduces the demand for gasoline, which when your President has already f* up availability and cost, helps the nation in times of strife.

E.g., wrt biking and not owning a car, that supported $100,000 of our mortgage in DC.  It also reduced other costs and saved time for me.  Plus, there were major health benefits--granted I chose to bike in 1990 because I knew there were health benefits and I had a paternal line history of heart disease, but my cardiologists and oncologists attribute my survival from heart disease and two cancers in part to 30 years of biking.  So far I've outlived my father and other relatives by at least 12 years.

Suzanne doesn't bike.  But she used transit (aided by the federal transit benefit, which is a big help).

Hill Family Biking is a community group in DC's Capitol Hill, promoting biking over driving, especially in getting kids to and from school.  This event had 450 cyclists of all ages.

Trump Administration Hostile to Transit.  So in terms of "Stone Age Thinking" it makes perfect sense that the US Department of Transportation, which is already defunding transit by not acting on applications ("Congress Budgeted Billions for Big Transit Projects. Trump Isn’t Spending It," New York Times),

Trump Administration is now expressly hostile to Biking/Biking isn't hostile to cars.  The Administration has recently made clear its belief that bike lanes are "woke" pro-diversity/equity/inclusion initiatives that are antithetical to a dependence on automobiles and gasoline ("Trump Cancels Trail, Bike-Lane Grants Deemed ‘Hostile’ to Cars," Bloomberg).  Relatedly, the Trump Administration refused to sign on to a UN Declaration on the importance of road safety ("The U.S. Alone Votes Against A Road Safety Declaration," Forbes).

From Bloomberg:

The Trump administration canceled grants for street safety measures, pedestrian trails and bike lanes in communities around the country this month, each time offering a simple rationale for yanking back federal aid: the projects aren’t designed for cars.

A San Diego County road improvement project including bike lanes “appears to reduce lane capacity and a road diet that is hostile to motor vehicles,” a US Department of Transportation official wrote, rescinding a $1.2 million grant it awarded nearly a year ago.

... the wave of cancellations issued Sept. 9 by the DOT demonstrates just how determined the administration is to promote the use of single-occupancy vehicles in cities and towns – and to thwart local governments’ attempts to develop other ways for residents to get around.

Hostile to cars?  Heterogeneous versus homogeneous mobility systems. What a joke.  This fits in with my point that while countries like Germany are fine with a heterogeneous approach to mobility--they are big on cars with big manufacturers like VW, Mercedes, and BMW, but at the same time they recognize transit is the best way to get around in cities, that traveling by train between cities is often more efficient and less environmentally costly than flying, and that biking is a good way to reduce demand for gasoline, parking spaces, space on the road, etc.

By contrast, the US forces as much as possible, policies to promote automobile and gasoline dependence, in part because the US is one of the largest producers of oil.  Germany is a big producer of automobiles, like the US, but they aren't much of an oil producer.  So they take a more balanced approach.

The US could hold up cities like NYC as a premier transit example, and Portland Oregon as a premier city for biking (there are many other best practice neighborhoods), and neighborhoods across the country as premier walking places, and accept a multi-modal mobility system, but instead it takes the one sided view and favors cars.

Even EVs, while better in terms of reduced fossil fuel demand, especially with the rise of sustainable energy generation complemented by batteries, are really just another form of automobile primacy--what I call "Next Generation Asphalt Nation."

The True Snowflakes are the Right.  The right has called the left "snowflakes" for promoting bike lanes, LGBTQ+ issues and the like.  But the right in shutting down all kinds of programs that challenge their narrow minded world view of what is "muscular" are the true snowflakes.

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Bike sharing/micromobility.  It's taken more than a decade but city bike sharing systems in places like NYC and DC have experienced a huge increase in take up over the past few years ("Citi Bike surge: Ridership increases, showing ‘critical’ need in NYC transit deserts, says advocacy group," amNY, "Bikeshare Beat: Capital Bikeshare breaks all-time annual ridership record," GGW).  

One factor has been expansion.  The other, increased deployment of electric bikes which are faster, easier to ride, and cover more distance more quickly compared to regular bikes.  

Plus, in cities bike sharing has the advantage of offloading parking/storage and security to a third party.

A person rides on an electric scooter on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin on Tuesday July 7th, 2026.  Photo: Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman.

Separately, "free range" bike and scooter sharing offered up by companies like Lime, Spin, and now Veo--sitting scooters further expand the willingness of people to use "micromobility devices" as primary forms of transportation ("What to know about the new rental scooters now on Salt Lake City streets," Salt Lake Tribune). 

These companies also provide coverage in cities without city-sanctioned dock based systems ("Austin riders turn to Lime, Bird scooters after CapMetro Bikeshare suspension," Austin American-Statesman).  

National Bicycle Month | Rennes, France: a national model

May is National Bicycle Month.  I always try to do some entries then.  Sometimes I am more successful than others.  Here goes the first.

============

Years ago I did what I consider to have been at the time a best practice bicycle plan for a suburb, Baltimore County, in Maryland.  I wrote about the process here ("Best practice bicycle planning for suburban settings using the "action planning" method," 2010).  

Some of the key elements were: (1) creating a county-wide bicycle route network; (2) secure bicycle parking; and (3) support facilities such as repair services.  

 Plus bicycle wayfinding and map systems, teaching people how to commute and opportunities to try out biking without having to buy all the equipment first ("Revisiting assistance programs to get people biking: 26 programs"), and community promotion.

Sure we all know about cities in the Netherlands and Copenhagen as being best practice for bicycle ridership as a high proportion of total trips traveled, but many places in the US have a hard time grappling with best practice examples from large cities.

I wonder if Rennes, France is a model that is more graspable.  

Covid helped to push policies forward as people were less willing to be corralled on buses.  The city has best practice secure bicycle parking--free at transit stations and in conurbations, and for €40 per year for special bicycle garages in neighborhoods, a protected bicycle lane network in the city and suburbs, the Express Bike Network, "Reseau  Express Vélo." 

Bicycle sharing called LE vélo STAR that can be bundled with transit, and with options besides standard bikes--electric bikes, electric assist cargo bikes, and "longtail" bikes with a backseat child carrier--trailer and child seat rentals, etc.  

Of course, like most of these systems, at a certain price per year it makes sense to buy your own.  But it does offload security and parking costs.

Plus, repair cafes with both bike and food services, and community repair support through the area's bicycle promotion group.

Best practice bike parking in Rennes, France ("Rennes: The metropolitan area is trying out residential bicycle parking to combat theft," 20 Minutes).  It's branded C-Park, for the municipal parking system, which also offers the bike parking services (car sharing and EV charging too).

The news was announced discreetly, during a routine discussion on pricing for the new parking facilities at Hôtel-Dieu and La Courrouze. Adopted unanimously, the proposal put forward by Matthieu Theurier is nonetheless eagerly awaited by thousands of cyclists , particularly those living in apartments. In the second half of the year, four residential bicycle parking facilities will be created in the Breton capital.

Offered by subscription, these bike boxes will be installed in place of car parking spaces to provide a storage solution for cyclists who do not have a garage or a secure place to park their bikes. "The law requires co-owned properties to have a bike garage. But in reality, we know that this is not always possible. We wanted to offer a secure option for residents who don't have one," explains Matthieu Theurier, Vice-President of Rennes Métropole for Mobility.

... Access to these parking spaces will be possible through a paid subscription offered by Citedia via the Korrigo card. On Thursday evening, a rate of 40 euros per year was unanimously adopted by the Rennes Métropole council to launch this trial in the second half of 2022. "C-Parks like the one at the train station are free and will remain so . We will offer 500 additional spaces along the route of metro line B. But we needed a complementary offering," concluded Matthieu Theurier.

Metropolitan bike route network, Rennes ("In 2022, the Rennes metropolitan area's express bike network will move to the high plateau," Ouest France, "Express bike network in Rennes: these three towns are less than 20 minutes apart," Le Telegramme).  From the latter

The number of cyclists is already booming in Rennes, with a 50% increase in the city over the past four years, Valérie Faucheux, Deputy Mayor of Rennes in charge of mobility, told us . This is despite some users' concerns about road safety. The Express Bike Network helps to increase their sense of security on the sections concerned, since the deployment is "accompanied by appropriate signage to ensure the legibility and identification of these cycle routes: road markings with a white bicycle and blue chevrons, and directional signs."

Repair stands and air pumps (inflation stations).  The Rennes area uses participatory budgeting processes where citizens come together and prioritize items and issues which they want local government to fund.  

The network of repair stations is growing as a result of this program ("Even more bike repair and inflation stations!").

(I will say that in my experience in the US, these often get vandalized, and cities aren't good on keeping them in good repair.  It's one reason why I suggest they be placed outside transit stations, where they can be better monitored.  Plus, with electricity connections, you can also have air compressors for pumps.

Bike washing.  Not in Rennes, but there's a free bike washing station in the Avoriaz ski resort community, called Hakken, produced by a company called Wintersteiger, which even has a US branch in Utah.  They brand the equipment as Veloclean.

Repair cafes and a community bike shop (bike hubs) ("Cycle paths, repair workshops…: Rennes, the new cycling Eldorado?" "A Café Citron before getting back in the saddle?," "In Petite Rennes, "assisted self-repair" for cyclists on a budget," "At Ta grand-mère à vélo, a coffee while you study," OW).

Repair shops are flourishing With the increasing number of cyclists, bike repair workshops of all kinds are springing up: traditional or community-based, repair cafes where you can have a drink or a bite to eat while your bike is being serviced, and even self-service repair workshops. Like the Petite Rennes association, which has just opened a 250 m² open-access workshop in La Courrouze, where you can get free advice and, if needed, assistance (only parts, new or used, are charged).

Best practice bicycle promotion:  Bike House and Mobile Bike House (also (Destination Rennes).

When I was with a small group of sadly undercapitalized folks trying to sell bicycle sharing systems, I came up with the idea of a front end Bicycle Center promoting biking, tourism, cafe, etc., modeled in part on the headquarters for VeloQuebec in Montreal, with the bike repair support facility for the bike sharing system as the back end. 

Rennes' bike sharing does that, as part of the region's commitment to sustainable mobility .  From the webpage:

The Rennes 2020 Cycling Plan aims to develop cycling throughout the metropolitan area. The objective is a 20% market share. It relies on four main levers: speed reduction, network improvement, service enhancement, and cycling promotion . The Maison du Vélo (Bike House) plays a key role in this initiative.

Opened in November 2017, the Maison du vélo (Bike House) moved to its new premises on Place de la Gare in Rennes in October 2020. It offers a wide range of services for cyclists, both residents of the Rennes metropolitan area and those just passing through. It has become the go-to place for cycling information within the metropolitan area.

Electric bike rentals, a self-repair workshop, bike marking to combat theft, a cycling school, conferences, exhibitions… The program of activities is co-developed with various partners: associations, bike shops, Destination Rennes, and road safety organizations. A true hub for activities and information dedicated to cycling, the Maison du Vélo (Bike House) is also a permanent space for meetings, advice, prevention, and training on cycling.

They collaborate with area bike-related groups, and using a transit bus specially outfitted, the mobile bike house takes the services on the road, promoting bike sharing subscriptions and other programs ("What can be found in the mobile bike house that travels around the Rennes metropolitan area?," OF).

Conclusion: Cycling as a System. These examples show the value in having such services in house, rather than contracting them out, which allows for integration.  For example, a municipal parking system provides an enterprise platform that can also support bicycle parking and car sharing.

The Metropolitan government can provide services like a metropolitan scale bike path network and the Bike House and the Mobile Bike House, which over the course of the year, stops in most of the region's 43 individual jurisdictions.

Rennes the city can build its bike path network and provide other supports, centering and backstopping regional efforts.

It's a focus on creating a bicycle mobility system equal to the system that supports automobility, along the lines suggested in a past German Federal Bicycle Plan, from where this graphic is derived.

Toronto's parking system runs bike sharing, but they took it over once it was on the verge of failing. 

I've suggested that government parking systems could be the backbone of a metropolitan scale system of secure bike parking ("Bike to Work Day as an opportunity to assess the state of bicycle planning: Part 2, building a network of bike facilities at the regional scale").  That the expense of e-bikes means secure parking is necessary to support widescale use ("If you're going to promote electric bikes at scale, there needs to be complementary investment in secure bicycle parking and charging").  

(Baltimore uses its parking garage revenue to support free transit on the Baltimore Circulator bus program.)

A number of cities have bits and pieces of this, but as my writings over the years indicate, an integrated system is way better.

-- "Extending the "Signature Streets" concept to "Signature Streets and Spaces," (2020, originally 2015)

-- "Bike to Work Day as an opportunity to assess the state of bicycle planning: Part 1," (2017)

-- "Bike to Work Day as an opportunity to assess the state of bicycle planning: Part 2, building a network of bike facilities at the regional scale," (2017)

-- "Why not a bicycle hub at National Airport?, focused on capturing worker trips but open to all," (2017)

-- "Revisiting assistance programs to get people biking: 26 programs," (2024, original 2015, updated 2020)
-- "Repeating b.s. about everything being about race and class: bike infrastructure in Washington, DC," (2024, earlier entries cited within)

-- "Denver and Rio Grande Rail Trail in Davis County, Utah: a great foundation, full of (missed) opportunity," (2022)

-- "World Bicycle Day is today: Ideas for making transportation cycling irresistible," (2022)

Big events as priming actions: Pittsburgh and the NFL Draft | Go big, medium, or little? Go for a few projects or many?

My first big professional conference that I attended was the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Cleveland in 2002, and it was simultaneous with an architecture and urban design conference.  I went on a bunch of tours and saw some amazing projects, and it seemed like many were timed to be ready by the time of the conference. 

I have past entries about big events like when the MLB All Star Game was in DC and the missed opportunity to move forward with more velocity some necessary infrastructure improvements ("Urban design considerations for the area around Washington Nationals Baseball Stadium in advance of the 2018 All-Star Game," "Sadly, DC won't show so well during the Baseball All-Star Game"), and the same about the Super Bowl, such as in Minneapolis ("Minneapolis Super Bowl: Urban Revitalization and Transformational Projects Action Planning") and the Olympics.

The reason special events like the All Star Game or the Super Bowl don't work out so well for the locals is that out-of-town visitors no longer are that interested in consuming the local experience outside of the event, and most of the money they spend: on transportation and accommodations in particular doesn't stay local because the firms aren't locally-based; although these visitors do spend money on food and drink, which tends to be the most benefits reaped by locally-owned businesses.  

The challenge is to convert the claims ("An All-Star Game in your hometown offers memories to last a lifetime," Washington Post) into reality.

But in terms of visionary projects, in my writings the problem is the difference between big and little.  This blog has a pretty expansive vision, e.g., at the scale of cities like Bilbao, Liverpool, Helsinki, Toronto and even Edmonton as discussed in a process I call "transformational projects action planning" ("Updating the best practice elements of revitalization to include elements 7 and 8 | Transformational Projects Action Planning at a large scale").

As well as the International Building Exposition (IBA) and the International Garden Festival process in Germany, where a region commits to an "international exposition" in ten years or so, planning, developing and implementing projects on a massive scale.  

IBA Hamburg Dock Building exhibit hall.

I saw some of that in Hamburg and Essen, but even in Hamburg, after ten years there were still projects to do.  Among Hamburg's projects were efforts in ten neighborhoods to do major, but holistic, development projects ("IBA Hamburg, a German approach on sustainable urban development," Construction21).

-- The contemporary International Building Exhibition (IBA) : innovative regeneration strategies in Germany, MIT thesis

The reality is that my expansive vision slams into the reality of project planning and financing on the ground.

Even ten years might not be long enough to achieve implementation--e.g. one such project in Hamburg was rebuilding a highway along side major rail lines, in order to recapture space and reknit communities that had been ripped apart by highway building decades before.

And that's one project.  Imagine working on several big projects simultaneously.  Competition for labor and materials drives up costs.

And with the time frame presented by the event owner like the Olympics or FIFA--they don't provide enough time to build major projects in democracies, which require a public process although they seem to have an easier time of it with autocracies.

Even the Milano-Cortina Olympics found them still building the hockey arena days before the Opening Ceremony (and interestingly, the Washington Post had an article, "The biggest sporting event in Milan on Saturday wasn’t the Olympics," about how soccer there still mattered a lot more.

Anyway, maybe I should compromise amongst three choices:

1.  Think IBA and IGF and minimum of 10-15 year time frames that can extend  even further (Hamburg converted its IBA project into a community development corporation charged with finishing all the projects IBA had conceptualized.).

2.  Maybe a big project or two, but mostly small ones.

3.  Small projects only.

But definitely, if you don't do much in response to the opportunity you won't get much real economic return  ("Panini Chowdhury: Pittsburgh can use the NFL Draft to change the city").

Mega-Events, Modest Returns. Independent research finds that projected windfalls routinely overshoot reality, with the spectacles having little sustained effect on metro employment or fiscal trends. The pattern of short-term visitor spending and long-term budget hype repeats from Super Bowls to All-Star Games to drafts.

Leading sports Economists like Victor Matheson find that while host cities often project hundreds of millions in windfalls from mega-events, the actual net gains are usually only 10 to 25% of forecasts, with little to no long-term impact on jobs or regional GDP. In reality, host cities rarely recover the full costs of staging an event like the NFL Draft, once expenses for public safety, public works, infrastructure upgrades and staff hours are accounted for.

That’s why Pittsburgh must look beyond the party. The city (and the region) must make changes in policies and practices that will improve the Draft event but have a positive long-term effect on life here.

Crowds fill an area outside of the draft stage during the second round of the NFL football draft, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Definitely (3) is the case for the NFL Draft.  I am still skeptical of the reports about how it is an economic boom ("San Francisco is not Santa Clara: How Santa Clara/San Jose are poorly represented by Super Bowl programming, even though it's home to the event").

I mean, is Pittsburgh really going to have 700,000 visitors from it ("As NFL Draft in Pittsburgh gets closer, registration for fan experiences opens," "How the NFL Draft exploded from hotel ballrooms to a massive outdoor spectacle," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "NFL draft attendance record set with more than 775,000 fans attending the event in Detroit," AP).

The reality is that my job isn't to be skeptical (well it is) but to figure out how to best leverage the revitalization potential of such events.  

It it helps a community to bring about inward investment on improvements to infrastructure and placemaking, you would be foolish to not take advantage of the opportunity.

That's what Pittsburgh is doing.  The NFL Draft Day Event is April 23-25.  

In the meantime, projects like a 100 foot fountain at Pointe Place Park ("Point State Park fountain reaches over 100 feet — just in time for the NFL Draft," PPG), refurbishment of downtown parks ("New riverfront park completed, the first of several Downtown projects to wrap up ahead of NFL Draft," PPG) and a number of other improvements are coming on line ("Pittsburgh unveils branding and color strategy for 2026 NFL draft").

From the park article:

Riverlife broke ground on renovations in April 2025. Over the past year, the group has replaced the park’s weathered surface with new, bluestone pavers, removed struggling plants and planted 35 new trees. Riverlife also expanded open areas to create space for small pop-up events and upgraded the park’s lighting.

“What you're seeing is a space that is now truly accessible,” Riverlife President and CEO Matthew Galluzzo said, flanked by the Andy Warhol and Rachel Carson bridges at the front of the new space. “It's more resilient and more welcoming.”

The $5.4 million renovation is the first in the park’s three-decade history. The space was once a “6-foot concrete sidewalk,” said Laura Solano, a partner with the New York-based architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. Working with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Ms. Solano helped transform it into one of Downtown Pittsburgh’s first riverfront parks in the 1990s. “Do-overs in life are just so rare, and yet here we are in the reimagined and incredibly beautiful upper level park,” she said.

The article also discusses other projects.  Maybe I can criticize them as being small and ephemeral.  After all, I argue that all projects need to be conceptualized as part of a bigger whole, creating and connecting and building a larger path of improvement.  For example, the park project is part of a larger project aimed to fill in open space gaps across the Downtown.  

In a few weeks, Arts Landing, the new outdoor venue, will open to the public behind the Allegheny Riverfront Park. Crews on Thursday filed in and out of the construction site, where an arched, white canopy hovers atop a bandshell at the tip of the 4-acre complex.

Soon after, a revamped Market Square will be unveiled, with expanded space for outdoor dining and a new open-air pavilion.

And across the Golden Triangle, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership will complete more than 100 different “vibrancy” projects before the end of the month, including new, pop-up retailers, window displays in vacant storefront and sidewalk repairs.

... The park’s completion comes just over a month after Riverlife and the city of Pittsburgh launched a new initiative to provide different organizations with resources for riverfront trail and park maintenance. Through the program, several riverfront trail cleanup events will be held before the NFL Draft, focusing on areas expected to see the most foot traffic during the event, Mr. Galluzzo said.

"Railroad trestles at Strip District entrance will be painted black and gold for NFL Draft"

Conclusion.  Pittsburgh might disagree but I'd argue that they chose the "small projects only" route.  The thing is that all the small projects contributed to a greater plan, so that the cumulative impact is greater than evaluating on a project by project basis.

Going forward, the trick is to sustain, build upon, and continue the momentum ("The NFL Draft gave Downtown a deadline. Now, leaders are eyeing the future," "Editorial: Pittsburgh prepares for its Draft Day close up").  From the editorial:

But if the last weekend in April is to be worth the effort and resources that are going into it, the extravaganza will also have to be a beginning. The Pittsburgh that emerges on the other side of the draft cannot be the same city that was chosen two years ago. Projects, programs and policies designed to make the city ready for tourists and television cameras should, if successful, be made permanent. And the national limelight must be leveraged for long-term gains to the city’s economy and reputation.

Like the title of the The The song, "Life is What You Make It?"  Pittsburgh shows that you can leverage such events for long term improvements.  

“It gave us a deadline,” Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato said at the meeting. “It helped us meet goals we didn’t know were possible.”

Other places and past experience show that not doing taking that approach fails to generate multiplicative improvements, inherently reducing the return on investment.

Multiple paths to success.  Although big multiple projects for places like Bilbao, Liverpool, and Edmonton have also been good approaches.  And the "Metropolitan Area Projects" approach in Oklahoma City ("Change isn't usually that simple: The repatterning of Oklahoma City's Downtown Streetscape").

It shows that there isn't "one best approach, one best fix."

WRT the plethora of projects in Pittsburgh, also see:

-- Litter reduction: "New initiative — dubbed the ‘Immaculate Collection’ — aims to clean up Pittsburgh ahead of the NFL draft"

-- Outdoor vending: "As NFL Draft nears, city adds new outdoor vending locations in Downtown"

-- Draft beer bar crawl: "PicksBURGH is cranking the NFL Draft to 11 with a music crawl and more"

-- Road and public space improvements: "Pittsburgh begins $16.3 million street paving with NFL Draft focus: Downtown streets around Market Square, Arts Landing get first attention" and "Ahead of the NFL Draft, Pittsburgh is getting a facelift — and officials say changes are here to stay"

-- Speculation about special out of sight out of mind approaches to homelessness: "NFL Draft in Pittsburgh could be 'incredibly difficult' for those experiencing homelessness, advocates say"

-- Free transit sponsored by the Scheetz convenience store chain: "The T will offer free rides during NFL Draft weekend in Pittsburgh with a boost from Sheetz," also "PRT gets $350,000 to expand bus and light rail service for NFL Draft weekend" and "How Pittsburgh transit and city leaders plan to move 500,000+ visitors around the NFL Draft"

-- Ongoing development in the stadium district: "Ahead of the NFL Draft, Pittsburgh's North Shore is changing rapidly"

-- Leveraging the event: for running "Course map for 5K during NFL Draft in Pittsburgh released" and improvement of the presentation of history, "Fort Pitt Museum to close for upgrades ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft"

WMATA's 50th anniversary from the start of service, Part 5: Making a better transit network | Connecting heavy rail + light rail + railroad -- a concept for New York City

This last entry in the series was prompted by a recent Substack post (below)

-- "Reprint with editing: Today WMATA Metrorail's 50th anniversary from the start of service | Part 1: many lessons can be found, if you look"
-- "WMATA's 50th anniversary from the start of service, Part 2a | The Original Approved Metrorail System (1968-1970)"
-- "WMATA's 50th anniversary from the start of service, Part 2b | Lessons learned: Proposed expansions and the Metrorail system we don't have"
-- "WMATA's 50th anniversary from the start of service, Part 3 | Stations"
-- "WMATA's 50th anniversary from the start of service, Part 4 | Buses"
-- "WMATA's 50th anniversary from the start of service, Part 5: Making a better transit network | Connecting heavy rail + light rail + railroad -- a concept for New York City"

Benjamin Schneider, in his "The Urban Condition" Substack, has a two part series on how the original proposal for a TriboroRX by the Regional Plan Association in 1996--now separated into two projects, one a Metro North rail project called Penn Station Access, adding four stations in the Bronx and a connection of the Harlem Line to Grand Central Station, and the Interborough Express (IBX) for Queens and Brooklyn--could still come to a kind of fruition, through making better connections between the various modes.

In "Unlocking the full potential of the IBX" he makes the point that network connection planning doesn't happen very well, because planning tends to be mode specific (in silos).

These two projects, the IBX and Penn Station Access, were once envisioned by the RPA as a single line within a grand regional rail system. Now, they are on totally separate tracks, literally and figuratively. Though these two services come within about a mile of one another, passengers will not be able to transfer between them. This outcome is a reflection of the region’s siloed approach to transit network planning, and its limited ambitions with each individual transit project it pursues.

In the first piece in this series, I did make the point about creating a regional transport association and using transit infrastructure projects as a way to drive improvements across the transit network.

And in the stations piece, I discuss planning and implementing for access before a station/line is opened, not afterwards, to put transit's best foot or visage forward, from the start, rather than sometime far after the opening.

Past entries on the Purple Line, Silver Line, and Blue Line make similar kinds of points, not just about access but driving necessary improvements forward, leveraging the power of new infrastructure, etc.

-- "Codifying the complementary transit network improvements and planning initiatives recommended in the Purple Line writings," (2022) 
-- Setting the stage for the Purple Line light rail line to be an overwhelming success: Part 1 | simultaneously introduce improvements to other elements of the transit network (2017)
-- Part 2 |   the program (macro changes) (2017)
-- Part 3 |   influences (2017)
-- Part 4 |   Making over New Carrollton as a transit-centric urban center and Prince George's County's "New Downtown" (2017, originally 2014)
-- PL #5: Creating a Silver Spring "Sustainable Mobility District"
-- Part 6 |  Creating a transportation development authority in Montgomery and Prince George's County to effectuate placemaking, retail development, and housing programs in association with the Purple Line (2017)
-- Part 7 | Using the Purple Line to rebrand Montgomery and Prince George's Counties as Design Forward (2017)
-- Revisiting the Purple Line article series after one year: Part 1 | a couple of baby steps (2018)
-- Revisiting the Purple Line (series) and a more complete program of complementary improvements to the transit network (2019)

-- "Using the Silver Line as the priming event, what would a transit network improvement program look like for NoVA?," (2017)

-- "A "Transformational Projects Action Plan" for the Metrorail Blue Line," (2020)

Schneider offers a number of recommendations for connection.

As I wrote in part one of this piece, the IBX will have a transformative impact on mobility in Brooklyn and Queens from the day that it opens, largely because of transfers to express subways that will quickly get riders to popular destinations like Midtown, Downtown Brooklyn, and the JFK Airtrain at Jamaica.

With a few complimentary transit projects, the mobility benefits of the IBX could be extended to the Bronx and beyond, as envisioned by the RPA thirty years ago. With a handful of more ambitious initiatives, the benefits of the IBX could reach even further, to Long Island and New Jersey; as well as to air travelers landing at LaGuardia and intercity train passengers on the Northeast Corridor.

This piece lists those projects in order of difficulty and expense. Most of the following ideas are speculative and have not been formally proposed by a government agency. However, they follow transit planning best practices as reflected in white papers from advocacy groups like the RPA.

The central premise of these conceptual projects is to better integrate the IBX and the rest of the New York City subway system with what is now called the “commuter rail” system. These projects seek to make the most of existing infrastructure as much as possible, rather than building expensive new lines. And they embody the notion that travel to and from the downtown core is no longer the central, overriding purpose of transit planning.

More connections, more access, faster trips.

His list:

• Add high-frequency ferry service between Brooklyn Army Terminal, Staten Island and New Jersey
• Make the LIRR Atlantic Avenue Branch a super-express subway line
• Extend the G Subway, which serves Queens and Brooklyn exclusively, on the north and south to connect to the IBX
• Build an IBX-LIRR infill transfer station near 51st Ave. in Queens
• Extend the IBX one mile to connect with Metro North’s Penn Station Access project, providing a link to the Bronx, Westchester and Connecticut
• Extend the IBX to LaGuardia Airport
• Upgrade the IBX-Metro North transfer station into an intermodal Northeast Corridor rail-air hub
• Build the Harbor Tunnel for passengers and freight

I've written a piece like this about Baltimore ("More remonstration about the molasses of change: Transit planning, Baltimore County, Maryland and Towson," "Transit agenda for Greater Baltimore"), merging the VRE and MARC "commuter railroads" into a 24/7 passenger rail system like the S-Bahn ("One big idea: Getting MARC and Metrorail to integrate fares, stations, and marketing systems, using London Overground as an example," "A new backbone for the regional transit system: merging the MARC Penn and VRE Fredericksburg Lines,"  and leveraging the once proposed, since cancelled Maglev system ("DC, Transformational Projects Action Planning, and the Baltimore-Washington Maglev project ).

The second entry in this series:

-- "WMATA's 50th anniversary from the start of service, Part 2a | The Original Approved Metrorail System (1968-1970)"
-- "WMATA's 50th anniversary from the start of service, Part 2b | Lessons learned: Proposed expansions and the Metrorail system we don't have"

provides a framework for the heavy rail part.  Some of the recommendations in the Purple Line series do for Maryland-side commuter rail:

• Integrate MARC and VRE fare payment into the SmarTrip/ CharmCard fare media system (note that with their regular tickets, MARC and VRE provide reciprocity, and include free rides on Baltimore local transit)
• Introduce bi-directional passenger rail service between DC and Frederick on the MARC Brunswick Line
• Consider charging DC-Montgomery County trips on a bi-directional Brunswick Line using the Metrorail/Purple Line tolling/fare schedule. That would treat mileage from railroad trips in the context of a complete (linked) trip on railroad+subway+light rail as a single fare
• The White Flint Sector Plan calls for an infill MARC station. Plans to build that station should be accelerated as part of this proposal.
• Build an infill train station in DC on the Penn Line, serving the New York Avenue corridor
• Set the opening of the Purple Line as the deadline for the integration of the MARC Penn Line and VRE Fredericksburg Line into one combined railroad passenger service
• + the Baltimore area recommendations in "Transit agenda for Greater Baltimore"
• + the Eastern Shore ("Letter to the editor in the Washington Post about passenger railroad service to the Eastern Shore")

Dan Malouff's proposed passenger rail system.  He didn't include Southern Maryland because at the time they were planning a light rail line to Charles County.  It also doesn't have a line from Baltimore to Frederick, nor the Penn Line to Delaware.

I don't have a handle on what to recommend on the Virginia side.  

Many years ago, at the BeyondDC blog, Dan Malouff provided a couple of schematics of how an integrated passenger rail system could provide service deeper into Virginia, connections to Pennsylvania, and an extension of the Penn Line to Delaware.

His framework provides a pretty good agenda for Virginia.  It complements various rail passenger expansion efforts throughout Virginia by the State, through its Amtrak Virginia program, support of VRE and exploration of other rail service options, and acquisition of right of way from CSX ("Virginia to build Long Bridge and acquire CSX right of way to expand passenger train service," Washington Post). 

A homogeneous mobility system: cars and for medium and long distance trips, airplanes, doesn't work in crisis

Travelers waiting at a TSA checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Friday. Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg News

Trains.  An AP writer took the train from Atlanta to DC to avoid the chaos at Hartsfield Airport due to the federal shutdown of pay for TSA agents ("Midnight train from Georgia: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle in the shutdown").  Most places don't have that option.

Planes.  The crush at Hartsfield is being played out similarly at airports across the country ("Why the TSA Lines in Atlanta Are Longer Than Other Airports," Wall Street Journal).

Plus there is the issue of the Iran War raising jet fuel prices ("As oil prices rise, airfares are surging and some airlines might not survive," Los Angeles Times) making fares higher, although trains face higher diesel fuel prices (and would do better if more lines were electrified).  From the article:

United Airlines Chief Executive Scott Kirby said this week that his company could face an $11-billion loss if oil prices remain at their current levels. Meanwhile, United’s airfare could increase by 20%, he said.

With thin profit margins and oil prices hovering around $100 per barrel, airlines have no choice but to pass the increased costs onto consumers.

It would make more sense to develop the passenger railroad system on medium distance trips focused on shifting trips from plane to train, such as DC to Philadelphia, or NYC or NYC to Boston, Dallas to Houston, etc., but the airlines advocate heavily against such a policy change.

Proposed High Speed Rail Network.

Many European countries have developed high speed rail networks in part to divert airplane trips to trains.  

Brightline Florida is a rail line from Miami to Orlando, targeting tourists.  According to the Mark Brown Substack "Car Free America," "Brightline Passenger Rail Is Booming While America Still Has No Real Alternative to $4 Gas and $400 Domestic Flights."

Automobiles.  The Iran War is why gas prices are up over 50% in the US.  A car-dependent economy has no real alternative but to keep driving.  Some cities have decent transit systems, and may experience a rise in ridership.  

Most metropolitan areas don't have the right form to make transit work very well, regardless of the cost of gasoline.

In response to the oil shocks of the 1970s, countries like Denmark and the Netherlands reshaped their mobility and land use policies to favor walking, biking, transit, and compact development, to reduce their dependence on automobility and fuels (gas or diesel) produced elsewhere.  Unlike the US, they didn't say biking and walking is good to do, and then didn't change policies much to make this policy in practice, they changed all kinds of laws, imposed high gasoline taxes, etc.

Mark Kauzlarich, Bloomberg.

The US did impose efficiency requirements on the car industry and some environmental efficiency measures to reduce energy use and under Carter reduced speed limits on Interstates to 55mph and created right turn on red rules (saving cars from having to idle).

But mostly, the US doubled down on gasoline-dependence, investing in the military around maintaining access to oil, and by creating the Strategic Reserve--the idea was to buy gas when it was cheap, and put it on the market in dire circumstances.

Ethanol.  The US also adopted ethanol requirements.  But they are a waste.  In the US, ethanol is made from freshly grown corn, using agricultural resources.  In Brazil, instead the feedstock is used cane sugar stalks, so they are reusing waste to make fuel, rather than expending more resources than what are gained back in energy density.  Ethanol doesn't save gas really, but it does help provide demand in agricultural states like Iowa, making them strong defenders of the process.

Ford and other automakers have spent years building up a supply chain to support their rollout of EVs. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Electric vehicles.  They are still cars, and an automobile-centric land use and transportation paradigm is a poor use of land and resources.  

But electric vehicles are an environmental strategy and tactic  Having an electric car insulates drivers from hiccups in the oil-gasoline supply chain that result in severe price increases ("What to Know About Electric Cars When Gas Prices Are Surging," New York Times).

Hill Family Bicycle Group with the US Capitol in the background

Bike, walk (and transit).  In the MinnPost ("Skip Starbucks to save gas? There are better strategies") Bill Lindeke suggests walking, biking or using transit as alternatives to high gas prices.  He writes from Minneapolis-St. Paul which has a decent light rail and bus system.  Most cities don't.

Heterogeneous mobility paradigm.  The difference between the US and Germany is that both manufacture cars, but of the two, only the US produces oil ("The Petro States of America," Bloomberg).  

That could be the reason that Germany has a much more heterogeneous mobility policy. 

It loves its cars--known for autobahns without speed limits--but recognizes cities are best served by transit, and most major cities have multiple modes well serving their communities.  

The German Transport Association model created in Hamburg is a model that US metropolitan areas should adopt ("The answer is: Create a single multi-state/regional multi-modal transit planning, management, and operations authority association," 2017, "Verkehrsverbund: The evolution and spread of fully integrated regional public transport in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland," International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 2018) .

Barcode public art project.  A40 Autobahn/Freeway, Ruhrgebeit-Essen, Germany

For the past few years, for sustainability and climate change reasons, it's sponsored a national transit pass ("The Deutschland-Ticket for just 63 euros per month," DB).

Germany also promotes walking and biking (the Federal Bike Plan in its various iterations always turns out to be good).