Overwhelmed by traffic congestion and sprawl, many states are looking for ways to narrow roads and slow cars, while adding bike lanes, trails, and other amenities.  This New York Times Magazine article discusses the growing movement in state DOTs, which PPS pioneered in New Jersey five years ago, and points to several new projects that PPS is involved in, including training New Hampshire transportation engineers.  In the article, Andy Wiley-Schwartz, Vice President of Transportation at PPS, says that road engineers, “are realizing that they are in the community-development business and not just in the facilities-development business.”

“Enrique Penalosa presided over the transition of a city that the world–and many residents–had given up on. Bogota had lost itself in slums, chaos, violence, and traffic. During his three-year term, Penalosa brought in initiatives that would seem impossible in most cities, even here in the wealthy north. He built more than a hundred nurseries for children. He built 50 new public schools and increased enrolment by 34 percent. He built a network of libraries. He created a highly-efficient, “bus highway” transit system. He built or reconstructed hundreds of kilometers of sidewalks, more than 300 kilometres of bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, and more than 1,200 parks.”