One Street News

Spring 2025

Vol. 18, Issue 1

  1. Velo-city Conference Offers Opportunities to Learn and (Re)Connect
  2. The High Cost of Free Parking
  3. Resources – Why Traffic Never Gets Better
  4. Hot Topics – Smoking as a Model to Stop the Threat of Gigantic SUVs

Velo-city Conference Offers Opportunities to Learn and (Re)Connect

By Sue Knaup, Executive Director

I’m looking forward to attending my thirteenth Velo-city conference this June where experts on improving cities for bicycling will assemble from all over the world. I’ve attended these conferences in various parts of the world since 2005, usually in Europe. This year’s conference will be held in Gdansk, Poland.

You can read about and register for the conference here. I highly recommend it.

The program is packed with innovative new concepts for remolding urban space into beautiful places where cyclists and pedestrians of all ages and skills can wander and enjoy without the threat of cars.

I always find interesting resources to share with my international One Street colleagues. This year, since I’ve recently re-engaged with some local projects here in Prescott, Arizona, I will also be looking for the latest, high-level bicycle provision designs.

And of course, I am most looking forward to reconnecting with colleagues who are normally scattered around the world. If you are planning to attend, please email me at sue{at}onestreet.org so we will be sure to meet.

The High Cost of Free Parking

This February, we lost the mastermind of parking policy reform, Donald Shoup. Excessive parking expectations have led to the paving over of much of our cities. Donald objectively unraveled myths and crafted parking policies that not only work, but allow for the creation of beautiful city blocks that connect rather than divide people with oceans of asphalt. His book, The High Cost of Free Parking, describes in detail how to implement such reforms. This video is a great overview and clearly shows the problem.

Watch the usage of your own city’s parking lots. Especially in the U.S., no matter what time of day or year, you’ll likely find most of the spaces empty. These are our land banks for future parks, bicycle paths, and in-fill developments.

We sure miss Donald and his easy way of showing parking best practices. Thankfully he left lots of great materials where he captured his expertise.

Resources – Why Traffic Never Gets Better

This recent article does an excellent job showing why current traffic engineering practices never fix the problem. Pointing to important examples as well as clear graphics, it shows a pattern that must be broken before we loose even more of our neighborhoods, farms, and natural lands to unnecessary road widening.

Hot Topics – Smoking as a Model to Stop the Threat of Gigantic SUVs

“Over the last half-century, American sedans and station wagons have been replaced by increasingly enormous SUVs and pickup trucks that now comprise 80 percent of new car sales, a phenomenon known as car bloat. Much like secondhand smoke, driving a gigantic vehicle endangers those who never consented to the danger they face walking, biking, or sitting inside smaller cars.”

Read the rest of the article here, including some interesting ideas for creating successful local campaigns to undermine the acceptance of these deadly vehicles.