skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Saturday, July 19, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Trump tells Justice Dept. to seek release of Epstein grand jury testimony; NV education advocates blast freeze on federal funds; and VA leaders push EV adoption as economic, national security imperative.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

An asylum case sparks alarm, protests invoke the late John Lewis, Trump continues to face backlash over the Epstein files and the Senate moves forward with cuts to foreign aid.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The Trump administration's axe to clean energy funding could hit rural mom-and-pop businesses hard, cuts also jeopardize Alaska's efforts to boost its power grid using wind and solar, and a small Kansas school district engages new students with a focus on ag.

Texas Cities May Be Turning the Corner on Pedestrian Safety

play audio
Play

Tuesday, February 21, 2012   

HOUSTON - The Lone Star State's four largest metro areas are among the nation's 25 most dangerous for pedestrians, according to a recent study. But that could be changing. One of the nation's leading "livable cities" experts says San Antonio, Dallas and Austin are already making strides, and Houston officials are contemplating policies that could make that city a model of mobility for non-drivers.

Dan Burden, who directs the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute, is in Houston today to provide encouragement. He says most public streets accommodate only about two-thirds of the people who live near them, something the "Complete Streets" movement is trying to rectify.

"The people who have been traditionally left out include our own children, folks who are older, and then a lot of people in between. About a third of our population do not have access to cars. So it's going to create an equity in our country that is long overdue."

It won't happen immediately, he says. The idea is not to mandate expensive overhauls of every urban roadway, as critics fear, but, rather, to persuade engineers and local officials to simply consider the needs of walkers, cyclists and public-transportation users when designing new roadways or improving existing ones.

Tim Morstad, associate state director for advocacy with AARP Texas, says seniors who no longer drive can feel so trapped in their homes they resort to institutionalized care, sacrificing independence. Complete Streets, he says, can make a difference.

"Where there are sidewalks and crosswalks and blinking yellow lights, and there are accommodations made for people to get around. That could mean years and years of staying in the place where people would rather age, and that's in their own homes."

While Morstad supports Complete Streets policies at the federal, state, and local levels, he says ordinary citizens can play a big role in improving their neighborhoods by participating in "pedestrian safety audits" - community-level inventories of mobility obstacles.

"There may be a senior center on one side of the street, and a bus route on the other side of the street, and there's no crosswalk. A pedestrian safety audit is really a top-to-bottom review of what works and what doesn't work."

He says it can show officials and planners problems - and alternatives - that only a block-by-block analysis can reveal.

The Legislature is expected to consider a Complete Streets measure next session. Houston officials will likely debate new city policies this spring.

Learn more about volunteering at safestreetstexas.org

Walkable and Livable Communities Institute: www.walklive.org. Houston events Tuesday: on.fb.me/wwdTYp. Transportation for America study and city rankings: bit.ly/itlHJ1.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Department of Education has frozen grants that support summer learning, teacher professional development, after-school programs, English-language classes, support for children of migrants, school-based mental health and adult education. (Syda Productions/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Public education advocates are sounding alarms about the upcoming school year because the federal government is holding up about $60 million in funds …


Social Issues

play sound

An Eau Claire resident is speaking out about how federal cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could affect his life and …

Environment

play sound

A cleaner environment through less waste is the goal of a new state organization, the Indiana Composting Council. The council will enlist …


Just 30% of U.S. solar and 57% of wind projects are expected to survive under the new GOP tax and spending law signed by President Donald Trump. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

More than $7 billion in Colorado's GDP and 9,600 jobs are projected to be lost under President Donald Trump's signature tax and spending bill which cu…

Environment

play sound

California receives high marks in a report on the fight against plastic pollution. This is Plastic-free July and the United States of Plastics report…

April's Clean Water Lobby Day was held by Oregon Rural Action and the Stand Up to Factory Farms Coalition in Salem. (Oregon Rural Action)

play sound

Environmental groups say Oregon's new groundwater law, meant to curb pollution, has been diluted to the point they can no longer support it. …

Social Issues

play sound

Groups working to end hunger in Nebraska are reaching out to all parts of the state to train food insecure people to advocate for others facing simila…

Social Issues

play sound

New Mexico demonstrators will join nationwide protests today to oppose policies of the Trump administration. The "Good Trouble Lives On" nonviolent …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021