’12th Street Corridor’
courtesy of ‘maxedaperture’

We all love to complain about our commutes here in DC, but what if traffic congestion isn’t such a bad thing? The Smart Growth Speaker Series continues on Tuesday the 14th with a lunchtime presentation at the National Building Museum on how transportation projects can be successful even if they don’t tackle congestion.  Ellen Greenberg, former Research Director for the Congress for New Urbanism, will discuss various ways to measure success in transportation that don’t necessarily make cars move faster.  It’s often difficult to get support for transportation projects if they can’t promise fewer traffic delays, but a lot of things that make good urban places (like narrow streets and pedestrian crosswalks and bike lanes) don’t really improve congestion.  The event is free and open to the public.