Cover of a program with text: WTS PUGET SOUND ANNUAL AWARDS & SCHOLARSHIPS GALA. Celebrating the people Making Waves in the Puget Sound transportation industry this past year. March 12, 2024, The Westin Seattle. The text sits above a stylized representation of waves in medium blue, light gray, green and white that swirls up at right to surround the WTS logo.

A Thrilling Night

Tuesday night brought an incredible event I have to capture: The Women in Transportation Seminar Puget Sound chapter named me Woman of the Year! I want to share my comments from the stage, or at least the version I had…Continue Reading

Photo taken looking into a car's rearview mirror showing the side of the car and a unset on a flat horizon behind, with the headlights of another car some distance back.

How We Get Where We’re Going: Transportation Poems

I’m beginning to think I’m editing a poetry book, what with all these poems on transportation I’m collecting. The images of being on a journey, the physical acts involved with driving or riding a motorcycle, the human relationships and interactions…Continue Reading

Shared Streets: A Vision

Years ago in Spokane, I saw the future of bicycling and human-centered transportation on an outing with my family, and it looked great. Here’s what I saw: People of all ages, stages, sizes and colors putting up with each other’s…Continue Reading

Photo of a man and two children with darker skin walking down a dirt road lined with trees on either side. All 3 are wearing dark shorts and light-colored shirts and the sun is shining. At the bottom, text with a quotation from Ram Dass: We are all just walking each other home.

Why I Walk

This post first ran on my personal blog, BikeWalkBake Barb, where I’ve been chronicling my walking habits. Since I’ve been writing about multimodal transportation here, I thought I’d add the post to these archives as well. Walking, like riding my…Continue Reading

Photo of a stretch of sidewalk with words stenciled in light blue: "I hope you see this."

Presented with appreciation for all who write poetry, and for those who have created eclectic poetry collections online and in print. This has enabled me to gather a second list of transportation poems to go with the bicycle poems. These…Continue Reading

Photo of two people holding giant double-scoop ice cream cones in front of a wall packed with glass-front cases holding a wild variety of memorabilia from various old science fiction movies and other topics. The white woman on the left is wearing a blue and white striped sleeveless dress that buttons up the front, a light straw hat, and blue glasses. The brown-skinned man with silvering hair standing next to her is smiling and pointing at the ice cream cones. He is wearing blue jeans, a charcoal gray short-sleeved collared shirt, and rimless glasses.

Broken Wrist, Dang It! No Riding for a While

Ever tripped over something on a sidewalk and broken a bone? Spoiler: It hurts. Story of a broken wrist with a dose of public policy thoughts about why we need to create dedicated in-street parking space for foot scooters, bicycles, and other micromobility devices. We leave lots of room for cars–why not for these more space-efficient transportation devices?

Sunset with bike and person doing yoga

How Bicycling Keeps Me Flexible

My yoga habit comes and goes — that probably means it’s no longer a habit, doesn’t it? — so I no longer count on it to keep me flexible. When I say bicycling keeps me flexible, I’m talking about the…Continue Reading

In foreground, sitting on a wooden table-top in soft lighting, white coffee cup with drawing of a turquoise upright bicycle and the words "Life is a beautiful ride". Background soft focus of kitchen with appliances.

Sharing some (and by no means all) of the articles that have caught my eye over the past few weeks since the March 4 Transportation Reading Round-up. The quoted snippet from the article gives you a takeaway even if you…Continue Reading

In my work at Washington State Department of Transportation, where I’m Director of the Active Transportation Division, I put out an e-newsletter 2-3 times a month. If you subscribe (everyone welcome!) you’ll get two types of emails: A news round-up…Continue Reading