The “spirit” of a law or policy is really just as important as its “letter”.  The frame of mind – the professional culture – of those implementing a policy, their underlying values and assumptions, will shape their decisions and actions just as much as the words. Nearly a decade ago, one of my first LivableStreets blogs, Traffic Engineering Myths Revealed, explored what seemed to be the car-focused, Interstate-derived consensus among road-design professionals.  Today, while transportation policies have radically changed, too often much of the old designs still infest road projects.  It’s time to promote an explicit and short description of a more progressive vision.

Here is a rough outline of what I think should be in a short summary of the framework for 21^st century traffic engineering.  As you can tell, much of this is drawn from past blogs.  This is just a start: what do you think should be added?