Talking Headways: A Streetsblog Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 191: Mondays at The Overhead Wire - Moving New Orleans May 12, 2026

Show notes

This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we're joined once again by Tracy McMillan to discuss a number of super interesting news items. We discuss the future of New Orleans in a time of Sea Level rise, getting amphibians across the road safely during mating season, food insecurity amidst transit deserts, the importance of weekend transit service, and a bit on meeting people where they are when planning.

Below are the News items that were discussed and links to resources mentioned.

Main Items

SafeTrec street story - University of California at Berkeley New Orleans point of no return - The Guardian

How Americans in transit deserts get groceries - The Guardian

The weekend transit problem - Car Free America

How planners could reduce the cost of living - Planetizen

Amphibian crossings - Grist

Extra Items

Maul Shadow Lord Janix Transit Map

YouTube Ecology Bingeing

China releases horses to stop desertification - Ground Zero Channel

Scotland's 250 year forest plan - Make Tech Future

Nevada let five Beavers back into a dead desert - Daily Discoveries

Do Redwoods Only Grow in California? - Atlas Pro

Referenced Talking Headways Episodes

521: Food Deserts and Policy - Stacy Mitchell of ILSR

459: Crossings - Ben Goldfarb

325: Transport Justice - Karel Martens

+++

Many thanks to Bob Nanna for our intro/outro music.

Get the show ad free on Patreon!

Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube!

Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Episode 577: Find the Bus Art May 07, 2026

Show notes

This week we're joined by Stephanie Dockery to discuss the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge. Stephanie discusses how a bus art can get a cult following, how artists are creating attention in their cities with temporary art, and what happens after the projects disappear.

Find the Bloomberg Connects art app here which contains audio, video, and written resources.

+++

Get the show ad free on Patreon!

Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube!

Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Bonus Mondays at The Overhead Wire: Mapping Every Sidewalk in Your State May 04, 2026

Show notes

We're doing a bit of a crossover episode this week as I wanted to do two things, promote the amazing podcast The Brake hosted by Kea Wilson at Streetsblog USA and Dr. Anat Caspi at The University of Washington and her work focused on creating a platform that inventories Washington State's sidewalks. This is a reproduction of The Brake's February 24th episode What It Would Take to Map Every Sidewalk In Your State.

The Washington State sidewalk inventory is now 100% complete but if you'd like to be part of the coalition to get legislative support for continued maintenance make sure to contact the folks working on OS Connect.

+++

Many thanks to Bob Nanna for our intro/outro music.

Get the show ad free on Patreon!

Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube!

Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Episode 576: The Logistics of Package Delivery Apr 30, 2026

Show notes

This week we're joined by Arizona State Professor Benjamin Fong to discuss an item he wrote in Urban Omnibus entitled Where's My Package? We discuss his work trying to suss out how e-commerce companies like Amazon have built their logistics systems and the difficulties of last mile deliveries. Benjamin also shares potentially beneficial legislation, movements that could benefit workers, and the process of siting warehouses that impact small towns to the benefit of big corporations.

+++

Get the show ad free on Patreon!

Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube!

Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Episode 190: Mondays at The Overhead Wire – Aging Out of the Car Apr 28, 2026

Show notes

This week we're Han Solo, but have a lot of great news items to share including SRO legislation, Japan's rail expertise, the idea of onboarding residents to a city, and the quiet that came from the solar eclipse.

Below are the show notes including links to the articles that we discussed.

MAIN ITEMS

SRO legislation - Niskanen Center

Older drivers - Carbon Upfront!

Japan's railways - Works in Progress

The warehouse in plain sight - Places Journal

Onboarding residents - National League of Cities

Free range parenting - The Dispatch

Total eclipse silence - ScienceDaily

Sacramento parking legend - Sacramento Bee

Way-mo cars on the road - Streetsblog NYC

BONUS ITEMS

Boom and bust built into the system - Kings College

Mamdani curb management - Streetsblog NYC

Credit card charges going up for Clipper - SFGate

Federal home loan bank system reform - New York Times

Local government staffing shortages - Smart Cities Dive

City owned grocery - 6sqft

Automated speed enforcement - Global News

Robotaxi polls - The Verge

Water conservation overshadowed by drought - The Conversation

Finland opens longest active transportation bridge - New Atlas

Gas prices and housing supply - Newsweek

Amazon's algorithm makes prices go up - Washington Monthly

Wildlife connections through land use - bioGraphic

Asphalt's health impacts - Arizona State University

+++

Many thanks to Bob Nanna for our intro/outro music.

Get the show ad free on Patreon!

Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube!

Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Episode 575: The Urban Truth Collective Apr 23, 2026

Show notes

This week we're joined by Tom Flood, Grant Ennis, and Brent Toderian to discuss their new communications project, The Urban Truth Collective. We discuss pushing back on falsehoods and conspiracies through positive messaging around cities.

+++

Get the show ad free on Patreon!

Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube!

Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Episode 574: Second Hand E-Bikes Apr 16, 2026

Show notes

This week on The Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Calvin Thigpen of Toole Design and Ysabel Hoogeveen of Upway to discuss a report entitled Refurbished E-bikes: An Affordable Transportation Solution for Cities and Consumers. We chat about costs for used e-bikes and what could help grow the industry.

+++

Get the show ad free on Patreon!

Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube!

Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Episode 189: Mondays at The Overhead Wire - Proof of What's Possible Apr 14, 2026

Show notes

This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we're Han Solo, but got some great and interesting news for everyone. We look at a model base for disabled Olympians in Milan, the economic security of American households, and how reverse game theory can create win win situations in cities. All the items we covered are in the notes below.

Main items:

Accessible cities can exist - Teen Vogue

Economic security of Americans - Governing

City doesn't need a dashboard - Route Fifty

Texas' clean energy future - Grist

BART parking rentals - Metro Magazine

Disorder in the liberal city - City of Yes

Climate gentrification in Atlanta - Capital B News

Reverse game theory - Noema

Bonus Items

Akron Innerbelt plan - Signal Akron

Rail trails and housing markets - Joint Center for Housing Policy

Safer streets for women and girls - The Guardian

Fixing what annoys commuters in NJ - NJ.com

Overriding local zoning - Boulder Reporting Lab

Climate damage impacts - BBC Science Focus

A regional innovation engine - China Daily

Hands off the wheel bad for safety - KSL

What government really costs - Governing

Electricity price hub - HeatMap

Vehicle size impacts - ITDP

One acre, one vote - Grist

Longest outdoor escalator - Parametric Architecture

Mexican high speed trains to Tucson - KJZZ

Financial costs of pedestrian deaths - Streetsblog USA

+++

Many thanks to Bob Nanna for our intro/outro music.

Get the show ad free on Patreon!

Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube!

Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Flashback: Mobility as a Feature Apr 09, 2026

Show notes

Hey everyone! We're on Spring Break this week (and posting a little early) but I wanted to do a fun flashback so here we're chatting with David Hensher of the University of Sydney (Episode 425) about his thoughts on Mobility as a Service renamed mobility as a feature. It's super interesting and thought provoking so I hope you enjoy it. We'll see you next week!

+++

Get the show ad free on Patreon!

Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube!

Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Episode 573: Civil Rights Enforcement in Transportation Projects Apr 02, 2026

Show notes

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined once again by Laurel Paget-Seekins of Public Advocates. Laurel discusses transit agency power dynamics, loss of public sector capacity, and how the administration is looking to gut civil rights enforcement mechanisms for transportation projects.

Links to Laurel's website Laurel in Transit and the Transit Data Primer

+++

Get the show ad free on Patreon!

Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube!

Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com