The Thoreau Institute
Urban Growth and Transportation Studies
The joke is on the taxpayers as one of Portland, Oregon's light-rail vehicles chuckles its way into downtown.
Reports
The Vanishing Automobile
- This 60-page report written in 1996 formed the nucleus of the new book of the same name.
Vanishing Automobile Web Tools
- Web links and tools that are mentioned in the book, The Vanishing Automobile, including a tour of Oak Grove, Oregon, and some of Portland's transit-oriented developments.
ISTEA: A Poisonous Brew for American Cities
- A review of federal transportation funding prepared by Randal O'Toole for the Cato Institute. This link takes you to the Cato website. The paper is 287K.
Urban Transit Myths
- An analysis of the myths and realities of mass transit prepared by Randal O'Toole for the Reason Public Policy Institute. This link takes you to Reason's web site.
Rails to Nowhere: An Analysis of Utah Transit
- A review of the Utah Transit Authority's rail transit plans prepared by Randal O'Toole for the Sutherland Institute. This link downloads a PDF file from the Sutherland Institute's web site.
Transitions: New Incentives for Rural Communities
- A proposal by Karyn Moskowitz and Randal O'Toole for dealing with rural growth.
Articles
The Coming War on the Automobile
- Why some people want to turn cars into the next social evil, written for Liberty magazine.
Neotraditionalism
- A critique of Neotraditional or New Urban planning, written for Liberty magazine.
Beware Metro
- Problems with metropolitan planning, written for Liberty magazine.
Fact Sheets
- Turning Portland into Los Angeles
- Congestion and Patterns of Growth
- Light Rail Myths and Realities
- Saving Oregon's Open Space
- The Low-Cost Solution to Traffic Congestion
- Understanding Plannerspeak
Op-Eds
Generic Op Ed
- Various verions of this warning about smart-growth planning have been printed in a number of different newspapers.
The Oregonian, 11-15-96
- Critique of Metro planning in Portland
The Oregonian, 12-22-96
- Responses to the above op-ed written by University of Puget Sound economist Hart Hodges and the Coalition for a Livable Future, with replies by O'Toole.
Las Vegas Sun, 9-21-97
- Warning other cities of the perils of Portland's New Urban planning process. This was also printed in several other papers.
Houston Chronicle, 9-21-97
- A critique of ISTEA and light rail.
The Solution to Congestion
- How to fix congestion without spending a fortune.
Subsidies Anonymous
No. 16-Why Metropolitan Planning Doesn't Work
- Small is beautiful. 10-15-96
No. 15-Light Rail: Yesterday's Technology Tomorrow
- Some people have been bamboozled into thinking that nineteenth-century technology makes sense for twenty-first century cities. 9-12-96
No. 14-Problems with Regional Planning
- Regional government doesn't work. 8-26-96
Other Information
Metro Area Data Base
- Population, land area, transportation facilities, and other important data for nearly 400 U.S. urban areas.
Petition to Abolish Metro
- Complete text of a petition being circulated by Oregon Taxpayers United to abolish Metro, Portland's regional planning agency.