{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Harder Than It Looks: Parking Uncovered","title":"EP 56: The Curb: Transportation's Toughest Puzzle with Benito Pèrez","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3788,"description":"In this episode of Harder Than It Looks, host Brian Wolff sits down with Benito O. Pérez, AICP, CTP, CPM, PTMP, Section Chief for Transit Capital Statewide at the Illinois Department of Transportation.Benito’s career has moved through urban planning, civil engineering, transportation policy, curbside management, accessibility, and transit capital planning. But the common thread through all of it is connection: connecting planners and engineers, connecting agencies and advocates, connecting infrastructure decisions to real human experience, and connecting today’s transportation choices to the communities we want in the future.\nThe conversation also gets into the curb: why it is one of the most contested and misunderstood spaces in transportation, how accessibility has to go beyond the parking space, and why public agencies need to think more intentionally about every user who interacts with streets, sidewalks, transit, bike lanes, parking, and the curb.\nBenito also shares what he’s working on now at IDOT, helping transit agencies across downstate Illinois access capital funding for buses, maintenance facilities, transfer centers, and long-term infrastructure needs. His advice is simple but important: don’t just plan for what you need today. Think about what your system needs to become.\nKey TakeawaysTransportation problems are rarely siloed.\nParking, transit, biking, walking, land use, accessibility, and curbside management all intersect. The best solutions come when agencies and stakeholders stop treating them as separate conversations. The curb is where everything comes together.\nBenito describes the curb as a friction point where transportation systems meet land use, access, mobility, policy, and real-world user needs. Accessibility has to be built into the whole journey.\nAccessible parking matters, but the experience does not stop once someone gets out of the vehicle. Streetscapes, crossings, bike lanes, transit access, and signal timing all shape whether a...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/Y0XKm5qIfx5wu96cc17w73uLDJ9g38v-oi18WqKq6hY/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8zYmYx/ZTU1ZWMyZTdhMzFj/M2VkYTBmNjY5MWYw/NTQ3Ny5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}