Today’s Headlines

  • D’oh! "Cash for clunkers" is headed for the scrap bin, four days after it began (NYT)
  • Verizon, the nation’s largest wireless carrier, supports congressional ban on texting while driving (InfoWeek)
  • Two years after Minnesota’s fatal bridge collapse, the state’s riskiest bridges are missing out on stimulus money (AP)
  • Government investigators find 20 "living dead" … and they’re bus companies (Reuters)
  • Researchers working on a super-sensitive yawn detector for over-tired drivers (Wired)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

T4A: One in Nine American Bridges Structurally Deficient

By Angie Schmitt |
There’s a new report out on the state of America’s bridges, and with it a new raft of disturbing statistics. Nearly one in nine, or 11 percent, are structurally deficient — meaning a bridge inspector has rated a major component of the structure to be in poor condition. The average age of a bridge in the […]

Behind the ‘Bridge in a Backpack’ That Could Go National

By Elana Schor |
Students at the AEWC, with a piece of composite "bridge in a backpack" cable in the background. (Photo: Bangor Daily News) It sounds like the start of a wonky transportation joke: Have you ever crossed a "bridge in a backpack"? Residents of Pittsfield, Maine, are doing so every day, and the concept could eventually be […]

Bike/Ped Funding Safe as Senate Rejects Rand Paul’s Amendment

By Tanya Snyder |
Bike/ped funding is pitching a perfect game in the Senate after Republicans swung (and missed) at the popular Transportation Enhancements program for the third time in two months. The final strike came this morning, when Kentucky Republican Rand Paul’s amendment to divert all TE funds to bridge repair failed spectacularly, garnering only 38 votes in […]

Vancouver Set to Claim Another Bridge Lane for Active Transportation

By Angie Schmitt |
In 2009, Vancouver converted a southbound car lane on the west side of the Burrard Bridge to a protected bikeway using concrete dividers, freeing up the sidewalk for pedestrians. On the east side, the city converted the existing sidewalk into a bike path. The three-month experiment defied predictions of carmageddon and became a permanent fixture. Thanks to the protected lane and […]