Today’s Headlines
Ten years after a deadly California train crash, a third of railroads still don’t have positive safety control, a safety measure Congress mandated after the crash. (WaPo) The Seattle Times delves deep into the $3-billion I-405 widening project, which includes new toll lanes (boo!), five bike and pedestrian paths and an 11-stop bus rapid transit … Continued
By
Blake Aued
9:52 AM EDT on September 12, 2018
- Ten years after a deadly California train crash, a third of railroads still don’t have positive safety control, a safety measure Congress mandated after the crash. (WaPo)
- The Seattle Times delves deep into the $3-billion I-405 widening project, which includes new toll lanes (boo!), five bike and pedestrian paths and an 11-stop bus rapid transit network (yay!).
- Tucson is the latest city to ban dockless electric scooters (KVOA). That’s a misguided policy, writes Vox’s Matthew Yglesias. They fill a niche in urban transportation—less physically demanding than biking and cleaner than cars—and cities should be designed around them.
- Bad and busted: An Alpharetta, Ga. man hit another man with his car twice during a dispute over a parking spot. He’s been charged with aggravated assault (WSB). A White Plains, N.Y. mom says an Uber driver took her disabled son on a joyride to jack up the fare (News 12). In L.A., an Uber driver was caught on video trying to lure a teenage girl into his car (KTLA).
- Baltimore, which for years has lagged behind other cities in bike infrastructure, is finally catching up with the adoption of a new policy on fire-truck access that will make it easier to add more bike lanes. (Sun)
- Meanwhile, Capital Gazette readers are no fans of Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley’s plan to replace downtown parking with bike lanes and sidewalk cafes.
- New Orleans’s bike-share program is free for one hour each day in September. (Curbed)
- City Lab explains induced demand—the idea that widening freeways never reduces congestion, because the additional lanes just attract more drivers.
- Domino’s is getting a lot of mileage out of a publicity stunt involving filling potholes. The fact that cities are willing to play along for a few hundred bucks’ worth of road work is an indictment of American infrastructure funding. (Eater)
Blake Aued has been doing Streetsblog's daily national news digest for years. He's also an Atlanta Braves fan, which enrages his editor in New York.
Read More:
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.
More from Streetsblog USA
The End of Gas Pain? Oregon Launches Nation’s First Road-User Charge
The Beaver State is moving from pilot to adoption, but the degree of public acceptance remains unclear.
April 29, 2026
Chuy García: Let’s Stop Letting Truck Companies Cheat Crash Victims
A 46 year-old loophole has been keeping truck companies' insurance costs artificially low — and victims are paying the price.
April 29, 2026
Are U.S. Cities Ready for the Robo-Taxi Revolution?
And how can they get ready to regulate the shared AV revolution?
April 28, 2026
Tuesday’s Headlines Pay for Roads Whether We Use Them or Not
Over half of road funding does not come directly from road users, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.
April 28, 2026
Urban Truth Collective: The One-Hour City Conspiracy
Here's the real conspiracy: Too many people are forced into car-dependent lives, with more health harms, more crashes, more noise, more air pollution, more social isolation — and less space for everything good our streets should be giving us.
April 27, 2026
