Thursday’s Headlines

By Blake Aued

9:13 AM EDT on April 11, 2019

Pedestrian deaths are at a 30-year high because drivers are more distracted than ever. Almost half of drivers are “phone addicts” who are more dangerous on the road than drunk drivers. (Fast Company)
Self-driving vehicles are a delusion that, in 50 years, will be looked upon as a “futile, antisocial endeavor,” an expert on artificial intelligence writes in Vox.
Medium-sized cities like Nashville are mostly over-paved and car-centric. Here are some of the little things they can do to improve their transportation systems, without breaking the bank on infrastructure. (Mobility Lab)
An $88-million Federal Transit Administration Grant will pay to upgrade a bus rapid transit line in Portland (Oregonian). In addition, Spokane won a $52 million federal grant for its first BRT line (Spokesman Review). But the paper also reports that the Washington state government is spending almost $200 million on a new freeway.
The South Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill requiring Uber and Lyft drivers to display illuminated signs in their vehicles after a college student who mistakenly getting into the wrong car was murdered. (The State)
Since it opened in 2007, Charlotte’s Blue Line has drawn 58 million riders and $3.5 billion in development — a major success that proved transit doubters wrong. (Agenda)
Ohio is boosting state funding for transit by nearly $40 million, but that won’t be enough to fix Cincinnati’s struggling system. (WCPO)
Los Angeles will create permanent memorials to cyclists killed by drivers — “a place where the realism of death hits you,” as one bike advocate put it — as part of its Vision Zero initiative. (Curbed)
Australia is spending $500 million on parking near train stations, but The Conversation points out that park-and-ride lots waste land and do little to boost transit ridership, and says there are better ways to spend the money, like buses connecting universities to city centers.
If Duke University killed the Durham-Orange light rail line and GoTriangle said it had no pulse, the Durham County Commission just took it off life support. (INDY Week)

Blake Aued

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