- Is “Infrastructure Week” no longer a joke? Axios reported Monday that President Trump hated his own public-private infrastructure proposal and secretly wanted to spend $2 trillion in actual tax dollars. Sure enough, when Trump left a meeting with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer on Tuesday, they’d agreed to $2 trillion in spending to upgrade highways, railroads, bridges and broadband. They’ll meet again in three weeks to talk about how to pay for it—which, pun intended, is where the rubber meets the road. (NY Times)
- One problem with the bipartisan “infrastructure” bill is that it'll be a disaster for the environment — so supporters of the Green New Deal rallied outside Schumer’s office to protest his capitulation to Trump’s desire to build more roads and burn more fuel (NY Post). The good news? The Gateway Tunnel project, a Schumer favorite, might move forward (NY Post)
- When a small town in Ontario opted to subsidize Uber rides rather than start a transit system, it was a big hit. Problem is, when ridership rises, so do costs, and Innisfil has implemented a cap on rides. Buses, however, get more efficient the more people use them. (City Lab)
- Even this Automobile Magazine columnist is in favor of congestion pricing and better transit and walking and biking infrastructure in cities’ urban cores.
- Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s climate change plan says next to nothing about cars, even though they account for a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
- Speaking of which, do electric cars really pollute more than gas-powered ones, as the Wall Street Journal claims? No, they do not. (Jalopnik)
- Ever wonder how cities decide where to build sidewalks? Indiana Public Media explains the process in Bloomington.
- Duke University wasn’t a lone gunman. A lot of factors conspired to kill the Durham-Orange light rail line, according to this Duke Chronicle postmortem.
- Light rail is raising property values on St. Paul’s University Avenue. (Pioneer Press)
- Lime e-scooters are returning to Spokane, Wash. This time, keep them off the sidewalk. (Spokesman-Review)
- A Boston dad laments that the city's streets are too dangerous to teach his daughter how to ride her bike. (WBUR)
- San Francisco workers sick of paying exorbitant rates for co-working space are parking their butts (and laptops) in some of the city's cheap, plentiful parking spots. (Fast Company)
Today's Headlines
Wednesday’s Headlines
By Blake Aued
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog USA
Friday’s Headlines Walk Five Hundred Miles
Or at least, sometimes it seems like the other side of the street is that far away. And wider streets are more dangerous for pedestrians, Smart Cities Dive reports.
October 25, 2024
Opinion: Who Does Passenger Rail Serve?
"In short, passenger rail serves everyone – even the people who don’t meet the profit margins of airlines and car manufacturers."
October 25, 2024
Talking Headways Podcast: Urgency and Vision Zero
Vision Zero Network founder Leah Shahum on why it’s so hard to make change, the implicit biases around designing for cars and World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, coming up on Nov. 17.
October 24, 2024
Cycle of Rage: To NY Gov., Saving Lives is Important, But Not if It’s Too Expensive to Suburban Drivers
Gov. Hochul signed into law an expansion on New York City red light cameras on Wednesday, saying that she didn’t want to waste “any more time” before improving road safety — but when it comes to the safety benefits of congestion pricing that she once championed, she said they come at too high of a cost to drivers.
Why America Has So Much Road Safety Research, But So Little Actual Safety
Why does all this research not translating into solid guidance that actually saves lives?
October 24, 2024
