Today's Headlines

Wednesday’s Headlines

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 … Continued

By Blake Aued

1:34 AM EDT on May 1, 2019

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)

Blake Aued

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.

Today's Headlines

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

Accessibility

‘Diversity; in Transportation Planning is Under Attack — But These Experts Say It’s More Important Now Than Ever

Minority-owned planning firms are as essential as they ever were, these four top experts argue — no matter what the White House says.

Steve Wright

September 23, 2026

Where the Battles Against Harmful Highways and Hyper-Scale Data Centers Collide

Hyperscale AI data centers and highways are both harmful forms of fossil fuel infrastructure that get built without much community input — and it's time to fight back against both, one of our favorite podcasters argues.