Wednesday’s Headlines
- Realizing they need density to support public transit, make housing more affordable and prevent climate change, a number of cities are rethinking the idea of single-family zoning. (NY Times)
- Pedestrian deaths rose by 35 percent between 2008 and 2017, according to Smart Growth America’s latest Dangerous by Design report. Things got even worse for cyclists and pedestrians in 2018, according to new federal data (Streetsblog).
- Quoting Streetsblog, D Magazine takes Texans to task for accepting over 3,600 traffic deaths a year as merely the cost of doing business. The Houston Chronicle wants to end pedestrian deaths in a city where drivers kill more than 600 people each year (New York City, with four times more people, had one-third that number of road fatalities last year). In San Antonio, more than 100 people gathered to discuss the city’s failing Vision Zero program (Rivard Report).
- New York is extending its year-old freeze on the number of Uber and Lyft drivers in the city. The cap has already helped boost drivers’ wages, and officials hope it will also reduce the amount of time they spend cruising in empty cars. Almost a third of Manhattan traffic is ride-hail vehicles. (Wired)
- The Philadelphia City Council approved a record-breaking nine new bike lanes last week, part of a push to create 20 miles of protected bike lanes by 2020. The city currently only has four. (Philly Mag)
- Cambridge, Mass. — which recently became the first U.S. city to mandate separated bike lanes when roads are reconstructed — is updating its bike master plan and adding bike lanes even where road work isn’t scheduled. (Wicked Local)
- Spokane is ditching plans for light rail in favor of bus rapid transit. (KREM)
- Winston-Salem officials have decided a streetcar connecting two universities is too expensive, and will convert an old rail line into a greenway instead. (Journal)
- Jackson, Miss., residents can ride the bus for free on "Try Transit" day Thursday (WLBT). The El Paso streetcar is free all summer if riders download an app (KFOX).
- Remember that time Baltimore was going to get a subway? (City Lab)
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