Thursday’s Headlines

By Blake Aued

6:37 AM EST on November 7, 2019

The national epidemic of pedestrian deaths — up 50 percent in the past 10 years to over 6,000 last year — is one of the few issues drawing bipartisan concern in Washington, D.C. A Senate bill would boost funding for sidewalks, bike paths and bike lanes, while in the House, lawmakers are looking at separated bike lanes and better crosswalks. (McClatchy)
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has declared a state of emergency over traffic deaths. Drivers have killed 24 people, including 16 cyclists and pedestrians, so far this year. The city's goal is zero deaths by 2024. (Weekly)
Lawyers in King County are preparing a lawsuit to challenge I-95, the initiative Washington state voters approved Tuesday capping car tab fees at $30, which will cost Seattle area transit billions of dollars (My Northwest). The Sound Transit board will meet Nov. 21 to discuss the impact (Kent Reporter). The Stranger saw this coming, reporting before the vote that polling showed voters didn't seem to understand what was at stake.
The self-driving car that killed a woman in Arizona last year didn't know how to recognize pedestrians who weren't in a crosswalk, according to documents released by the National Transportation Safety Board. (Wired)
Westword takes a deep dive into the problems at Denver's Regional Transit District, which is facing a driver shortage and looming budget cuts.
Atlanta's regional transit board is set to adopt a long-range plan that includes light rail to Emory University and along the Beltline, heavy rail to Clayton County, bus rapid transit lines, MARTA station improvements and new transit centers. But much of the $27-billion list remains unfunded. (AJC)
In the 1970s, Dallas widened Columbia Avenue into a six-lane highway capable of accommodating 40,000 cars a day. But it carries fewer than half that, and now the city is considering a road diet adding sidewalks, crosswalks and bike lanes to a street that’s notoriously treacherous to cross. (D Magazine)
Sprawl is contributing to the California wildfires, and one step Los Angeles can take to increase density is eliminate minimum parking requirements. (Daily Trojan)
Lime has introduced new scooters in Denver that the company says are better at handling snow and will curb sidewalk use, but the city says the GPS technology preventing illegal riding and parking is unproven. (Denverite)
Cincinnati is the latest city to consider street murals as a way to calm traffic. (Smart Cities Dive)
Elon Musk may have been outdone by a 13-year-old. Her improved version of the hyperloop involves pneumatic tubes next to existing train tracks, with the trains linked by magnets. (CNN)

Blake Aued

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