Wednesday’s Headlines

The Transportation Research Board’s 99th Annual Meeting will be held in Washington, D.C. from Jan. 12-16, 2020. Click here for more information.

Happy new year! With 2019 in the rear-view mirror, here a few headlines looking back at the year and the decade that was, and looking ahead to 2020.

• With systems now in 60 cities and over 100 million rides per year, the bike-share explosion is Curbed’s transportation story of the decade. Forbes concurs, naming bicycles the mobility winner of the decade — the fastest and easiest way to get around in many cities, and the future of urban transportation.
• Former City Lab writers and editors look back on the decade in urbanism, including multimodal transportation going mainstream, rising pedestrian deaths and declining transit ridership.
• Curbed also looks back at 10 years of Austin transportation, including the ride-hailing controversy, e-scooter explosion, bus-only lanes, a new commuter rail line and the moped-sharing trend. (Huh?)
• The Chicago Reader recaps the Windy City’s year in transportation, including an e-scooter pilot, the addition of 10,000 e-bikes, new and renovated transit stations, new bike infrastructure, a ride-hailing tax and more. Mayor Lori Lightfoot promised to address racially biased traffic enforcement, but she also stonewalled a plan to improve Southside rail service.
• The shutdown of the Durham-Orange light rail project in North Carolina is among Chapelboro’s top stories of 2019.
• Spokane made big gains in cycling in the 2010s, tripling the number of bike lane miles to 96. (Spokesman-Review)
• The Southwest Line light rail expansion dominated transportation news in Minneapolis and St. Paul this year (Business Journal). In the coming year, the Twin Cities will go after funding for six new bus rapid transit lines Metro officials hope will reverse years of ridership declines (Star Tribune).
• Palm Beach County, Florida is shifting toward moving people rather than cars. Look for more asphalt in the next decade, yes, but also Complete Streets, toll lanes and transit. (Palm Beach Post)
• A better bike lane network and more transit-oriented development are on Curbed Boston’s wish list for the next decade.
• Phase II of the Silver Line, bus lanes on 16th Street and bus rapid transit on Route 29 are a few of the transit projects Washington, D.C. residents will see in 2020. (WAMU)
• Las Vegas will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on new freeway ramps and other road projects this year. (Review-Journal)