Friday’s Headlines From Around the Nation
High-speed rail, bike share and deracializing urban planning — all in today's headlines.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on May 22, 2020
- Massachusetts congressman and noted train fanatic Seth Moulton wants to spend $205 billion on high-speed rail, including lines linking Chicago and Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Francisco, Dallas and Houston, and Portland and Vancouver. (Wired)
- Social distancing is leading to a new vision of permanently pedestrian-friendly cities with better sidewalks, shared streets and more public space. (The City Fix)
- Race and class are often missing from the debate when people talk about how to redesign cities in the wake of COVID-19. (Curbed)
- Bike commuting is up 20 percent over the past decade, much of that increase due to bike-shares, according to a University of Washington study. (MinnPost)
- Scooter companies are testing remote-controlled scooters in Georgia in hopes that the technology will be more convenient — riders can bring the devices to them — and reduce sidewalk clutter. (The Verge)
- The pandemic delivery boom is accelerating a shift in the autonomous vehicle industry from moving people to moving packages. (Reuters)
- Uber and Lyft have long used venture capital to subsidize rides in an effort to win market share, but those days might be ending. Rising ride-hailing prices could drive people back to transit. (Quartz)
- President Trump has taken to “announcing” transit grants on Twitter that were actually awarded weeks ago. (SFGATE)
- Virgin Trains says it won’t restart passenger rail service in Florida for months. (Bloomberg)
- Portland voters extended a gas tax that goes toward maintaining streets and safety improvements. (KATU)
- Detroit’s MoGo bike share is expanding into the suburbs next month. (Daily Detroit)
- Six years later, Pittsburgh drivers still hate the Penn Avenue bike lanes, but data shows they’re drastically improved safety. (Bike PGH)
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s coronavirus hot takes are costing him his loyal fan club. (The Atlantic)
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.
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