Monday’s Headlines from Around the Country
A big part of a major Chinese city goes car-free. Plus all the other news of the weekend, one click away.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on June 15, 2020
- The carpocalypse is coming. Cities could see traffic return to pre-COVID-19 levels after just a partial reopening, and hit unprecedented levels of congestion because people returning to work will still be reluctant to ride transit. (Business Insider)
- But if cities can maintain even a 10-percent drop in vehicle miles driven, it will have a big impact on the climate. (Smart Cities Dive)
- New York City police — long hostile to cyclists — have been targeting people on bikes during the recent demonstrations, perhaps because bikes represent freedom and make it harder for authorities to “dominate the streets.” (New Yorker)
- Forbes profiles Brightline owner Wes Edens, who’s betting billions of dollars that Americans will get out of their cars and onto his trains in Florida and on the West Coast.
- If Congress approves a stimulus package, it could provide $20 billion to get a bullet train between Houston and Dallas back on track. (D Magazine)
- Polling shows that Bay Area voters overwhelmingly favor raising taxes in a progressive, equitable way to improve transit service. (Next City)
- Minneapolis lawmakers are requesting $55 million in state funding for two bus rapid transit lines. (Star Tribune)
- Maryland will probably owe contractors hundreds of millions of dollars for cost overruns if it wants to finish the Purple Line. (Washington Post)
- Commissioners in metro Atlanta’s Gwinnett County are at an impasse over whether to include heavy rail in an upcoming transit referendum. (AJC)
- The Austin City Council voted unanimously to lower speed limits to 25 miles per hour on neighborhood and downtown streets, and 30–40 mph on arterials. (Farm & City)
- When Lime acquired JUMP, the former scrapped thousands of the latter’s bikes, leading to criticism that they should’ve been donated instead. So when Denver’s bike-share system shut down, Houston’s BCycle managed to acquire the bikes. (Smart Cities Dive)
- The fate of Cincinnati’s streetcar — running empty since the pandemic started in March — is on the line during budget talks this summer. (WLWT)
- Baltimore has a new Complete Streets manual that prioritizes walking and biking safely over drivers’ convenience. (Greater Great Washington)
- Most Europeans want more bike lanes so other people can bike and keep the air clean, but far fewer are willing to do it themselves. (Reuters)
- A new district the size of Midtown Manhattan in Shenzhen, China will be car-free. (dezeen)
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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