Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Streetsblog

Wednesday’s Headlines

12:01 AM EDT on September 16, 2020

    • It’s time to start taking freight into account when designing safer streets. Freight accounts for 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, and delivery trucks are much more likely to kill pedestrians than passenger cars. (The City Fix)
    • The people who are most likely to use transit—women, people of color and people with low incomes—are not represented inside transit organizations, and dismantling white supremacy will take more than tweets, writes Tamika Butler in a heartfelt Kinder Institute essay.
    • 2020 was supposed to be the year of the driverless car. So where are they? (Medium) While AI technology isn’t ready for prime time, a new algorithm could help autonomous vehicles avoid collisions (Inverse)
    • One gadfly and his lawyer are abusing San Francisco's broken environmental appeals process to block safer-streets projects all over the city. (SF Chronicle)
    • The Federal Transit Administration finalized a $928 million grant for the Green Line’s light-rail extension into southwest Minneapolis. (Pioneer-Press)
    • A new report says that Philadelphia and New Jersey transit agencies’ fiscal crisis could cost the region manufacturing and construction jobs as agencies stop ordering rail cars and cancel new projects. (Inquirer)
    • After voting down a new light rail line last month, Sacramento’s transit board reversed course and is moving ahead with the $130 million project. (Bee)
    • Lyft announced on Tuesday that it will give half-priced rides in cabs and Citi Bikes on Nov. 3 to encourage people to vote. Just use the code "2020vote" in the Lyft app. Uber's effort goes a bit further (USA Today).
    • Pop-up bike lanes around Boston Common will become permanent this fall. (Globe)
    • Three city-approved e-scooter companies are bringing 1,500 of the micromobility vehicles to Seattle in coming weeks. (KOMO)
    • Madison, Wisconsin, is testing pedal-assist cargo bikes to replace pickup trucks for city workers. (State Journal)
    • Well, that’s one way to get around—or rather, through—a car blocking the crosswalk. (Rex Chapman via Twitter)

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Thursday’s Headlines Have a New Pattern

Working from home may have killed the commute, but people are taking more frequent, shorter trips instead. Whether this adds up to less or more driving overall depends on the city.

September 21, 2023

New Calif. Slow Streets Offer a Sampler Platter of Quick-Build Safety Strategies

The city has a sampler platter of quick-build temporary traffic calming installations to experience for the rest of the year.

September 20, 2023

Wednesday’s Headlines Go Carless

A Washington state advocacy group for the disabled is challenging everyone to give up driving for the week of Oct. 2 to find out how hard it is to get around in most parts of the U.S.

September 20, 2023

Study: How Low-Income People Really Use Micromobility

Shared bikes and scooters are meeting low-income people's basic mobility needs — but they're not being subsidized like it.

September 20, 2023
See all posts