Thursday’s Headlines Hurtling Toward the Weekend

• U.S. PIRG released its sixth annual “Highway Boondoggles” report highlighting wasteful and environmentally damaging projects in Cincinnati, Birmingham, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Chicago and Charleston. But the worst of all is Florida’s $10 billion, 330-mile M-CORES project, which cuts through some of the state’s last undeveloped land and threatens panthers with extinction.
• Labor activists fear that Uber and Lyft will push a wave of anti-worker laws nationwide after the success of Prop 22 in California. (Democracy Now)
• Cars aren’t just bad for people—they’re bad for fish, too. A compound used in tires that runs off into rivers is killing off coho salmon. (Inverse)
• A New York lawmaker wants to fund the struggling Metropolitan Transit Authority by charging a $3 tax for online deliveries. (Gothamist)
• Newark Penn Station is undergoing a $190 million renovation. (northjersey.com)
• Almost a million Houston residents live in neighborhoods that need more transportation options. (Kinder Rice Institute)
• The L.A. Metro will add frequency and more space on buses to socially distance with the first phase of its NextGen plan starting Sunday. (Mass Transit Mag)
• Tampa’s TECO Line streetcar received a $67 million state grant, but still needs more funding from the feds, as well as a favorable court ruling on a city transportation tax. (Tampa Bay Times)
• Seattle’s Sound Transit has temporarily reduced service due to a COVID-19 driver shortage. (Kent Reporter)
• Grid Bike Share is shutting down in Phoenix and Tempe (KJZZ), while Philadelphia’s Indego is expanding (Philly Voice)
• More U.K. parents are walking or biking their kids to schools because the streets in front are closed to traffic during drop-off and pick-up. (City Lab)
• What could become Denmark’s latest car-free neighborhood is currently an abandoned prison in a Copenhagen suburb. (Fast Company)
• Let’s build bike lanes instead of going to Mars. (Auto Beat)

Finally, we were late in posting Wednesday’s headlines. If you missed them, read them here. Some highlights:

• Democrats will be pushing to include transit and green energy—not just roads and bridges—in an infrastructure package, but Republicans may not go along. (The Hill)
• Pushback from Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and others led the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to delay a vote on service cuts. (NBC 10)
• Out of Australia, but you could apply it to anywhere: Reclaiming streets for people, not free parking, is what will help retailers recover from the pandemic. (The Conversation)