Monday’s Headlines to Really Start the New Year
It's the first workday of a new year. And the best way to start it is with today's news digest.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EST on January 4, 2021
- Cities worldwide installed temporary bike and pedestrian facilities during the pandemic, and now they have a chance to permanently reconsider how much of the street they devote to cars. (Fast Company)
- Car and Driver looks ahead to 2021’s safety trends, like Pete Buttigieg’s promise of a national Vision Zero strategy, a pilot program to lower speed limits nationwide, seizing reckless drivers’ vehicles and using ignition interlock to stop drunk driving.
- Environment America‘s 2021 agenda includes expanding transit and electric vehicle charging stations in California, banning fossil-fuel-burning cars in Washington, EV rebates in Texas and a gas-tax hike in Missouri.
- The $1 billion in the federal coronavirus stimulus bill for Bay Area transit agencies will stave off cuts for now, but the long-term funding picture remains unclear. (San Jose Mercury News)
- Michigan transit agencies are also worried about what happens in October, when emergency COVID funds run out. (Detroit News)
- Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants to crack down on speeding drivers and raising the gas tax to help close a $1.2-billion budget deficit. (Tribune)
- Austin built new bike lanes, lowered speed limits and reduced crashes at intersections in 2020. (KVUE)
- Richmond’s new route system, including a bus rapid transit line, is dismantling the legacy of racism in transportation. (Greater Greater Washington)
- The NAACP won a lawsuit against Charleston alleging that the city discriminates against African-American tourists who come to town for a “Black Bike Week” event. (WBTW)
- The Texas DOT is making progress on complete streets, but not enough. (KFOX)
- Uber is raising fares in Seattle as the city’s new minimum wage law for drivers takes effect. (KOMO)
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.
Read More:
More from Streetsblog USA
The California DMV’s Culture of Obstruction
California’s DMV is responsible for managing some of the biggest risks on the state’s roads, but researchers say a culture of secrecy and obstruction makes it nearly impossible for the public to access basic information about dangerous drivers and disabled parking placard fraud.
November 6, 2026
Opinion: I (Almost) Killed a Pedestrian With My Car
Every driver has a story or two about a near-miss traffic crash, even when they were doing everything right. Can we get those numbers down with safer systems?
November 6, 2026
Talking Headways Podcast: The Value of Cities
Cities are valuable precisely because there are so many people in them.
November 5, 2026
What It Will Take To Turn the ‘Blue Wave’ Into a Watershed Moment for Transportation Reform
Democrats won big at the ballot box in the midterms. Will they fight for multimodal travelers when they're in office?
November 5, 2026
