Monday’s Headlines to Get You Going

  • Pete Buttigieg aced a Senate committee on his nomination for transportation secretary (Politico), putting greenhouse gas emissions front and center (Florida Phoenix) and called for a national Complete Streets policy (Smart Cities Dive). His office did walk back a statement about a gas tax hike being on the table (Roll Call), but Jalopnik says he should have gone there. Streetsblog was mostly impressed.
  • Meanwhile, President Biden continues to fill out his Department of Transportation. (Transport Topics)
  • He also signed an executive order requiring masks on interstate planes, trains and buses. (The Hill)
  • Biden’s corporate allies are looking at ways to pay for his $2-trillion infrastructure plan, including a carbon tax. (CNBC)
  • Automakers are adding more self-driving features to cars, but they can only operate in areas like freeways where there are no surprises, like pedestrians. Truly autonomous vehicles are still decades away. (CNN)
  • Lyft’s “priority mode” offering more fares in exchange for a pay cut is the company’s latest way of ripping off drivers. (Mashable)
  • The Florida DOT is moving forward with a long-awaited SunRail extension. (News 13)
  • A Virginia bike-safety bill would require drivers to change lanes to pass cyclists and let cyclists ride two-abreast and treat stop signs like yield signs. (NBC 12)
  • The Tampa Bay Times has new details on plans for bus rapid transit in Tampa, but the project is still a decade away.
  • The Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs is adding bike lanes and multi-use paths to three new bridges over the Georgia 400 expressway, which is getting a BRT line. (AJC)
  • Las Vegas bike advocates are pushing to redesign roads and educate drivers after a truck driver killed five cyclists in December. (KNPR)
  • Philadelphia is finally fixing a dangerous stretch of 34th Street that had 105 crashes last year. (WHYY)
  • The Utah Transit Authority has decided to replace a planned light rail line with much cheaper bus rapid transit. (Salt Lake Tribune)
  • The Amarillo Globe-News endorses more walking and biking options.
  • An Italian collective of anarchist artists and designers foresaw Saudi Arabia’s 100-mile “linear city” more than 50 years ago. (The Guardian)

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Last night saw what might one day qualify as an historic moment in transportation circles, as vice presidential candidate Joe Biden used the "A"-word during his speech to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. From a transcript of Biden’s address, via CNN: You know, John McCain is my friend. And I know you hear that […]