Thursday’s Headlines As We Turn the Corner
Amtrak pushback, less congestion doesn't equal safer roads, the benefits of electric buses and more headlines are a click away.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EST on March 11, 2021
- The pandemic has shown that even if we could eliminate congestion, our roads would remain equally deadly. (Frontier Group)
- Amtrak wants to expand, but it might face pushback from some local communities, especially in the South. (New York Times)
- An Illinois congressman wants to quadruple the amount the federal government spends on transit so it matches the amount spent on highways. (Streetsblog Chicago)
- Switching to electric heavy-duty trucks and buses by 2035 would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4.7 million tons and save 57,000 lives, according to a new Environmental Defense Fund report. (Clean Technica)
- Hybrid buses are cleaner than diesel, but unfortunately they’re also really hard to maintain. (Next City)
- Two environmental and mobility advocates argue that gas taxes are racist and regressive, and should be replaced by a tax on new vehicles, a carbon tax or a surcharge on luxury vehicles. (Public Cola)
- In the future pedestrians might be forced to wear reflective clothing so autonomous vehicles can see them. (Treehugger)
- Tesla has finally admitted that its cars with “Full Self-Driving Capability” cannot actually drive themselves. (Los Angeles Times)
- An electric air taxi startup doesn’t even plan to make flights until 2024 and is somehow already worth $6.6 billion (CNBC). Meanwhile, New York reps are trying to ban air taxi flights over the city (Gothamist).
- Houston drivers continue to park in bike lanes, even after the city banned it. (KPRC)
- Supporters of the Loop Trolley in St. Louis are asking for $1.2 million to restart it as a free service after the city decided to stop funding it last year. (KMOV)
- Vision Five? Ann Arbor has about 20 to 30 injuries and deaths a year as a result of car crashes, and wants to cut that number to single digits by 2023. (MLive)
- Cincinnati Red Bike won a $200,000 grant to make the bike-share network more equitable. (WOSU)
- What will happen to the friends we make on our transit commutes for people who never go back to the office? (Marketplace)
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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