- President Biden's recovery package includes $621 billion for transportation, including $20 billion for road safety, $85 billion to modernize and expand transit, and $80 billion for Amtrak. (CNN)
- Biden is steering clear of both gas and mileage taxes to pay for his infrastructure plan (USA Today). Some believe that’s for the best — a VMT would hit low-income rural communities the hardest (Grist). Instead, Biden wants to tax corporations and the wealthy (Reuters).
- Infrastructure Week? Try Infrastructure Year. The bill will likely take months to pass. (Politico)
- The U.S. DOT has released $30 billion in funding from the American Rescue Plan to transit agencies. (RT&S)
- Regulations mandating too-wide streets and too-high speed limits that encourage drivers to go fast are to blame for the recent spike in pedestrian deaths. (City Lab)
- Biking or walking instead of driving reduces your carbon footprint by tenfold compared to driving an electric car and 30 times more than driving a gas one. (The Conversation)
- Pacific Northwest leaders envision whole new cities sprouting up along a high-speed rail line connecting Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. (Seattle Met)
- Officials in the Washington, D.C. area are pushing for fare-free transit (NBC Washington). Chicago transit agencies are also considering reduced or no fares to lure back riders lost during the pandemic (Sun-Times).
- The Utah Transit Authority is shifting its focus away from COVID-19 and toward restoring ridership, which fell by half during the pandemic. (Standard-Examiner)
- Harris County, Texas, is analyzing high-crash corridors as its Vision Zero initiative gets underway. (Houston Chronicle)
- Detroit’s QLINE streetcar is coming back a year after halting service due to the pandemic. (Free Press)
- Following Virginia, California is the latest state to consider decriminalizing jaywalking. (San Francisco News)
- San Antonio is taking public input on how to spend $300 million in federal transportation funds. (KSAT)
- A 75-year-old Florida man was training for a 500-mile bike ride when a driver hit and killed him. (Palm Beach Post)
- Atlanta Magazine runs down all the bike lane and greenway projects going on in the ATL.
- Lyft says it will add the option of taking an autonomous electric car to its app in 2023 (SlashGear). Someday, too, a robot might bring you your Chipotle burrito (Fast Company)
- A Quebec newspaper wrote about Streetsblog's ugly bus contest ... in French! (Journal de Quebec)
Streetsblog
Our Thursday’s Headlines are No Joke
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog USA
Why Transit Advocates Aren’t 100% Behind This Senator’s Bold Bill To Slash Highway Funding
A new Republican bill could bring rampant highway overspending to a halt and slash emissions by one-fifth. But don't get too excited because it would hurt transit, too.
Tuesday’s Headlines Are Underwater
More and more people can't afford their car payments or associated costs — which wouldn't be as big of a problem if they had a choice other than driving.
What If The Rising Costs of Car Dependency Were As Visible As Gas Prices?
Gas station billboards remind U.S. residents every day that driving is getting more expensive. What if they told a different message about the high costs of our autocentric transportation system?
Hired Actors, Paid Media: Big Tech Has Dumped $8M Into Car Insurance Rate Cut
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's scheme to bring down insurance costs is backed by Uber cash and ads with professional actors.
Monday’s Headlines Zero In
Traffic deaths are going down, and they'd decline further if cities stopped letting residents block safety projects.
Trump’s Oil Crisis Is Already Costing Massachusetts Drivers Over $2.4 Million A Day In Higher Gas Prices
Massachusetts drivers are now cumulatively spending $20.9 million a day at the pump – more than twice the daily cost of operating the entire MBTA system.





