Streetsblog

What Are Thursday’s Headlines, Even?

A week after President Biden dropped his infrastructure plan, the news media is getting existential. Plus, more headlines that tilt toward the absurd.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EDT on April 8, 2021

President Biden laid out a full-throated defense of his infrastructure plan Wednesday, but expressed a willingness to negotiate on how to fund it. (CNBC)
Is big government back? (New Yorker)
The New York Times ponders, what is infrastructure, anyway?
Is light rail really better than buses? (The Conversation)
Even gazillionaire Jeff Bezos is in favor of a corporate tax hike — but not, if you read between the lines, necessarily at the level Biden is proposing. (The Hill)
The widely held belief that freeways slashing through cities was the fault of 1960s urban renewal is a myth. Such plans date back to the interstate system’s inception in the 1940s. (The Metropole)
Financial companies are downgrading transit agencies’ bond ratings, which could hurt their efforts to borrow and increase their interest rates. (Bond Buyer)
Electric cars are quiet, which is good most of the time but bad for pedestrians who can’t hear them coming. (Time Magazine)
Sidewalk delivery robots are a ways away. (Forbes)
Baton Rouge and New Orleans are two more cities Amtrak could connect if Biden’s plan passes. (WAFB)
The U.S. DOT awarded grants for bus rapid transit projects in the Seattle Area, California’s Inland Empire and Utah.
As the pandemic winds down, the Twin Cities’ Metro Transit is increasing capacity on buses and trains. (Star Tribune)
Affordable housing advocates are pushing to end San Jose’s minimum parking requirements. (Mercury)
We’ll answer this for you: Yes, Virginia bus systems should go fare-free forever. (Mercury)
If a federal influx of infrastructure cash is largely eaten up by Connecticut’s existing maintenance backlog, does it make a sound? (Hartford Courant)
Uber customers in Boston are waiting up to 20 minutes for a driver to pick them up. If only there were some other faster, more reliable way to move lots of people around a city … (NBC 10)
Ridership is up on Cincinnati’s much-maligned Bell Connector streetcar since it reopened. (Fox 19)
Since New York City carved outdoor dining areas out of space previously reserved for cars, one Dunkin manager is fed up with cyclists riding past at the incredible speed of up to 20 miles per hour, endangering his customers. (WLNY)

Blake Aued

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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