Streetsblog

Tuesday’s Headlines Will Brook No Argument

Big SUVs, intercity trails for bikes, progressives PO'd about infrastructure, another blow to TCI, a world without parking garages and more.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EDT on June 8, 2021

Pedestrian deaths are up 50 percent over the past decade in large part because of drivers’ penchant for buying heavier and taller SUVs, even in urban areas. (Next City)
$10 billion could create an interstate highway system for bikes. (City Lab)
Progressives want President Biden to stop trying to compromise with Republicans on an infrastructure bill. (CBS News)
Cities are thinking about what to do with parking garages in a world with fewer personal cars. (Wall Street Journal; subscription required)
Connecticut is dropping out of the Transportation Climate Initiative — an interstate compact seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — leaving just Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. (Boston Herald)
Austin planners are starting to envision what they could do with I-35 if the freeway were torn down. (Chronicle)
Both Philadelphia’s transit agency and City Center small businesses will be hurt if office workers continue to stay home, but it’s also an opportunity to retool to better serve people other than suburbanites who work 8-to-5. (Philadelphia Magazine)
The Portland Bureau of Transportation and Oregon DOT have agreed to transfer state-run 82nd Street from the state to the city to make safety improvements. (Bike Portland)
The San Diego suburb of La Mesa is looking to bring transit-oriented development to trolley stops. (Union-Tribune)
With Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls about to stop supplying $400 million a year for transportation, a state senator has introduced a package of funding reforms. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Phoenix is considering putting Central Avenue on a road diet (KTAR), and Colorado Springs is doing the same for Colorado Avenue (Gazette).
Some Atlanta transit advocates are excited about plans to extend the streetcar to the Beltline walking and biking trail, but others have higher priorities. (Saporta Report)
Albuquerque is expanding the use of speed bumps as a cheap way to slow down drivers. (KRQE)
The success of Bloomington’s B-Line bike trail has prompted the city to build more protected bike lanes. (Indiana Public Media)
Richmond is seeking input on where to put new bike-share stations. (WRIC)
Hey BMW, don’t ask the question if you don’t want to know the answer. (Twitter)