Thursday’s Headlines Are Too Wide
Streets take up too much space, Elon Musk's tunnels are a joke, the days of cheap Uber rides are over and more.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on June 10, 2021
- Almost a fifth of cities’ land is taken up by streets. That’s valuable property that could be used for bike lanes, transit, greenspace or housing. (City Lab)
- Republicans in Congress want to spend less on transit and more on roads. Democrats want to spend more on transit and less on roads. (Smart Cities Dive)
- We’ve all been yearning for a return to normalcy, but that shouldn’t apply to traffic congestion, which steals your time, wastes your money and pollutes your air. (Commonwealth)
- Tech companies like Uber and Bird have long been subsidized by Silicon Valley venture capitalists, but now they’re jacking up prices as they aim for profitability. (New York Times)
- File under: Ya think? Experts are skeptical of Elon Musk’s Tesla-ferrying tunnels. (NBC News)
- Human Transit‘s Jarrett Walker reviews former Streetsblog editor Angie Schmitt’s book “Right of Way: Race, Class and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America.”
- The Texas DOT now wants to bury part of I-30 through Dallas to reconnect neighborhoods, but still plans to widen the freeway to 12 lanes. (D Magazine)
- Facing high fares, cost overruns and complaints about underserved communities, Denver’s new transit chief has her work cut out for her. (The Denver Channel)
- Seattle transit ridership grew 20 percent before plunging 70 percent during the pandemic. Will commuters get back on the bus? (Crosscut)
- Boise might be the first major city to mandate protected bike lanes on arterial roadways. (Boise Dev)
- Nashville needs a dedicated source of funding for transit. (Tennessean)
- A public health crisis is playing out on Minneapolis trains and platforms. (KSTP)
- Suburban car commuters are rallying against plans to tear down the Skyway, a tall freeway bridge in downtown Buffalo. (WGRZ)
- People in Las Vegas who get hit by a driver while crossing one of the city’s nine-lane intersections are apt to be sent to traffic school for pedestrians to avoid paying a $250 jaywalking fine. (The 74)
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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