Streetsblog

Wednesday’s Headlines Are In It for the Long Haul

If you're waiting for an infrastructure bill anytime soon, pack a lunch. Plus, one senator emerges as the summer's transpo villain and more headlines.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EDT on June 23, 2021

Black people who couldn’t afford to stay home during the pandemic bore the brunt of 2020’s spike in traffic deaths. Black Americans’ deaths rose 23 percent, while deaths among whites rose just 4 percent. (CNN)
Infrastructure season? The passage of President Biden’s infrastructure plan is set to be a summer-long slog. (ABC News)
A Republican transit skeptic, retiring Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, will play a major role in writing a new surface transportation bill. (Roll Call)
Transit agencies are hoping free or reduced fares will lure riders back. (Wired)
A new study found that bike infrastructure does not lead to gentrification. (Streetsblog)
Sprawling Sun Belt cities like Dallas and Atlanta are spending billions on highways and new rail lines instead of smaller projects that would better serve residents’ needs. (City Lab)
Even with a $10 billion federal windfall, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy isn’t following through on his promise to boost transit funding. (Politico)
Oregon congressmen are promising federal funding for the Rose Quarter project if the state agrees to build a cap over I-5. (Bike Portland)
Pittsburgh’s new pedestrian safety action plan says every resident should have access to fresh produce less than 20 minutes away without a personal vehicle, and no one should spend more than 45 percent of their income on housing and transportation. (Smart Cities Dive)
Seattle is piloting a “microhub” where deliveries can be made by more sustainable means like cargo bikes and electric vehicles. (Fast Company)
Montgomery County’s University Boulevard is the first street in Maryland where a car lane was turned into a separated bike and scooter lane. (WTOP)
Neighborhood residents are fighting the Port of Seattle’s plan to build a 1,500-space airport parking lot at a wooded biking area inside a park. (Westside Seattle)
Like most places, for the past 70 years Buffalo has been built around cars. But before that, it was a bike town, and it’s starting to become one again. (Buffalo Rising)
Phoenix opened its first protected bike lane this month, and it only took a week for drivers to plow through the bollards. (New Times)