- Politico has a tick-tock on how the bipartisan infrastructure deal announced Thursday came together — apparently it involved lots of wine. NPR breaks down the numbers. While it's more than current levels of spending on transit (WaPost), it's less than what President Biden originally proposed.
- Not everyone is a fan. Esquire said the scaled-down proposal, which includes less than $600 billion in new spending, fails to rise to the challenge of climate change. And Lucy could still pull back the football: Some Republicans are mad that Democrats are planning to come back with a second infrastructure bill including "human infrastructure" like child care (Reuters). But the second bill is a prerequisite for support from Senate progressives (The Hill).
- These NBC News graphics show where e-bike ridership and bike-share use in general rose during the pandemic.
- Like so many transportation projects, Portland's Rose Quarter mysteriously went from "nothing's been decided" to "it's too late to change." (City Observatory)
- Buffalo officials and transit advocates are debating whether streetcars are a romanticized waste of money or a way to lure people onto transit who are reluctant to ride the bus. (Governing)
- The Texas DOT kept working on plans to widen I-45 through Houston despite being told to stop while the Biden administration looked at civil rights concerns. (Houston Public Media)
- Decriminalization of fare evasion and unarmed enforcement were left out of a Minnesota transportation bill (MinnPost). But the $7.3 billion bill does including funding for Amtrak and two bus rapid transit lines (Pioneer Press).
- The Washington Post says transit equity should be a priority for D.C.
- Gov. Ned Lamont, other Connecticut officials and Amtrak are pushing a plan to speed up passenger rail service, both now and out to 2035. (Mirror)
- Cleveland is backpedaling on plans for a two-way cycle track on Lorain Avenue. (Plain Dealer)
- San Jose is using concrete barriers to separate painted bike lanes from roads. (KPIX)
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Friday’s Headlines Will Meet You in the Middle
By Blake Aued
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