Wednesday’s Headlines Are Fully Funded
Get breakdowns on how the bipartisan infrastructure compromise differs from President Biden's original plan, and how the U.S. DOT can fulfill its equity promises.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on July 7, 2021
- The bipartisan infrastructure deal cut a third of the funding for transit from President Biden’s original American Jobs Plan, and it includes just 10 percent of the funding for electric vehicles. (Washington Post)
- Can Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg finally make sweeping changes to an agency whose highways swept through Black and brown neighborhoods in the 1950s and ‘60s? Tearing down urban freeways is only part of the work — those neighborhoods need new connections and better access to transit. (City Lab)
- The infrastructure bill is where the rubber meets the road on the Biden administration’s equity goals. (Shelter Force)
- Republicans will try to blame Biden for rising gas prices. (The Hill)
- Putting electric vehicles’ batteries underneath the floor makes it difficult to convert them for wheelchair users (The Verge). New technology, however, can make transit easier to use for people with disabilities, and Philadelphia is testing it out (Smart Cities Dive).
- Tesla is facing two dozen federal investigations and several lawsuits involving crashes caused by its autopilot technology. (New York Times)
- The pandemic showed that a small decline in travel yields a much bigger decline in congestion, but don’t expect Texas to learn that lesson. (City Observatory)
- Columbus, Ohio is expected to add a million people over the next 25 years, but city officials recognize they don’t have room for another million cars, so they’re starting the process of creating a bus rapid transit system. (WBNS)
- Pedestrian deaths in Hawaii are falling because the state DOT’s been installing raised crosswalks. (KHON)
- San Diego’s North Park bikeway will be completed later this month. (Union-Tribune)
- The Pennsylvania Avenue sidewalk in front of the White House, closed during the George Floyd protests last summer, has been reopened. (ABC News)
- Tacoma light rail has been fare-free for nearly 20 years, but Sound Transit is going to start charging in 2022. (News Tribune)
- El Paso’s streetcar is running again after being closed for over a year during the pandemic. (KTSM)
- The Charlotte Observer profiles a local woman who’s logged 57,000 miles on her bike.
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.
Read More:
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.
More from Streetsblog USA
In New Jersey, Mayors Show How Quickly We Can Slow Down Drivers
In Jersey City, Mayor James Solomon will install 100 quick-build safety measures, giving a new meaning to the term, "Safety first."
June 12, 2026
Friday Video: What Happens When World Cup Fans Come to America
It is difficult to go to a sportball game in the United States compared to Europe, so let City Nerd Ray Delahanty explain it all to you.
June 12, 2026
Friday’s Headlines Are Still Dangerous
We're seeing a "regression to the mean" after a brief dip in pedestrian deaths.
June 12, 2026
Talking Headways Podcast: Are Arterials Unsafe? Or Are We Making Them Unsafe?
A true roads scholar speaks about the real danger on our streets.
June 11, 2026
Latest Report Shows That Sprawl Continues To Hamstring Youth, Limit Opportunities
Residents of compact and connected neighborhoods have lower energy costs, better health outcomes, lower exposure to vector-borne diseases, well-connected social lives and greater opportunities for children to thrive. But you knew that.
June 11, 2026
