Wednesday’s Headlines Smell a Little Musky
It's all about Elon. Plus, how cities can use transportation policy to revitalize downtowns in the wake of the pandemic and more headlines.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on October 27, 2021
- Tesla is backing off its latest version of “Full-Self Driving” mode after users complained about false collision warnings and unnecessary braking (Reuters). Meanwhile, Elon Musk stans are having an online meltdown because President Biden is appointing a critic of the company’s Autopilot technology — a woman, no less! — to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Slate). None of this, however, stopped rental car company Hertz from buying 100,000 Teslas (The Hill).
- Mayors and other urbanists brought together by Politico say improving transit and reducing parking are two of the keys to revitalizing downtowns after COVID-19.
- Planners are skeptical of a billionaire and former Walmart executive’s plan to build a utopian city from scratch in the middle of the desert. (Route Fifty)
- As Metrorail remains on reduced service due to a recent derailment and subsequent safety investigation, D.C. is offering all residents a free Capital Bikeshare membership for 30 days. (Washington Post)
- The good news is that the Federal Transit Administration awarded Bay Area Rapid Transit a $2.3 billion grant for a San Jose extension. The bad news is the total price tag went up to $9 billion. (Mercury News)
- A 10-lane highway is among the options on the table for a new I-5 bridge between Oregon and Washington state. (Bike Portland)
- A Pittsburgh Port Authority study says the agency should do more to ensure that residents who depend on transit have access to housing near transit stations. (Post-Gazette)
- Cleveland groups held a rally to push for including transit funding in the infrastructure bill. (News 5)
- Bus-only lanes on 7th Street in downtown Minneapolis are being finished up this week. (Star Tribune)
- Nashville is collecting public comments on a new sidewalk plan. (WPLN)
- Boulder officials are proposing raising parking rates and fines. (Boulder Beat)
- Nothing is more frightening to some of my fellow Southerners than transit, so it’s fitting that one Arkansas town temporarily converted its historic trolley line into a Halloween ride. (Democrat-Gazette)
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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