Wednesday’s Headlines Are Looking for an Exit

It’s not Infrastructure Week anymore, it’s Infrastructure Fortnight.

• The bill isn’t all it’s cracked up to be because it includes way too much money for roads (Governing). Even Railway Age, while pointing out all the benefits for rail, concedes that disproportionate highway funding was to be expected.
• On the bright side, the bill does provide an opening for the DOT to finally tackle the epidemic of traffic deaths in this country. (Washington Post)
• Transit is 11 for 11 on local ballot measures this year. (Streetsblog USA)
• An Australian startup that makes e-bikes for gig workers and couriers sees itself as an alternative to Rivian, a company that manufactures electric SUVs and pickups (Tech Crunch). Rivian, meanwhile, is getting megabucks from the taxpayers of Georgia to build a plant near Atlanta (AJC).
• In contrast to the consensus at the Glasgow talks, European city leaders acknowledge that merely transitioning to electric vehicles isn’t enough to stem climate change. People need to drive less, period (Cities Today). Cities from Toronto to Tokyo have been preparing for a bike-friendly future since the pandemic started (World Crunch)
• Miami Beach is raising roads to keep them from flooding as sea levels rise, but residents complain that’s actually making flooding on their property worse. (WUSF)
• The infrastructure bill is reviving hopes of light rail in Las Vegas. (Sun)
• Kansas City officials are touting gondolas as a way to connect the two sides of the city, which straddles a bluff across Kansas and Missouri, that would be cheaper than a streetcar. (Star)
• Drivers have killed 101 people in Philadelphia this year, a third of them pedestrians. (WHYY)
• The gas prices are too damn low! (City Observatory)