Thursday’s Headlines Bid Farewell to DeFazio
Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon), chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Photo: Bike Portland
- Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, won't run for re-election next year. DeFazio is known as a wonky champion of green modes of transportation and fought for much more ambitious infrastructure bills that the Senate watered down. But he represents a swing district, and Republicans are likely to take over the House after the 2022 election. (Politico)
- A federal DOT's RAISE program, which mainly funded rural roads under President Trump, is pivoting to streetcar, bike and sidewalk programs in the Biden administration. (City Lab)
- President Biden was in Minnesota on Tuesday selling the bipartisan infrastructure package. (CNN)
- A Biden administration task force is charged with identifying marginalized communities and helping them apply for infrastructure funds. (Route Fifty)
- Electric vehicles along won't be enough to stop climate change. Cities need to become less dependent on cars overall. (Fast Company)
- The transition to EVs will also be expensive, with Volkswagen alone spending $34 billion to build new battery plants and buy raw materials. (Reuters)
- Magnetic pavement could one day solve EV's range problem by recharging cars as they drive. (New York Times)
- Cities are often hostile to parents with strollers, but funding for active transportation in the Build Back Better bill could change that. (The New Republic)
- The Federal Highway Administration told Texas it can continue with design work on I-45 through Houston after suspending the project to investigate whether it violates civil rights laws. (Houston Public Media)
- Far from reaching its Vision Zero goal, Portland has had 62 fatal crashes this year, with 26 involving pedestrians, approaching the record of 30 set almost 50 years ago. (KATU)
- The infrastructure bill will boost Miami-Dade's formula funding for transit by at least 24 percent, with the possibility of other grants as well. (Miami Today)
- Baltimore has only 10 miles of separated bike lanes on 2,000 miles of roads. (Fishbowl)
- Pittsburgh is considering banning parking in bike lanes. (City Paper)
- North Carolina inexplicably cut Charlotte's state transportation funding by $7 million. (Observer)
- Sixty-six years ago Wednesday, Rosa Parks sparked the civil rights movement by refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man, inspiring the Montgomery bus boycott and leading to the end of segregation on public transportation. (History)
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