- Carbon emissions rose faster than expected in 2021, outpacing the economic recovery from the pandemic. People are driving again, and utilities burned more coal for electricity because natural gas prices are high. That will make it harder to hit President Biden's overall climate goals. (CNN)
- Biden is facing an increasingly narrow path to pass the Build Back Better bill, which contains $555 billion to curb climate change (New York Times). The bill remains in limbo, with talks with pivotal vote Sen. Joe Manchin stalled out and Biden pivoting to voting rights (E&E News).
- Some good news: Even as they age into their 30s and 40s, millennials are still driving less than Gen Xers and younger Baby Boomers. (Quartz)
- Governing interviewed a University of Michigan sociologist about how government and foundation funding for things like transit often benefit neighborhoods that already have money over communities with greater need where investment is seen as riskier.
- Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's goal of zero traffic deaths by 2025 increasingly looks out of reach, with drivers killing 20 percent more people last year than 2020 or 2019. (L.A. Times)
- Washington, D.C. also followed the national trend, with traffic deaths rising to their highest point since 2007. (DCist)
- Like many cities, Atlanta is hoping to use $1 billion set aside in the infrastructure bill to dismantle or bury urban freeways that slice through Black neighborhoods. (AJC)
- The Texas DOT's latest plan for widening I-35 through Austin calls for putting the freeway below grade, allowing for more pedestrian crossings, and lowering speed limits on frontage roads. But the project will still add lanes. (KUT)
- Dallas Area Rapid Transit will be offering free rides for a week when it launches its revamped bus network Jan. 24. Why not go fare-free permanently? (D Magazine)
- Portland is eyeing a $12.5 billion bridge replacement fund in the federal infrastructure package to expand the city's bike network. (Bike Portland)
- Predictably, Elon Musk's tunnel for Teslas and a self-driving car demo both flopped in Las Vegas last weekend. (Curbed)
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog USA
Why Is the Governor of New York Trying to Make It Easier to Deny Traffic Violence Victims Insurance Payouts?
The governor is still fighting to make it cheaper to drive with a reform that would reduce compensation to some crash victims.
Study: Most Of America’s Paint-Only Bike Paths Are On Our Deadliest Roads
Even worse, most Americans see these terrible lanes and think, "I'd be crazy to ride a bike" — and the cycle continues.
February 23, 2026
Monday’s Headlines Take a Walk on the Not-So-Wild Side
Research increasingly shows that walkability, active streets and greenspace in cities contribute to mental well-being.
February 23, 2026
Friday Video: Take A Belated Valentine’s Day Trip to the Transit Paradise of Paris
Bon voyage!
February 20, 2026
Friday’s Headlines Are Over ICE
Traffic safety and transportation funding continue to get tangled up in immigration enforcement under Trump.
February 20, 2026
Talking Headways Podcast: Women Changing Cities
Chris and Melissa Bruntlett on their new book and the mobility of care work and the unpaid labor that undergirds the economy.
February 19, 2026
