- 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
Tuesday’s Headlines Stand Up for Transit
Transit needs investment, not defunding, Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib writes in The Hill.
April 29, 2025
First New Yorker To Get A Subsidized E-Bike: ‘It’s Perfect’
Meet the first person in the Empire state to get a subsidised e-bike!
Monday’s Headlines Defy Duffy
It was a bad week for the transportation secretary, between firing too many DOT employees and his lawyers accidentally undermining their own case in a congestion pricing lawsuit.
April 28, 2025
USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy Is Dead Wrong About Bike Lanes
The Secretary of Transportation says he hasn't seen enough data to believe in the benefits of bike lanes. So we put together an explainer help him out — mostly using information from his own department.
April 25, 2025
Friday Video: Check Out Lorde On a Bike!
The Kiwi singer is on the top of the charts — and in our bike-riding hearts.
