Streetsblog

Friday’s Headlines Are Back and Better

What should stay and what should go in a Build Back Better bill that West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin will vote for?

By Blake Aued

12:00 AM EST on January 21, 2022

Democrats are starting to work on whittling down the Build Back Better bill into something Sen. Joe Manchin will support (New York Times). Whatever form the bill takes, President Biden said he wants climate change to remain a focus (Washington Post).
More than 40 states have failed to adopt common-sense laws against drunk and distracted driving that could easily prevent crashes. (Streetsblog USA)
In addition to the health benefits, trails and greenways more than pay for themselves through growth in tax revenue. (American City and County)
Sixteen Republican governors want the Biden administration to let them spend all their infrastructure money on widening roads. (Arkansas Times)
Going fare-free helped the L.A. Metro keep ridership up during the pandemic and reduce boarding times, but the agency started collecting fares again nonetheless. (Curbed)
Federal officials told the Oregon DOT to do a new environmental assessment for their plan to widen and cap I-5 in Portland’s Rose Quarter, pushing the project back about six months. (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
Dallas’ new bus routes providing more frequent service to high-ridership areas kick in next week. (Human Transit)
Miami transportation planners have proposed a new $81 million express light-rail line. (Miami Today)
Lyft is spending $14 million, the single largest political donation in Massachusetts history, to push a Prop 22-style referendum classifying drivers as contractors with no labor rights. (Jalopnik)
Boston officials are worried about a spike in fare evasion when a new collection system is in place in 2024 (Globe). But with Mayor Michelle Wu’s fare-free pilot program underway, will riders even be paying fares by then?
A Memphis program is turning dumped tires into bike-lane barriers. (WREG)
The Philippines built 500 kilometers of bike lanes in a year during the pandemic. (World Bank)

Blake Aued

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.

Streetsblog

Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.

More from Streetsblog USA

When the Battles Against Harmful Highways and Hyper-Scale Data Centers Collide

Hyperscale AI data centers and highways are both harmful forms of fossil fuel infrastructure that get built without much community input — and it's time to fight back against both, one of our favorite podcasters argues.