Streetsblog
Friday’s Headlines Dig Deeper
By Blake Aued
- The Biden administration is pushing to expand often environmentally damaging mining for rare materials like lithium used in electric vehicles to reduce dependence on China. (New York Times)
- Microtransit is catching on as an affordable means of public transportation for rural residents. (Thompson Reuters
- Nuria Fernandez, head of the Federal Transit Administration, praised Austin's $7 billion Project Connect plan as "transformational" in a recent meeting. (KVUE)
- Why not consider a tunnel instead of a new I-5 bridge over the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington? (Bike Portland)
- Alaska, Idaho and Oregon could retaliate against a Washington state proposal to fund infrastructure by taxing gas that's refined in Washington and shipped to other states. (Route Fifty)
- Seattle residents are calling to tear down Highway 99 in the South Park neighborhood. (Seattle Times)
- Arizona is spending $68 million to expand broadband access — but only for those who live near interstates and other highways. (Route Fifty)
- Kansas officials hope that focusing on a small geographic area, rather than spreading out projects, will maximize the impact of federal infrastructure dollars. (Kansas City Star)
- A coalition of groups fighting for gig workers' labor rights renamed itself "Massachusetts Is Not for Sale," a nod to Uber and Lyft spending over $200 million on Prop 22 and $17 million so far on a similar Bay State ballot measure. (WBUR)
- Michigan lawmakers are considering starting a passenger rail line between Ann Arbor and Traverse City. (MLive)
- A Black trans woman was awarded $1.5 million in damages spending six months in jail because Atlanta police falsely arrested her on a jaywalking charge. (LGBTQ)
- Computer traffic models used to design housing developments in the UK are biased toward roads. (The Guardian)
- The Ottawa "freedom convoy" protest is a great example of why gas vehicles should be banned from city centers, showing just how much noise pollution trucks cause. (Jalopnik)
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