Special Delivery From Wednesday’s Headlines
Why are U.S. transit projects so expensive? How can cities make up the loss of revenue from commuters? And what can they do to protect pedestrians from delivery trucks?
By
Blake Aued
12:00 AM EDT on March 30, 2022
- For lots of reasons, transit projects cost on average 50 percent more to build in the U.S. than in other countries. (Marketplace)
- Cities continue to lose commuter-related revenue due to working from home, and it’s unlikely they’ve seen the full hit yet as federal funds are currently filling their budget holes. (Smart Cities Dive)
- Policymakers need to start thinking about how to keep pedestrians safe as delivery trucks become more common on city streets. (Planetizen)
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk is a master troll, but federal regulators have gotten pretty good at getting under Musk’s skin, too. (Washington Post)
- Uber is close to cutting a deal to list taxis on its app in San Francisco, similar to its recent agreement with New York City cab companies. (NY Times)
- It’s spring, which means the governor of New Jersey is raiding the capital budget to pay for transit operations because transit doesn’t have a dedicated source of funding. (NJ.com)
- With federal COVID relief running out and commuters still staying away from rail, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is headed for a massive budget deficit, and no one seems to be doing much about it. (CommonWealth)
- Two downtown Milwaukee streets are slated for road diets that will reduce car lanes and add separated bike lanes. (Journal-Sentinel)
- Gondolas are being proposed as a cheaper alternative to light rail in West Seattle. (KING)
- Syracuse has commissioned a new study on removing the I-81 viaduct and reconnecting the street grid. (Post-Standard)
- Columbia, South Carolina, counted cyclists and pedestrians to determine the most heavily trafficked areas. (WLTX)
- The Memphis Area Transit Authority is testing new trolleys for upgraded light-rail service. (ABC 24)
- In a typically nonsensical comment at a Trump rally (CNN), Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband to take their EVs and bikes and stay out of girls’ bathrooms. To which Buttigieg replied, “I don’t know what you’d do with an electric vehicle in any bathroom.” (Yahoo! News)
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.
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