Thursday’s Headlines Are About the Budget
President Biden's proposed budget includes a big boost for transit and rail, but as usual, that's dwarfed by spending on roads.
By
Blake Aued
12:00 AM EDT on March 31, 2022
- President Biden’s recommended 2023 budget includes $16.9 billion for transit and $4.7 billion for rail, both significant boosts over the previous two years (Trains). With the previously approved infrastructure act, those totals rise to $21.1 billion and $17.9 billion, respectively (Mass Transit).
- $45 billion would go toward fighting climate change, but $124 billion would go toward roads and bridges (New York Times). Transit funding is just 15 percent of the overall transportation budget (Eno Center for Transportation).
- The U.S. DOT’s budget request includes funding for several specific transit projects: the Gateway tunnel between New York and New Jersey, the Second Avenue subway in New York City, J Line bus rapid transit in Seattle, a subway extension in San Jose, BRT in Memphis and San Antonio, and a light rail extension in Los Angeles. (Route Fifty)
- Twenty-one states filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Biden administration’s mask mandate on airplanes and transit. (The Hill)
- California Democrats gutted a Republican bill to suspend the state gas tax and substituted language imposing a new tax on price-gouging suppliers. (CalMatters)
- Going against their own planning and zoning board, Miami commissioners approved an ordinance requiring developers to build more parking, with one commissioner complaining that people were parking in front of his house. Oh, the horror. (The Next Miami)
- A federal judge dismissed a $30 million tribal lawsuit alleging that the Federal Highway Administration damaged Native American archaeological sites during construction of a Rhode Island highway. (Associated Press)
- Extending Chicago’s Red Line could bring more development to the South Side. (Chicago Magazine)
- New Census data shows that Houston commutes are getting longer. (Chronicle)
- Here are the 10 most dangerous roads in New Mexico. (Albuquerque Journal)
- Syracuse is quadrupling its bike-share fleet to 500 bikes and e-scooters. (Post-Standard)
- A Colorado bill would legalize the “Idaho stop,” letting cyclists treat stop signs as yield signs if no cars are around. (Colorado Politics)
- The podcast Arrested Mobility tackles the issue of riding bikes on the sidewalk.
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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