Thursday’s Headlines Want to Walk Safely

Image: Jonathan McIntosh, CC
Image: Jonathan McIntosh, CC
  • A new estimate from the Governors Highway Safety Association found that U.S. drivers killed 7,485 pedestrians in 2021, the most in 40 years. (Transportation Today)
  • The National Association of City Transportation Officials is calling on the White House to strengthen the criteria for awarding coveted four- and five-star crash ratings to new cars, including evaluating how well the vehicles protect the people they hit, not just those inside. (Route Fifty)
  • Ford is testing geofencing as a way to automatically slow down cars when drivers exceed the speed limit. (Automotive World)
  • $2 billion in federal infrastructure funds are available for rural transit, but that may not be enough to meet the needs of the elderly and disabled in rural areas. (NBC News)
  • The BBC envisions a world without planes, which are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.
  • The Texas DOT comes here not to remove I-345, but to bury it. Instead of knocking down the elevated Dallas freeway and replacing it with a boulevard, the agency wants to put it underground (D Magazine). However, Colorado and Oregon have abandoned similar urban freeway expansions in Denver and Portland (Streetsblog USA).
  • California is not doing enough to fund transit projects, writes a former state DOT and high-speed rail director. (Cal Matters)
  • Sacramento is allowing people who live in their vehicles to stay at a park-and-ride lot. (Bee)
  • Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and other key officials say they remain committed to light rail on the Beltline despite the lack of progress. (Saporta Report)
  • A new light rail line in Southern Maryland is starting to come together. (WTOP)
  • More people are using San Antonio’s bike-share since it switched to e-bikes. (News4SA)
  • Nashville bought a new street sweeper to keep bike lanes clear of debris. (WPLN)
  • Preliminary plans for redesigning Route 48 in Seattle don’t include a bus lane. (The Urbanist)
  • Anchorage spends the vast majority of its transportation budget on highway constructions and needs to do more to slow down drivers downtown. (Daily News)
  • Cedar Rapids is using CARES Act funds to lower fares to $1 and make buses free for seniors, children and low-income riders. (The Gazette)
  • Asheville unveiled a new master plan for greenways and sidewalks. (Citizen Times)
  • What are you doing today? Whatever the urban overplanner tells you to. (The Onion)

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