Streetsblog

Tuesday’s Headlines Are Breaking Ground

Biden advisor Mitch Landrieu gives an update on infrastructure progress. Plus, will Sen. Kyrsten Sinema kill the climate bill?

By Blake Aued

12:00 AM EDT on August 2, 2022

Work has started on 5,000 projects since the federal infrastructure law passed, according to President Biden’s infrastructure czar, former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, who also talked about inflation and equity in an interview with Route Fifty.
By funding electric vehicles but not cars or bikes, the federal climate bill merely shifts emissions from tailpipes to power plants (Vice). E-bikes are a much cheaper and more effective way to decarbonize the atmosphere than their four-wheeled counterparts (ABC Radio Perth)
Democrats are getting nervous that mercurial Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema won’t back the climate bill. (The Hill)
Bike-share company Bolt Mobility has vanished from at least six U.S. cities without warning, and no one knows why. (TechCrunch)
A San Francisco bus driver writes in CityLab about the abuse he’s taken from mask refusers and other passengers during the pandemic.
After a 70-year absence, passenger rail between Burlington and New York City is back. (Associated Press)
The head of the BeltLine Rail Now criticizes the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority for scaling back ambitious expansion plans approved and funded by voters. (Saporta Report)
Buses will replace trains on Boston’s Red Line as the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority makes track upgrades on Federal Transit Administration orders. (CBS News)
The Houston Chronicle comes out in favor of the University Line, which would be the nation’s longest bus rapid transit line.
Denver’s Regional Transportation District is making buses and trains fare-free for the month of August. (The Denver Channel)
Local entrepreneurs are starting their own ride-hailing apps in Venezuela as the public transit system decays. (ABC News)
Pontevedra, Spain, banned cars way back in 1999, decades before it became cool. (Politico)