Streetsblog

Wednesday’s Headlines Get Onboard Amtrak

The national rail service is well on its way to recovery. Plus, how to revive big-city transit and undo damage from urban freeways.

By Blake Aued

12:00 AM EDT on August 10, 2022

Wednesday’s Headlines Get Onboard Amtrak

Amtrak saw a 97 percent drop in ticket sales at the start of the pandemic, but ridership has almost fully recovered and some cases exceeds 2019. (Politico)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wants the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to do something about SUVs’ large blind zones that hide children in the street from drivers. (Transportation Today)
People have been calling for car-free streets for almost as long as cars have existed. (Planetizen)
The playbook for reviving big-city transit is becoming increasingly clear — at least in those big cities that already have robust, if outdated, systems. (Governing)
Common Edge interviews architect David Waggonner about the pessimism surrounding tearing down New Orleans’ crumbling Claiborne Expressway. The Syracuse Post-Standard examines what that city can learn from Rochester, which demolished its urban ring road. And more than 50 years after I-90 punched through Spokane, a new interchange is victimizing one neighborhood again (Crosscut).
Philadelphia could use federal infrastructure funds to dust off 1110-year-old plans for a Roosevelt Boulevard subway. (Inquirer, Streetsblog)
San Francisco has 45 traffic cops, but they only issue a total of 10 tickets per day. (SF Chronicle)
Denver’s new bus rapid transit network — still six years away — will be called the Lynx. (Denverite)
A driver hit a Colorado Springs pedestrian and broke several of the walker’s bones. Then police cited the victim for jaywalking. (Fox 21)
Fix the roads already! Singer Amy Grant suffered a concussion when she hit a pothole and fell off her bike (Billboard). And Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale suffered a season-ending wrist injury after his bike hit a rough patch and threw him off. (NBC Sports)
Only a magician would dare risk death by riding in a crappy American bike lane. (McSweeney’s)

Blake Aued

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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