Streetsblog

Friday’s Headlines Are Quitting Cars

It's just not working out for us, cities and countries all over the world are saying after a decades-long love affair with automobiles.

By Blake Aued

12:00 AM EDT on September 2, 2022

B137, CC

The Guardian declares the global love affair with cars over as cities and countries wake up to how dangerous they are.
Seventeen lawsuits filed in 11 states allege that Lyft did not do enough to protect drivers and passengers from assault. (TechCrunch)
The quality of roads tends to be worse in urban and high poverty areas, according to a new Government Accountability office report, but the Federal Highway Administration doesn’t measure such things. (Planetizen)
More than 10 percent of Massachusetts bridges are structurally deficient, and immigrants and racial minorities are more likely to leave near one. (Mass Budget)
The L.A. Metro’s transit expansion will cut greenhouse gas emissions by tens of millions of tons, but those gains will be negated by widening highways. (NRDC)
The Texas DOT has approved an $85 billion highway expansion plan over widespread objections. (Houston Chronicle)
The Gateway project — a new tunnel underneath the Hudson River to unclog East Coast rail traffic — is already $2 billion over budget and three years behind schedule. (New York Times)
New York City is using cameras to ticket drivers who block bus lanes in hopes of speeding up buses. (Politico)
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation is finally testing the first segment of a new light rail line after years of delays. (Civil Beat)
A Pittsburgh light rail station was evacuated after a rail car caught fire. (Post-Gazette)
Route 1 in suburban South Florida is getting a transit- and pedestrian-friendly makeover. (CNU Public Square)
With a little political courage, Washington, D.C. could jump-start its failed Vision Zero program by charging market rate for on-street parking. (Forbes)
Alexandria commuters will be relying on free bike-share and water taxis during a D.C. Metro shutdown this month. (ALXnow)
Fare-free August is over in Colorado, and now state officials will measure the impact on ridership and air pollution. (Colorado Public Radio)
A new Denver walkway allows people to interact with the long-ignored South Platte River. (Fast Company)
Watch as Dallas workers remove a historic streetcar that had become stuck in a warehouse. (Morning News)
Milwaukee’s “Paint the Pavement” program allows residents to turn asphalt into art. (Urban Milwaukee)

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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