Thursday’s Headlines Missed an Opportunity
An electric car like this Tesla is still a car. Photo: Steve Jurvetson, CC
- Democrats' inflation and infrastructure laws will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but by prioritizing cars, they missed a chance to do anything about preventing traffic deaths. (Mother Jones)
- One in four Americans lacks reliable transportation, and the Federal Transit Administration is seeking to quantify the effect of transportation insecurity on everything from wages to health care. (Cityfi)
- Bosses want people back in the office, but office workers are still slow to return, which is impacting transit revenue. (New York Times)
- Ever since cars took over the streets in the 1920s, automakers have been trying to influence urban planning, and they're still at it today. (Fast Company)
- A young engineer who's being compared to Atlanta Beltline visionary Ryan Gravel is developing plans for a regional commuter rail system based on existing tracks. (Urbanize Atlanta)
- A Brightline/SunRail project between Orlando and Tampa will cost $6 billion and take 10 years to build. (Trains)
- Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced plans to build 9 miles of protected bikeways, 100 new bike-share stations and 100 speed humps to calm traffic. (Streetsblog MASS)
- With the traffic death toll rising, the Kansas City Star is calling on the city to divert any available funds to protected bike lanes and redesigning dangerous streets.
- Texas has approved adding HOV lanes to I-35 in Austin. (Community Impact)
- Charlotte's three-year-old program offering developers density bonuses to build affordable housing near transit has netted just eight units and $1.7 million for a trust fund. (Axios)
- For unclear reasons, Nashville is closing nine bike-share stations near parks. (Tennessean)
- Hundreds of cyclists joined a memorial ride for a U.S. diplomat who was killed by a driver while riding her bike in Maryland. (WTOP)
- Japan's tiny kei cars, impressive rail system and lack of on-street parking are three reasons why traffic deaths are six times lower there than in the U.S. (City Lab)
- Germany's summer-long nine-euro unlimited rail pass kept 1.8 million tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. (Bloomberg)
- European cities are going further than California by not only phasing out gas-powered vehicles, but phasing out cars altogether. (Yahoo! News)
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