Wednesday’s Headlines Are Boom or Bust

  • The pandemic bike boom is still booming in cities that took the opportunity to build better bike infrastructure. But a lot of them have gone backwards instead. (Wired)
  • Cities’ — often federally mandated — public input processes for transportation projects are broken, and it’s contributing to the bureaucracy that holds up progress without even representing the public at large. (Vice)
  • Lawmakers better regulate autonomous vehicles soon, or they’ll make our transportation system even worse, writes Yonah Freemark. (Next City)
  • Forget three-ton behemoths like the Ford F-150 Lightning. The future of electric vehicles has two wheels. (Protocol)
  • At least the Lightning doesn’t get 10 miles per gallon like the new Raptor. (Jalopnik)
  • A $10 billion plan to revitalize Union Station is coming together, but don’t expect it see it happen for at least another 18 years. (Washington Post)
  • The Oregon DOT is already reneging on its promise to use the I-5 project to stitch back together Portland’s Rose Quarter. (City Observatory)
  • Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, will appoint a new transit director two days before his Democratic replacement, Maura Healey, takes office. (Boston Globe)
  • Minneapolis’ new Vision Zero plan calls for more traffic enforcement cameras to combat an all-time high of 23 traffic deaths last year. (KSTP)
  • Backers of Denver’s sidewalk funding initiative have declared victory as voting results continue to trickle in. (Denverite)
  • Recognizing that intercity rail is a lifeline, Montana counties are banding together to try to lure Amtrak back to their communities. (Route Fifty)
  • A new Gainesville, Florida, policy calls for bike lanes on all new city streets, as well as existing streets that are wide enough to accommodate them. (4 News)
  • Drivers have crashed into the same California home twice in the past two years. (ABC 7)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG