Friday’s Headlines Are Listening to Pete
Secretary Buttigieg said all the right things in a recent interview about the Biden administration's street safety grants.
By
Blake Aued
12:00 AM EST on February 3, 2023
- Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called traffic deaths “a preventable crisis” in an interview with Fast Company about the Biden administration’s recent $800 million in grants to communities for safer streets, plus another upcoming $1.1 billion.
- Nine recently announced infrastructure “mega-grants” include projects in New York, Philadelphia, Tulsa, the Gulf Coast, Chicago and Santa Cruz. Some are for rail or safer streets, but others will go toward increasing car capacity on freeways. (Route Fifty)
- City planners are starting to question the conventional wisdom that businesses will suffer without ample parking. (The Conversation)
- North Carolina’s top transit official says that, since the rise of working from home, transit agencies need to shift resources away from catering to commuters and more toward “lifestyle rail,” or better all-day service for remaining users. (Forbes)
- California has a plan to subsidize e-bikes for low-income families. (Los Angeles Times)
- A bill in the Nebraska legislature could kill Omaha’s proposed streetcar by outlawing its funding mechanism. (Examiner)
- Charlotte’s transit board voted to move a new bus station underground to facilitate a mixed-use development above, even though some question whether that’s best for CATS riders. (WFAE)
- A national nonprofit will audit Milwaukee’s practices for building bike and pedestrian infrastructure and recommend improvements. (Urban Milwaukee)
- The L.A. Metro is offering free bus, rail and bike rides on Transit Equity Day this Saturday. (The Source)
- Transit rides will be free for Super Bowl revelers in Phoenix (12 News), and Valley Metro has extended hours until 2 a.m. for Feb. 9-12 (KTAR)
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.
Read More:
More from Streetsblog USA
The Financial Costs of the Pedestrian Death Crisis Are Still Stratospheric
The human costs of the pedestrian death crisis are unacceptable even as deaths begin to fall. And the financial costs aren't any better.
April 6, 2026
Monday’s Headlines Only Hurt Ourselves
Climate change has cost global economies tens of trillions of dollars. The U.S. is both the biggest culprit and biggest victim.
April 6, 2026
State Bill Would Stop Highway Expansions Near Vulnerable New Yorkers
Assembly Member Emerita Torres's Stop Highway Community Harm Act would ban the state from expanding highways within 200 feet of public housing or in ZIP codes with the highest asthma-related emergency room visits in the state.
April 3, 2026
Friday’s Headlines Keep Our Eyes on the Road, Our Hands Upon the Wheel
Going to the roadhouse in a self-driving car does not mean you're gonna have a real good time.
April 3, 2026
Friday Video: A Master List of All The Reasons Why Car Domination Sucks
Jason Slaughter catalogues the many harms of America's preferred transportation monoculture.
April 2, 2026
Comments Are Temporarily Disabled
Streetsblog is in the process of migrating our commenting system. During this transition, commenting is temporarily unavailable.
Once the migration is complete, you will be able to log back in and will have full access to your comment history. We appreciate your patience and look forward to having you back in the conversation soon.