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)
