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Wednesday’s Headlines Are Blowing Up

E-bike delivery riders face a dilemma: Use certified safe batteries and have to carry extras, or use stronger uncertified batteries and risk an explosion?

By Blake Aued

12:00 AM EST on February 22, 2023

Photo: People for Bikes

Damaged or modified batteries, or ones not certified for safety, are to blame for a spike in e-bike explosions. But the safer batteries don’t last long enough for a typical delivery worker’s shift. (Slate)
Cities should be redesigned so that owning a car is a choice rather than a necessity, according to a new report from an engineering group. (Washington Post)
Ride-hailing apps helped suppress transit ridership in cities across America. Now, they’re looking to partner with them. (The Conversation)
A new autonomous bus-train hybrid runs on tires, but along a predetermined route like light rail. (CNBC)
Drivers crash into storefronts an estimated 100 times a day, forcing convenience stores to install bollards in their parking lots because, as cyclists well know, paint is not a barrier. (Smart Cities Dive)
Urban renewal isn’t something that happened in the 1960s. In 21st century Louisiana, some officials are still trying to demolish a Black Shreveport neighborhood to make way for a new freeway. (City Lab)
While seeking $1 billion for rural roads, Ohio state lawmakers are also considering barring cities from building center bus lanes or using traffic enforcement cameras. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
Nashville Mayor John Cooper is ordering police to declutter sidewalks by enforcing a new law banning vendors. (Tennessean)
St. Louis is spending $6 million to tackle a years-long backlog of sidewalk repair requests. (Post-Dispatch)
A San Antonio cyclist has mapped out all the city’s current and future bike routes for the first time. (My San Antonio)
Brussels (The Mayor) and Ghent (Sky News) are two European cities that reduced traffic by closing streets to cars, even though Ghent’s mayor faced death threats.

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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