Friday’s Headlines Have Bad News and Bad News
Two rather pessimistic stories wonder whether the U.S. will ever rid itself of the car death cult.
Photo: Oscar Sutton, CC
- We know how to stem the tide of needless traffic deaths in the U.S. — redesign streets and regulate vehicle size. It's just that bureaucratic inertia and industry lobbyists prevent us from doing it. (The American Prospect)
- Can city planners ever halt, let alone reverse, the car-centric sprawl of the past 100 years? (Deseret News)
- Recognizing the often hidden costs of being stuck in traffic, the National Review urges conservatives to be open-minded about congestion pricing.
- A new survey found that three-quarters of Americans would pay more for a house in a walkable neighborhood. The percentage drops with age, though, from 92 percent among Gen Z to 56 percent for the Silent or Greatest generation. (Realtor Magazine)
- Trucks drive 175 billion miles each year in the U.S., and between a fifth and a third of those miles, they are empty. (Transport Topics)
- The California budget deal still leaves Bay Area transit agencies $60 million short. (SFBay)
- A short circuit probably caused an accident that killed a Boston train rider last year, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. (Railway Age)
- A venture capitalist tried to talk Austin into spending $2.6 billion on a network of tunnels built by Elon Musk's Boring Company. (Fortune)
- Denver cyclists can now register their bikes with the city to help identify them if they're stolen and recovered. (Denverite)
- Kansas City's transit agency has dropped plans to build a transit-oriented high-rise and dissolved its development arm. (Flatland)
- St. Louis has plans to improve 10 of its most dangerous intersections. (Post-Dispatch)
- While some cities consider banning new drive-throughs, walkup windows are already popular in Minneapolis and St. Paul. (MinnPost)
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