Don’t Tread on Friday’s Headlines
Miami drivers are finding out the hard way about EV tire wear. Plus, speed governors in California, parking reform in Minnesota and Phoenix, and more news.
By
Blake Aued
12:12 AM EST on January 26, 2024
- Electric vehicle tires need replacing as often as every 7,000 miles, which is not only a big expense, but the extra wear releases more unhealthy particle pollution into the atmosphere. (Miami Herald)
- Climate change is causing more potholes in roads. (BBC)
- With new cars in Europe getting about a centimeter wider every two years, half are now too big to fit into on-street parking spaces. (Intelligent Transport)
- Transit Center has compiled its messaging research into a handbook on how to talk about transit in an inspirational way.
- A California state senator introduced a bill to require that new vehicles come equipped with technology preventing drivers from going more than 10 miles over the speed limit. (San Francisco Standard, Streetsblog SF)
- Drivers killed more people than murderers in Los Angeles last year — twice as many as in 2015, when the city passed a Vision Zero plan. (L.A. Times)
- Brightline sold $2.5 billion in bonds to help fund its privately owned high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. (Railway Age)
- Minnesota Democrats plan to introduce a bill preventing cities from imposing parking mandates (Reformer). In addition, the Phoenix city council reduced the number of parking spaces required at apartment buildings downtown and near transit lines, though the measure was watered down (Arizona Republic)
- Charlotte leaders have nixed a 2024 referendum on a tax hike to fund transit projects, saying they’ve run out of time to prepare for the vote (WFAE).
- In Nashville, Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s top transit advisor is leaving, which could jeopardize a Music City transit referendum this year (Axios).
- Meanwhile, Portland will ask voters to extend a 10-cent gas tax that funds road maintenance and safety projects (Tribune).
- Oregon truckers are lobbying the state legislature to get rid of bike-lane buffers. (Bike Portland)
- SEPTA riders are petitioning Philadelphia City Hall not to cut transit service in the face of a $240 million budget shortfall. (WHYY)
- Bike lanes were impassible after a Philly snowstorm last week as the city prioritized plowing roads. (Billy Penn)
- More than 1 million people rode Detroit’s QLINE streetcar last year, up 50 percent from 2022 (Free Press). Cincinnati’s streetcar is also experiencing record ridership, but some people still want to get rid of it (WKRC).
- A new bus route starting in March will connect downtown Detroit to Metro Airport. (MLive)
- After months of delay, Washington, D.C., will start fining drivers $100 for blocking bus lanes next week. (DCist)
- The Wisconsin DOT released two proposals for tearing down a mile of I-794. (Urban Milwaukee)
- In the absence of more state aid, New Jersey Transit is hiking fares by 15 percent. (Daily Record)
- A bill the Hawaii legislature would decriminalize jaywalking. (KHON)
- The Netherlands is now gluing solar panels to bike lanes. (Momentum Mag)
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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