Thursday’s Headlines Check In On Vision Zero
Ten years after the concept crossed the Atlantic, traffic deaths are on the rise in the U.S. despite a few cities' success stories.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EST on February 8, 2024
- In the 10 years since U.S. cities started adopting Vision Zero, they’ve had mixed success. A few cities have seen pedestrian and cyclist deaths decline, but they’re rising in the nation as a whole. (NPR)
- Unbelievably, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had to warn Tesla drivers not to wear Apple’s new virtual reality headsets while behind the wheel. (The Guardian)
- A coalition of almost 200 community groups launched a campaign telling governments to stop widening highways. (Streetsblog USA)
- The Federal Transit Administration awarded $110 million in disaster relief grants to eight transit agencies, primarily New Jersey’s to repair damage caused by Hurricane Ida. (Railway Age)
- The D.C. Metro’s latest budget projections are better, but the transit agency is still proposing to raise fares and cut down the rush-hour peak service window. (DCist)
- New York state received $1 billion in flexible funds from the federal infrastructure law that could have been spent on transit, but spent it on highways instead. (Focus)
- Take a look at the design for New York City’s new Port Authority Bus Terminal. (NY Times)
- Crime is down and ridership is on the Twin Cities’ Metro Transit, but some riders still say they don’t feel safe. (CBS News)
- A top academic in Buffalo warns that it would be a huge mistake to rebuild the notorious Humboldt expressway, which devastated a Black neighborhood, and that the state should fill it in instead. (Buffalo News)
- Orlando approved plans to fill in six gaps in the city’s bike and sidewalk network. (WFTV)
- Progress has been slow on Tucson’s Complete Streets initiative. (Arizona Republic)
- Anchorage is full of “stroads,” as Strong Towns’ Charles Marohn calls them — wide, fast roads where friendlier urban streets should be. (Alaska Business)
- India electrified almost half its rail network in five years and is aiming to reach net-zero emissions by 2030. (Energy Monitor)
- The House of Lords is pressing the British government to push back on misinformation about electric vehicles. (BBC)
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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