Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Today's Headlines

The Price Is Right for Thursday’s Headlines

A transportation expert lays out how paying more to drive would benefit motorists and transit users alike. Plus, the spiraling cost of car ownership in the U.S.

  • Properly pricing driving — through higher fuel taxes, tolls and parking fees — would reduce congestion, pollution and crashes. In other words, motorists want driving to be cheap and traffic-free, but they can't have both. (Planetizen)
  • Americans drove almost 3.3 trillion miles last year, more than in 2019 but still below the pre-COVID peak on a per-person basis. (Eno Center for Transportation)
  • Thanks to corporate greed and climate change, the cost of buying and owning both new and used cars has risen drastically in the U.S., yet many people have no choice other than to drive. (The Guardian)
  • An advocate for the blind writes that floating bus stops located between bike and car lanes pose a risk to pedestrians, especially the blind. (Times Colonist)
  • After an initial transit referendum failed in 1968, Atlanta won support from Black residents by establishing "maid routes" to take domestic workers by bus from the inner city to their wealthy suburban employers. (AJC)
  • Arizona Republicans are holding transportation funding hostage in an effort to kill a Tucson-to-Phoenix rail line, as well as to stop the state DOT from implementing road diets or making plans to reduce carbon emissions. (Daily Star)
  • Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey's proposed budget includes of hundreds of millions in new funding for Boston and regional transit. (MassLive)
  • Transit advocates are ramping up pressure on Maryland Gov. Wes Moore to complete the Red Line as light rail. (Baltimore Fishbowl)
  • Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell is set to announce any day now whether he'll put a transit referendum on the November ballot. (Axios)
  • Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced $106 million in funding for 383 transit projects statewide. (Spectrum News)
  • Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg expressed support for replacing the 107-year-old Interstate Bridge in a visit to the Oregon-Washington border. (KGW)
  • Seattle's Sound Transit put in an order for 33 electric double-decker buses for its Stride bus rapid transit line. (Smart Cities World)
  • The U.S. DOT approved a $417 million loan for North Carolina to extend the Triangle Expressway. (Transportation Today)
  • Anchorage decriminalized jaywalking in October and now could ban right turns on red. (Must Read Alaska)
  • Charleston's bikeshare had a 50 percent bump in ridership between 2022 and 2023. (Count On 2)
  • San Francisco residents showed what they thought of driverless taxis when they lit an (unoccupied) Waymo on fire. (CNBC)

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Monday’s Headlines Are Safer on a Train

Despite a few high-profile crimes, buses are twice as safe as cars, and trains are five times as safe.

October 13, 2025

Friday Video: Five Simple Ways To Get Kids Biking To School

Kids aren't riding bikes like they used to — but that doesn't mean we can't get them back in the saddle.

October 10, 2025

Friday’s Easy Rider Headlines

Where do you draw the line between the new generation of fast e-bikes and motorcycles?

October 10, 2025

Parking Titan Donald Shoup’s Legacy Continues

There's a new book and a new UCLA center honor the world's foremost expert on parking, Donald Shoup, who died in February.

October 9, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: Under a Highway in Birmingham Alabama

Ben Donsky of Agora Partners on City Walk BHAM in Birmingham, Alabama, a public space project that connects two sides of the city separated by a highway.

October 9, 2025

America Has a Golden Opportunity to End the ‘Highway Boondoggle’ Crisis

America's wasteful highway spending has gotten out of control — and if President Trump really wants to promote efficient government, he'll urge Congress to stop it.

October 9, 2025
See all posts