Tuesday’s Headlines Win the Gold
Two articles detail efforts in Paris and Los Angeles to put on (relatively) climate-friendly Olympic games in 2024 and 2028.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on March 19, 2024
- Organizers of the 204 Paris Olympics have pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half compared to previous games, by adding bike lanes, building as few new structures as possible and even floating solar panels on the Seine rather than use diesel generators. But of course, millions of spectators will still be flying in. (New York Times).
- Meanwhile, Los Angeles is watching Paris as it prepares to host the 2028 Summer Olympics. L.A. has already scaled back some if its games-related climate goals, but still plans to build 15 new transit projects and borrow 2,500 buses because the sprawling city won’t offer parking near venues. (Politico)
- With a record $243 million capital budget, San Diego’s Metropolitan Transit System will buy 38 new buses, 22 trolley cars and overhead charging infrastructure to convert to an all-electric fleet. (Union-Tribune)
- The lower level of Cleveland’s Detroit-Superior Bridge, once used by streetcars, could reopen as a bike and pedestrian path. (Axios)
- The bike path along the Bay Area’s Richmond-San Rafael Bridge could be turned into a car breakdown lane on weekdays, supposedly to ease congestion, even though car trip times have actually fallen since the path opened. (San Francisco Chronicle)
- New Houston Mayor John Whitmire is considering removing bike lanes that were just put in two years ago. (ABC 13)
- Las Vegas received a $14 million federal grant for an AI pedestrian detection system pilot on Fremont Street. (Government Technology)
- Streets.mn has a three-part series on the Minneapolis Blue Line, with the second part focusing on land use around the project.
- Walkable neighborhoods will bring down Utah’s rising housing costs, not more suburban sprawl, a bike advocate writes for the Salt Lake Tribune.
- A new fare structure in Madison, Wisconsin will limit how much low-income riders pay to ride transit. (The Badger Herald)
- The Veo bikeshare in Syracuse has grown from 150 bikes to 1,000 in just three years. (CNY Central)
- A public art installation in Detroit will measure and help mitigate pollution from a nearby auto assembly plant. (Metro Times)
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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