Wednesday’s Headlines Believe in Monsters

And so does the CEO of Ford. That's how he described some vehicles while calling for a shift to smaller EVs as pedestrian deaths remain high.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EDT on July 3, 2024

Steven Harrell|

The bottom of this Ford’s windows are six feet off the ground.

Increasingly heavy vehicles, lax traffic enforcement and dangerous driving are among the reasons pedestrian deaths remain high in Vision Zero communities (Smart Cities Dive). Even Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford — which famously stopped manufacturing ordinary passenger cars in recent years — now says that the U.S. needs "radical change" away from "monster vehicles." (Electrek)
Freeways ripped through Black neighborhoods and destroyed city tax bases in service to suburban car commuters, but government officials remain mostly indifferent. (Governing)
The Washington Post delves into how conservatives on the Supreme Court have crippled presidential administrations' ability to deal with climate change.
New York lawmakers are pressing Gov. Kathy Hochul to bring back congestion pricing with slightly lower toll. (New York Times)
A budget that includes a corporate tax hike generating $800 million a year for transit is headed to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's desk. (North Jersey)
A Seattle city council member is pushing to add to Mayor Bruce Harrell's $1.7 billion transportation proposal. (The Urbanist)
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited Raleigh to break ground on a high-speed rail line connecting it to Richmond. (NC Pulse)
Houston is now the largest U.S. city without bike-share, and it's unclear when or if another one will take BCycle's place. (Houston Public Media)
Miami is building the nation's first all-electric bus depot, capable of storing and charging 100 electric buses. (ENR Southeast)
The disease is sprawl, and Phoenix is betting that transit-oriented development is the cure. (Architect Magazine)
Honolulu's transportation director lent his support to the city transit agency's CEO and explained the takeover of a nonprofit bikeshare in an interview with Hawaii Public Radio.
Milwaukee is telling drivers to slow down. Will they listen? (Fox 6)
A Minneapolis artist painted the sidewalk in front of his house. Is it art or graffiti? (MinnPost)