Thursday’s Headlines Aren’t Going Back

The Biden administration has awarded just $110 million of $3.5 billion for tearing down urban freeways. A future Trump administration could end the program.

By Blake Aued

12:38 AM EDT on August 8, 2024

Many cities are planning to demolish or cap freeways like I-81 in Syracuse that smashed through Black communities in the 1960s.

A Donald Trump victory in November would jeopardize the Biden administration's funding for tearing down divisive urban freeways. (E&E News)
Practically every city in the world is going all-in on building fast, high-quality transit except those in the U.S. Why? (Fast Company)
More people are using bikeshares, but they're also getting more expensive. That's because of a lack of subsidies, and the fact that increasingly popular e-bikes are more expensive than pedal bikes. (Velo)
Miami, where 90 percent of workers commute by car, has become a traffic-choked hellscape since the pandemic turned it into a boomtown. Upcoming transit projects will help, but are years away. (City Lab)
Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell's transit plan is smaller, simpler and drawing less organized opposition than the one voters rejected in 2018. (WPLN)
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced 1,000 vouchers for elderly, disabled and low-income residents to buy e-bikes. (Globe)
Amtrak wants to replace the car loop at Baltimore's Penn Station with a pickup/drop off area for buses, but taxi drivers and even the Maryland Transit Administration are opposed to the idea. (Banner)
Southwest Airlines has spent decades fighting proposals for high-speed rail between Houston and Dallas. (Simple Flying)
Austin and transit agency Cap Metro rolled out several downtown projects with protected bike lanes, pedestrian safety enhancements and priority lanes for future buses. (KXAN)
Cutting funding for Dallas transit makes no sense to the riders who rely on it, but several suburban cities want to contribute less to the system anyway. (KERA)
Charlotte police are not pursuing charges against a driver who crashed into a streetcar station, destroying it. (WSOC)
Berlin has a new online map that lets cyclists and pedestrians see pollution levels on a given street at a given time. (The Mayor)