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Friday’s Headlines Tear It Down

Cities that demolish urban freeways often reap millions from new development. How can that money benefit the people who were originally displaced?

city of Milwaukee|

The Park East Freeway, demolished in 2003, is now an entertainment district anchored by Fiserv Forum, home of the Milwaukee Bucks.

  • Removing urban freeways creates developable land and tax revenue for cities, but it's critical that it be done in a way that benefits the communities those freeways originally displaced. (Next City)
  • The cost of building highways outweighs the benefits, especially when taking into account that they sit on $4 trillion worth of land. (State Smart Transportation Initiative)
  • The Federal Transit Administration finalized new safety training requirements for passenger rail workers. (Transportation Today)
  • The Minnesota Reformer examines Tim Walz's mixed record as governor on transportation, planning and environmental issues, including more funding for transit but also highway projects.
  • New York City is considering building housing on city-owned sites where garages and parking lots now sit. (NY Times)
  • Houston has made a lot of progress on becoming less car-centric, but now Mayor John Whitmire is stalling bike projects, and its transit agency has no plans to expand. (Washington Post)
  • Almost 80 percent of Miami-Dade voters voted yes on a nonbinding resolution in favor of expanding transit (Herald). They also re-elected progressive Mayor Daniella Levine Cava (Axios).
  • Construction has started on a new $160 million bus terminal in Detroit. (Axios)
  • Greater Greater Washington looks at candidates for Baltimore mayor and city council through an urbanist lens.
  • Austin found that upgraded left-turn signals reduced deaths and injuries from crashes by more than 47 percent at those intersections. (Monitor)
  • A new report found that Philadelphia is the safest city for pedestrians. Philadelphians disagree. (WHYY)
  • New wildlife crossings in Montana will save both grizzly bear and human lives. (Mountain Journal)
  • An Albuquerque neighborhood started a Little Free Library to spread the word about Vision Zero. (KOB 4)

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