Thursday’s High-Tech Headlines

Three ways technology is changing transportation, plus more bad financial news from local transit agencies in today's headlines.

By Blake Aued

12:08 AM EDT on September 26, 2024

Source: Flickr.

V2X technology allowing vehicles to communicate with each other is Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's "moonshot" toward Vision Zero — but some advocates think it's all a distraction from the low-tech solutions we should have been pursuing for years. (Bloomberg)
Cities are using new technology to change the way they use curbs; for example, installing sensors to restrict loading zones to emissions-free vehicles. (Government Technology)
Technology can also help make streets safer by helping to identify dangerous corridors and enforce traffic laws. (American City and County)
New Rochelle, New York — split in half by a six-lane highway in 1958 — is one of 130 communities using federal funding to stitch themselves back together. (Smart Cities Dive)
Doom Loop roundup:
- The CEO of Pittsburgh Regional Transit warned skeptical state legislators that without state funding, Pittsburgh will became a place where people need a car to live. (Post Gazette)
- San Francisco's transit agencies could face a budget deficit of up to $700 million by 2027. (Examiner, ABC 7)
- Virginia officials are looking for a long-term solution to the D.C. Metro's funding woes. (Mercury)
- Dallas Area Rapid Transit passed a new budget without service cuts, but still smaller than what staff recommended. (KERA)
- The Memphis Area Transit Authority cut five bus routes in the midst of a dispute with the city over releasing funds in a timely fashion. (MLK50)
A $17 billion transit referendum in Gwinnett, Georgia's second-largest county, is on the ballot in November. Previous efforts to join Atlanta transit agency MARTA failed, but this time the county is proposing its own system. (Urbanize Atlanta)
The D.C. Metro is returning to automated trains 15 years after it stopped using them in the wake of a deadly crash. (Washington Post)
New batteries will allow Seattle trolley buses to travel three times farther off-wire. (The Urbanist)
An Amtrak route between Chicago and Miami will temporarily pass through North Carolina to avoid tunnel repairs in New York. (Blue Ridge Public Radio)
Angie Schmitt writes about life in her (almost) 15-minute neighborhood in Cleveland. (Unpopular Opinions)