Before we turn the page on 2024, we're taking a quick look back on at the last year in the movement to reimagine the American transportation system and give every U.S. resident a real choice in how they get around.
Though we gotta say, 2024 kicked off with a pretty major bummer: a lawsuit aimed at hiding the emissions impacts of our transportation decisions from the public, lead by a phalanx of red state DOTs.
In February, our news feeds were full of stories about the second anniversary of US DOT's National Roadway Safety Strategy ... even though that strategy hasn't made much of a dent in our national death tolls. Kea Wilson had some thoughts on why, and her essay landed in our top 10 most-read of the year.
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key dominated transportation media in March — and at Streetsblog, it prompted conversation about why we have such wildly different responses to more everyday tragedies like car crashes.
Not all the news was bad in 2024, especially in April, when USDOT finally approved a long-awaited rule to require automatic pedestrian emergency braking all new cars – though more work needs to be done to install vehicle technologies that protect cyclists, too, as well as key categories of walking deaths.
Readers must have wanted a break from the U.S. news cycle in May, though, because our top-ranking story that month was about a bold new idea out of Canada — and it went on to become among our most-read of the year.
And in June, we brought it back stateside with the shocking news that America's first-ever congestion pricing program had been paused at the 11th hour. (Spoiler alert: it was brought back in November, though in a sadly diminished form — and court cases can still end it before the Jan. 5 launch.)
In July, we processed the fall of the crucial Chevron Doctrine, what it might mean for automotive safety, and a new bill that would help restore some of our most crucial auto safety regulations.
Really, every month this year was all about the election, but August proved a particularly pivotal point when President Joe Biden dropped out, Kamala Harris stepped up, and Tim Walz was named her VP pick, in part off the strength of his record on sustainable transportation — a record, by the way, that can still serve as a model for other U.S. states, even though the Democrats aren't heading to the White House.
The news cycle really heated up in September with a lot more election news, the veto of what would have been the first statewide speed limiting law in the nation, and more ... but our top-ranking story of the month was this local spotlight on St. Louis's $300 million of planned investments in sustainable transportation projects, and why other cities should think big, too.
As the presidential election continued to dominate the national news in October, a ton of Streetsblog readers took refuge in this deep dive on a small but impactful policy shift in Georgia, courtesy of our friends at Vision Zero Cities Journal.
Well, you probably don't need us to remind you what happened in November ... but it's worth revisiting this story about how transportation reform advocates are preparing for the next Trump term, and see how you can get involved.
As we close out December, Streetsblog readers are celebrating the best states for biking in America — and hoping that all of our communities are fueled up for a new fight in 2025.
