No Earmarks in Tuesday’s Headlines

The continuing resolution Congress passed last week cedes more power on transportation and other spending to the Trump administration.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EDT on March 18, 2025

Thanks, Chuck Schumer. Image: Third Way Think Tank

The Eno Center for Transportation analyzed the continuing resolution Congress passed on Friday to keep the federal government running. The bill largely omits Congress members' pet projects, instead leaving the spending details up to the executive branch (New York Times).
Mass firings at the U.S. Department of Transportation include dozens of employees whose work focused on traffic safety. (Politico)
Transportation for America laid out the repercussions of the U.S. DOT memo ordering a review of all transportation grants related to bike infrastructure, climate change and electric vehicle chargers.
More than 7,000 zero-emissions buses are now on the road in the U.S., half of them paid for by the Federal Transit Administration (Smart Cities Dive). But the transit agency in Everett, Washington is selling electric buses it bought from now-bankrupt Proterra due to maintenance problems (KIRO)
Seventy years before congestion pricing, New York City writer Lewis Mumford observed that cars were choking American cities. (CityLab)
Philadelphia cyclists want protected bike lanes on Spruce and Pine streets, where 50,000 people ride each month in painted lanes. (Momentum)
More than 20 percent of Seattle households don't have a car, including one in three renters, which makes a strong argument for eliminating parking mandates that drive up the cost of housing. (Seattle Bike Blog)
PubliCola wants Washington state transit riders to sit on boards that make decisions about transit.
The Interstate Bridge Project between Oregon and Washington is based on pre-COVID traffic projects, although travel patterns have changed substantially since the pandemic. (City Observatory)
Atlanta CDC employees who were ordered to return to work onsite caused a two-mile traffic jam on Monday. (AJC)
Several Bay Area activist groups have organized a protest today against budget cuts at San Francisco transit agency Muni. (SFist)
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority has asked California Gov. Gavin Newsom to order striking transit employees back to work. (NBC Bay Area)
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers wants to create regional transit authorities with taxing powers, which could finally give Milwaukee transit a dedicated source of funding. (Urban Milwaukee)
Waymo driverless taxis were ticketed almost 600 times for parking illegally in San Francisco. (Washington Post)
Rural Georgians who can't drive are often stranded due to a lack of reliable public transportation or ride-hailing services. (WTXL)
Drivers have already killed more pedestrians in Portland, Maine this year than any of the past 10 years, and the city council is now working on a Vision Zero resolution. (Spectrum News)
Portland, Oregon residents who don't have garages are installing small "bike hangars" to store their bikes. (BikePortland)
Miss Manners tackles the etiquette of sharing a sidewalk. (Washington Post)
Pop star Rihanna is giving bikes to girls in Malawi so they can ride to school. (Essence)