Thursday’s Headlines Build It, and They Will Come

Believe it or not, people are more likely to bike when they feel safe. Science proves it.

By Blake Aued

12:23 AM EDT on June 5, 2025

A protected bike lane in Toronto.

|OldYorkGuy

A study published in Nature came to the shocking conclusion that safe bike infrastructure makes people more likely to bike. Blocks with protected bike lanes had twice as many cyclists as those with painted lanes, and four times as many as those with sharrows or nothing at all. (Momentum)
Henry Grabar makes the case for why denser cities will save lives and save residents money. (Slate)
David Zipper interviewed a UK regulator about why cars in Europe are so much safer than in the U.S. (CityLab)
Chicago transit agencies are planning for 40 percent service cuts now that Illinois legislators failed to agree on a funding (Streetsblog CHI). But one top lawmaker says there's still time for a deal (Fox 32), potentially a tax on the wealthy, according to Mayor Brandon Johnson (CBS News).
King County, home to Seattle, is considering a 0.1% sales tax hike that would raise $95 million for transit. (The Urbanist)
Miami-Dade and Broward County, Florida are coordinating on a new commuter rail line. (Miami Today)
Cleveland is making two downtown streets one-way to create room for cyclists and pedestrians. (Plain Dealer)
Pittsburgh is looking to replace a bike lane with a car lane on iconic and increasingly dangerous Penn Avenue. (Axios)
Denver's 16th Street pedestrian mall is open again after a $175 million revitalization — but with lackluster transit and incomplete bike lanes, it's not easy to get to. (Denverite)
Driving to a Salt Lake City train station means never having to hunt for parking downtown. (Weekly)
With a $30 billion price tag for high-speed rail between Sydney and Newcastle, Australia is looking to the privately funded Brightline West project for inspiration. (The Guardian)
Berlin's transit system shows that commuter rail doesn't have to be just for suburbanites. (Pedestrian Observations)
Would Americans buy a $7,000 single-seat Japanese EV? (PC Magazine)