Tuesday’s Sprawling Headlines

Sprawl seems to be having a moment, but it remains a very shortsighted and environmentally disastrous way to solve the housing crisis.

By Blake Aued

12:31 AM EDT on July 1, 2025

Photo: Scorpions and Centaurs|

This is the future that liberals want?

Left-leaning writers are starting to join conservatives onboard the pro-sprawl bandwagon as they look for solutions to a shortage of housing. Yet it's still the case that sprawl destroys natural areas and farms, and leads to more roads, more cars and more pollution. (CityLab)
The Eno Center for Transportation outlines the many changes the Trump administration has made to discretionary grant programs.
Smart loading zones where delivery and rideshare drivers reserve curb space through apps can help cities manage an increasingly scarce resource and drastically reduce double-parking. (Smart Cities Dive)
Cars don't have to be moving to kill — because leaving a child inside one for just a few minutes on a hot day can be deadly. (Jalopnik)
A bill clearing the way for a metro Charlotte transportation tax referendum overwhelmingly passed the North Carolina Senate. (WFAE)
Wired interviews an Austin lawmaker who wants the Texas legislature to exert more control over Tesla robotaxis.
An impasse over transit funding is one reason why Pennsylvania's state budget is late for the fourth year in a row. (Penn Live)
Philadelphia is planning safety improvements at an intersection where a truck driver killed a cyclist last month. (WHYY)
Boise elementary school students are lobbying to replace pedestrian flags with rapid flashing beacons at a crash-prone intersection. (KTVB)
Boulder ended parking mandates for new developments citywide. (Reporting Lab)
Vancouver's TransLink is buying 100 battery-electric buses to replace diesel models. (Metro Magazine)
These "bike mayors" may not have been elected, but they're the face of cycling for cities worldwide. (Region to Be Cheerful)