Thursday’s Headlines Lobby Congress

When the Biden administration's infrastructure act expires, it will pit cities versus states and roads versus transit.

By Blake Aued

12:14 AM EDT on September 4, 2025

Photo: Bill Perry

Cities want the next federal transportation funding bill to send more money directly to them. But state DOTs are perfectly happy with the current setup where city-dwellers subsidize state highway projects. (Governing)
In the same surface transportation reauthorization bill, which Congress will attempt to pass in 2026, the American Public Transit Association is asking for $138 billion for transit and $310 billion for passenger rail over five years. (Progressive Railroading)
A former U.S. DOT official says the bill should prioritize projects that make trips shorter and safer. (Eno Center for Transportation)
A hacker was able to recover data on a fatal crash involving Tesla Autopilot that the company claimed it didn't have. (Washington Post)
Transportation modes should be human-centered and place-sensitive. (Arch Daily)
At least in California, it's better to charge electric vehicles at the office during the day, when power is cheaper, than at home. (Los Angeles Times)
Challenger Josh Kraft is trying to make bike and bus lanes a wedge issue in the Boston mayor's race. (MassLive)
By threatening to deny Democrats a quorum, Oregon Republicans managed to weaken transit funding in a transportation bill they're unlikely to vote for anyway. (BikePortland)
The Seattle DOT won't dedicated a bus lane for the often-late Route 8. (The Urbanist)
Santa Fe adopted a Vision Zero plan with a goal of no traffic deaths by 2040. (New Mexican)
A new development in Portland, Maine has 263 apartments and no parking. (Mainebiz)
Hawaii is distributing $8 million to Safe Routes to School projects. (Civil Beat)
A rainbow crosswalk near Ohio State was vandalized. (WOWK)
Denmark is using satellites to toll heavy freight trucks. (Citti Magazine)
The Czech city of Brno has a unique easy-to-use night bus system where buses on all 22 routes set out from the main hub at the same time, carrying 10,000 to 20,000 riders a night. (Brno Daily)