Tuesday’s Headlines Fight Fire With Fire

Berkeley, Calif., is far from the only city where the fire department dictates transportation policy.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EST on December 2, 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saCo6dKMpac&feature=youtu.be

Nobody wants to criticize the fire department, Darrell Owens writes, but it's important to point out that they're wrong when they claim that pedestrianizing streets impedes emergency vehicles. Firefighters spend far more time responding to fatal wrecks than structure fires, and if they do find that streets are too narrow to pass, they can buy smaller trucks. (The Discourse Lounge)
Robotaxis are coming to more than a dozen U.S. cities next year. (Axios)
Pittsburgh Regional Transit is looking for more state funding after Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro bailed out SEPTA (Post-Gazette). The state's Democratic House leader also slammed the Republican Senate for failing to put together a transit funding package (WTAJ)
Salt Lake City commuters have a hard time traveling between the east and west sides, in part because of a freeway that splits the city in half. (KSL)
Sound Transit is stepping up efforts to keep Seattle stations clear of bird droppings. (Seattle Times)
The Federal Transit Administration looks likely to approve a grant for Austin's Project Connect light rail line. (American-Statesman)
The Detroit suburb of Shelby Township will build a pedestrian bridge over a river to close the last sidewalk gap leading to two local schools. (Detroit News)
Data center construction in rural Louisiana is causing a huge spike in crashes. (Governing)
Port Huron's main downtown corridor is getting a road diet. (The Keel)
'Tis the season for the Houston Metro to be jolly. (Chron)
Looking for a gift for the urbanist in your life? Planetizen has a list of book ideas.