Thursday’s Headlines Walk Hard

Where you live probably has a lot to do with how much you walk.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EST on February 19, 2026

Photo: Äldre par på Kullagatan i Helsingborg

Moving to a more walkable city is good for your health. A recent study found that people who moved from a city where walking is hard to one built for walking added 1,100 steps, or about 11 minutes of walking, to their daily routine. The same benefit didn't accrue to people who moved from one walkable city to another, because they were already getting their steps in. (Scientific American)
A proposal for a merger between two major freight rail companies, Norfolk-Southern and Union Pacific, could curtail intercity passenger rail service if approved. (Transportation for America)
Whether the Supreme Court backs the Trump administration on declaring that greenhouse gas emissions are no threat to humanity will determine if the court has any legitimacy left. (Public Notice)
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says robotaxis could replace human drivers within the next 10-15 years, which I think we also heard about 10-15 years ago. (MSN)
In a bit of good news, Ford — which not long ago nixed all of its sedans in favor of increasingly large and expensive trucks — now sees the future as small, affordable electric vehicles with lightweight batteries. (Bloomberg)
A mix of high speeds and bad design is why Texas leads the nation in highway deaths at almost 2,000 a year. (Jalopnik)
Disabled D.C. residents were stranded for weeks after city snowplows piled mountains of ice and snow onto sidewalks. (Washington Post)
In a small victory for Portland transit advocates, TriMet now plans to build semi-dedicated bus lanes on some of hotly contested 82nd Avenue. (BikePortland)
Utah nearly sparked a war with Idaho over a proposal to shift gas taxes away from Utah drivers and onto refineries that ship oil out of state. (KSL)
Denver's next road diet, on Mississippi Avenue, is set to start after nearly four years of delays. (Denverite)
Helena wants to join other Montana cities in enacting a special tax district to support transit. (Free Press)
Bogotá offers an example for global cities looking to reduce traffic congestion and car dependency. (World Bank)
How Ottawa abolished parking mandates. (Parking Reform)
President Trump is pitching a fit over a new bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Canada. (Yes, it has a bike trail on it). (Streetsblog USA)