Tuesday’s Headlines Take an Axe to Transit
The Trump administration wants to cut transit and rail funding to help pay for the war against Iran.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on April 7, 2026
- President Trump’s proposed budget calls for a $2.1 billion cut to Amtrak funding. When expiring funding from the Biden administration’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is included, the cuts total 69 percent (Trains). It would also cut funding for transit grants and target unspent grants for electric vehicles from the 2021 IIJA (E&E News; paywall). In addition, a $2 billion request to bolster Los Angeles transit for the 2028 Olympics is left unfunded (LAist). Meanwhile, proposed defense spending would rise 42 percent to $1.5 trillion.
- Plans for Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol would halve the number of car lanes while adding seating and greenspace to make it more suitable for parades. (WJLA)
- L.A. traffic is so bad that emergency medical responders with the city’s fire department have started using e-motorcycles that can legally split lanes. (Jalopnik)
- Denver officials won’t say why they closed bike lanes on Blake Street before the Rockies’ home opener. (Denver 7)
- Some Charleston residents are more concerned about where they’ll park than where fellow residents will live. (WCSC)
- New Jersey Transit launched a free shuttle service to ferry transit riders to major bus stops and stations. (NJ.com)
- Drivers have killed 10 pedestrians in Nashville so far this year, up from two at this point in 2025. (Fox 17)
- Chattanooga is repairing an uneven brick sidewalk outside of a homeless services center, but to do so it had to chop down trees that provided shade. (Times Free Press)
- Transport for London joined a European Union initiative to help cities become carbon neutral. (ITS International)
- A study of the Paris Olympics found that the city’s ambitious construction of bike lanes was able to absorb additional traffic, and a substantial number of people kept using them after the games ended. (Science Direct)
- Fast Company and The Guardian have less academic stories about how outgoing Mayor Anne Hidalgo transformed the City of Lights into the City of Bikes.
Blake Aued has been doing Streetsblog's daily national news digest for years. He's also an Atlanta Braves fan, which enrages his editor in New York.
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