Friday’s Headlines Thrive With Women in Charge
Mayors like Barcelona's Ada Colau, Montreal's Valerie Plante and Anne Hidalgo in Paris transformed their cities.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on April 24, 2026
- In several major cities, mayors are taking public space once dedicated to cars and rededicating it to people and bikes. They also have something else in common: Many of them are women. (The Guardian)
- Benches are vanishing from train stations, sidewalks, parks and other public spaces. (Places Journal)
- David Zipper interviewed a historian specializing in transportation who says cities like New York are right to be skeptical of robotaxis. Just as automakers once promised flying cars and smart highways that were just a few years away, there’s no guarantee that self-driving cars will succeed, despite the hype. (CityLab)
- Pete Saunders suggests turning state and federal highways that serve as major arterial roads through cities into pedestrian- and bike-friendly boulevards. (The Corner Side Yard)
- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wants cities and states to widen their roads, as if that were a real solution to traffic congestion. (Streetsblog USA)
- Green tram tracks that run along grass rather than concrete help keep cities cooler. (The Conversation)
- Bikes are less likely to be stolen on steep streets. (International Journal of Sustainable Transportation)
- Miami’s bus network redesign is frustrating riders, leading to a decline in ridership. (Herald)
- Houston is turning seven blocks of Main Street into a walkable Santa Monica-style promenade. (Islands)
- A Colorado bill would remove conservative areas from a special tax district that’s raising revenue for the Front Range passenger rail line. (Sun)
- Delaware and New Jersey are increasingly using cameras to catch speeding drivers. (WHYY)
- Local governments in the Research Triangle are making significant progress on their sustainability goals, but there’s only so much they can do alone. (Indy Week)
- When it comes to bikes, Davis, California is the Amsterdam of the U.S. (Urban Cycling Institute)
- Richmond has a new bike lane sweeper named “Baby Broom.” (Axios)
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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