Wednesday’s Headlines Ride in Style
Amtrak's new trains sound like a win-win for passengers and the environment.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on August 26, 2026
- Amtrak’s new Airo trains — currently rolling out in the Pacific Northwest and coming soon to the East Coast — are cleaner, faster and more reliable than the old ones, which date back as far as the 1970s. (Grist)
- Only 3 percent of voters know the federal gas tax has not been raised since 1993, and would need to go from 18 cents a gallon to 42 cents to bring in the same amount of revenue relative to inflation. Support for raising the tax doubles when told it would go toward maintenance and safety rather than just transportation in general. (Washington Post)
- Businesses across the country are collaborating with transit agencies through the American Public Transportation Association. (Metro)
- The Natural Resources Defense Council says Georgia needs a dedicated source of funding for transit to handle growth instead of spending so much money on highways that are only filled up by induced demand.
- A recently opened bus rapid transit line in Las Vegas features zero-emissions buses, bike lanes, wider sidewalks and shade trees. (Smart Cities Dive)
- Planetizen calls the Kansas City streetcar one of the best in the world.
- Philadelphia’s Market Street Bridge will be closed for more than a year. When it reopens, it will have bike lanes and wider sidewalks. (WHYY)
- Cleveland is adding barriers to the bike lanes on West 65th Street. (Plain Dealer)
- A second daily Amtrak train connecting Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York City will start rolling in November. (Penn Live)
- KQED took a deep dive into problems with Bay Area transit agencies’ new fare payment system, Clipper.
- Growth and future traffic projections are driving talk of commuter rail in Oklahoma City. (Oklahoman)
- Nashville residents are calling for safety improvements on Rosa Parks Boulevard. (Fox 17)
- Charlotte residents can now be ticketed if their cars stick out of the driveway and block the sidewalk. (Observer)
- The Charleston Post and Courier editorial board calls on South Carolina’s silent senators to provide an update on a federal grant for BRT.
- Toledo is making progress toward its 2031 Vision Zero goal, with 12 traffic deaths so far this year, down from 44 five years ago. (Blade)
- Boulder is selling a downtown parking lot for a hotel, trading some unneeded asphalt for economic development. (Reporting Lab)
- The Seattle suburb of Bellevue lowered speed limits on local roads to 25 miles per hour. (KOMO)
- Philadelphia bike buses take advantage of safety in numbers, allowing the next generation of bike commuters to pedal to school with less risk. (Citizen)
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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