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Friday’s Headlines to Close it Out

It's funny how many people try to make environmentalism out to be an effete elitist cause when the benefits are disportionately conferred to groups that have been traditionally oppressed. Plus all the other news.

By Blake Aued

8:50 AM EST on March 5, 2021

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Minority communities have to deal with dangerously designed roads while also trying to avoid interactions with law enforcement that could get them killed, too. (Transportation for America)
Spurred on by Ralph Nader’s expose, in 1970 Congress created the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For a while, it brought public awareness to the dangers of car crashes, but now its standards are so outdated, they’re useless. (Vice)
Get ready to start dodging delivery droids on the sidewalk, because now Pennsylvania says they have the same legal rights as human pedestrians. (Axios)
An engineers’ group says the U.S. faces a $2.6-trillion shortfall for infrastructure maintenance and gave the U.S. a C- overall, including a D- on transit. (Reuters)
Warren Buffett has $138 billion and owns a bunch of railroads. He can fix America’s infrastructure. (Bloomberg)
Cities have been adding e-bikes to their bike-share fleets during the pandemic. (New York Times)
Three steps cities can take to keep people cycling beyond the pandemic include starting with pop-up bike lanes, calming traffic and establishing long-term goals. (The City Fix)
Former NYC transportation commissioner Polly Trottenberg, President Biden’s pick for the No. 2 job at the DOT, says she’ll prioritize the Gateway rail tunnel if she’s confirmed by the Senate. (Transport Topics)
MinnPost profiles Robin Hutcheson, the “rock star” former Minneapolis director of public works who’s now deputy assistant secretary for safety policy at the U.S. DOT.
On the Rose Quarter I-5 widening, the Oregon DOT is pitting Black residents who want minority contracts against mostly White environmentalists, which is a false dichotomy when pollution disproportionately affects communities of color, writes a Black environmental lawyer. (Bike Portland)
A California lawmaker wants to install cameras on buses to nab drivers who block bus-only lanes, a form of automated enforcement that’s common in New York. (San Jose Mercury-News)
Pittsburgh residents are pushing back against transit projects intended to spur development rather than move people. (Transit Center)
Drivers killed 26 cyclists in North Carolina last year, up from 19 in 2019. (Spectrum News)
Omaha advocates are looking to build a transit system that restores the functionality of its mid-20th-century streetcars (World-Herald). And streetcars could make a comeback in San Diego (10 News).
Boise is pushing ahead on a State Street bus rapid transit line. (Boise Dev)
Chile is offering taxi drivers up to $11,000 to convert to electric vehicles in an effort to rid Santiago of smog. (City Lab)
Contrary to popular belief, London’s low-traffic neighborhoods benefit lower-income areas as much as more affluent ones. (The Guardian)

Blake Aued

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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