Thursday’s Headlines Are Roadkill

• Drivers kill more than a million vertebrates a year in the U.S. alone, contributing to an ongoing human-caused mass extinction event. The carnage doesn’t bode well for humans, either. (Slate)
• AI has been widely hailed as an important new tool for transportation planning, but Traffic Technology Today warns it’s only as good as the information it’s fed.
• A New York Magazine profile of Pete Buttigieg mainly faults him for airlines’ failures during his tenure as transportation secretary, while also laming him for not doing more to make roads safer despite his embrace of Vision Zero and the position’s limited power.
• The U.S. DOT awarded Safe Streets and Roads for All grants to 99 communities, just a portion of the $5 billion included in the Biden administration’s 2021 infrastructure law. (Governing)
• The Federal Transportation Administration awarded $343 million in grants to transit agencies in eight states for upgrading stations, with a focus on improving access for the disabled. (Trains)
• Houston Mayor John Whitmire is slamming the brakes on his predecessor’s road safety projects in the sprawling, car-centric city, which had the third-most traffic deaths in the country last year. (City Lab)
• In a two-part series, MinnPost looks back at the Minneapolis Green Line on its 10th-year anniversary.
• Uber and Lyft alternatives are still prepared to enter the Twin Cities market even though the ride-hailing giants are no longer leaving. (Pioneer Press)
• Except for children, Denver’s Regional Transportation District won’t provide free transit rides this summer as it’s done during the past two ozone seasons, with officials citing a limited impact and lack of funds. (Colorado Public Radio)
• Drivers have already killed 12 people in Oahu so far this year. (KHON)
• Sound Transit covers 53 Seattle-area jurisdictions, and a proposal its board is considering would stop local governments from foisting costs onto the regional agency. (The Urbanist)
• A Michigan man was shocked to find out he’d told on himself when he dialed into a Zoom hearing for driving on a suspended license while behind the wheel. (Twitter)

source https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/05/30/thursdays-headlines-are-roadkill