Tuesday’s Headlines Let There Be Light

• Almost two-thirds of women feel unsafe walking after dark — twice the rate of men, according to an Australian study. Fear of being attacked in the dark is keeping women from walking, jogging or using transit, and the male-dominated transportation industry doesn’t always take those fears seriously. (The Guardian)
• The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy has a new online toolkit for walkable cities.
• The Federal Highway Administration is awarding $800 million in grants to road builders that use low-carbon construction materials. (Smart Cities Dive)
• Transit agencies across the country are looking to California as a model for tap-to-pay fare collection. (Route Fifty)
• Ramsey County, Minnesota, is scrapping plans for a $2.1 billion light rail line linking St. Paul to the Minneapolis airport and the Mall of America. (Star Tribune)
• Even if Charlotte officials convince a skeptical Republican-controlled legislature to let them hold a referendum on a transportation plan with reduced transit spending, skyrocketing construction costs are likely to put off voters, according to Governing magazine.
• A Kentucky Transportation Center study found that Louisville’s complete streets policy has been successful at reducing crashes. (WDRB)
• Wisconsin Public Radio interviewed a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee urban planning professor about Milwaukee’s successful traffic-calming program and how other cities can emulate it.
• The Houston city council is considering repealing an ordinance requiring developers to build sidewalks or pay into a sidewalk fund, saying it’s just resulted in sidewalks to nowhere. (KHOU)
• Pedestrian deaths are down in Oklahoma City, but the unhoused are at greater risk of being killed by drivers, and death rates remain high on faster suburban roads. (Free Press)
• Four Houston=area transit agencies are going fare-free on Fridays in September, the worst month for ozone pollution in the region. (Houston Public Media)
• University of Nebraska-Omaha students can now buy annual bikeshare passes for $5, a 95 percent discount. (The Gateway)
• The Oregon DOT has taken the unorthodox step of hiring a preacher to win over Portland’s mistrustful Black community on highway projects. (Willamette Week)
• A Texarkana couple that met on a group ride got married before 1,800 fellow cyclists at a Waco bike race. (KWTX)

source https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/09/09/tuesdays-headlines-let-there-be-light