Freeway Fighters Digest (week of 12/9)

Lauren MayerWeekly News Digest

Hi all,

Here is what is being said about freeway fighting this week. If you come across any articles, feel free to share and please let me know if you have any questions.

Freeway Fighters News

As Clock Ticks On Federal Funds, MassDOT Proposes Smaller ‘Early Action’ Project for Allston I-90
StreetsBlog Mass December 6, 2024
As state officials continue to struggle to overcome major financing shortfalls and design conflicts in MassDOT’s proposed Interstate 90 realignment in Allston, state highway officials have floated a proposal to spend the majority of the project’s committed federal funding on a dramatically-scaled back “early action” project that would be limited to the area around the Cambridge Street bridge in Allston.

Cross Bronx Boondoggle Would Drag Buses Off Their Routes And Put Another Highway
Streetsblog NYC December 6, 2024
New York State’s Cross Bronx expansion boondoggle requires rerouting a pair of buses and building a previously undisclosed highway exit ramp from the proposed “connector road” next to the Cross Bronx, according to state officials.

Niagara Scenic Parkway project team receives public feedback, as future concepts narrow to 2
Niagara Frontier Publications December 6, 2024
“Traffic calming,” “roundabouts” and “connectivity” were the key words used, as ideas were presented this week on the future – or “reimagining” – of the 5-mile Niagara Scenic Parkway corridor between Findlay Drive in the City of Niagara Falls and Center Street in the Village of Lewiston.

TxDOT wants to keep approving its own federal environmental reviews
KUT News December 7, 2024
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is asking the federal government to let the state continue to approve its own environmental reviews — a delegated authority intended to fast-track highway projects.

Plans coming together for reconnecting 15th Ward once I-81 viaduct comes down
WAER December 9, 2024
The pieces are coming together for projects aimed at improving transportation infrastructure in Syracuse’s old 15th Ward once the I-81 viaduct is torn down. 

Josh Shapiro Is Using Highway Money to Save Mass Transit. Could Hochul Follow?
New York Focus December 9, 2024
Until last month, Philadelphia’s mass transit system was facing a “death spiral.”

Freedom to Move: Investing in Transportation Choices for a Clean, Prosperous, and Just Future
Planetizen December 9, 2024
The new Union of Concerned Scientists study, Freedom to Move: Investing in Transportation Choices for a Clean, Prosperous, and Just Future, shows that a transportation system that gives everyone more transportation choices will be more equitable, save trillions of dollars, and fight climate change.

Lawsuit Challenges the $1.75 Billion 1-94 Expansion
Shepherd Express December 10, 2024
Milwaukee’s latest disruptive freeway expansion could face a proverbial “gapers’ block” as members of the legal system and others pause for a closer look at the project’s implications. 

Why traffic never gets better
Greater Greater Washington December 10, 2024
In 1962, Anthony Downs wrote that there is a Fundamental Law of Highway Congestion: no matter how much road is built, the highway will end up congested again. 

The Intersection of Infrastructure and Environment
T&D World December 10, 2024
Salmon and steel transmission poles are words not often used in the same sentence in the power delivery industry. 

Where Great Highway closure fits in national roadway reexamination
San Francisco Examiner December 10, 2024
A majority of San Francisco voters in November cast ballots in favor of closing part of Great Highway, joining a recent reexamination of the impact of freeways, highways and roadways on urban areas.

Whitfield makes ‘Kensington removal’ a marquee issue in campaign for mayor
WGRZ December 10, 2024
As attorneys for the NYSDOT, a coalition of Humboldt Parkway residents, and community groups wait for Judge Emilio Colaiacovo to render a decision on whether or not the Kensington Expressway project needs a more elaborate environmental study, one Buffalo mayoral candidate is already making the issue a pillar of his campaign. 

University of Texas green lights cap-and-stitch project for Downtown Austin
KVUE December 12, 2024
As TxDOT’s work to expand Interstate 35 through Central Austin is already underway, several entities are planning to build land plazas over the highway.