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☆ Section of major I-95 highway in Philadelphia that collapsed after tanker truck caught fire underneath could take months to repair, officials say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Celina Tebor Zoe Sottile | Celina Tebor | Zoe Sottile | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —A section of northbound I-95 in Philadelphia that collapsed after a tanker truck caught fire underneath the highway Sunday morning could take months to repair, snarling regional commutes and cutting off a major East Coast artery, Pennsylvania officials said. The commercial tanker truck, which was carrying a petroleum-based product, is still trapped under the collapsed highway, Pennsylvania Gov. The destroyed portion of the highway is “likely the busiest interstate in the commonwealth,” seeing around 160,000 vehicles daily, according to Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll. A side view shows the partial collapse of Interstate 95 after a fire underneath a Philadelphia overpass. City of Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management/ReutersWhile the collapse has not affected the city’s drinking water quality, according to a tweet from Philadelphia Water Department, the US Coast Guard is looking out for possible water pollution.

Persons: Josh Shapiro, ” Shapiro, Mike Carroll, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, “, ”, Derek Bowmer, Transportation Pete Buttigieg “, Leslie Richards, “ It’s, ” Buttigieg, Joe Biden, Karine Jean, Pierre, Shailen Bhatt Organizations: CNN, Authorities, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Philadelphia Mayor, SEPTA, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Philadelphia Fire Department, Transportation, Philadelphia Office, Emergency Management, Reuters, Philadelphia Water Department, US Coast Guard, Philadelphia, Twitter, White, Federal Highway Administration, National Transportation Locations: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, detours, Maine, Miami , Florida, City

☆ How charging drivers to go downtown would transform American cities
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

New York City is still clawing out of from the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The plan would also mark the culmination of more than a half-century of efforts to implement congestion pricing in New York City. Ultimately, it was the need to improve New York City’s public transit that became the rallying cry for congestion pricing. The stakes of New York City’s program are high, and leaders in other cities are watching the results closely. “It’s good to see New York City’s program is moving forward,” said the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board last month.

Persons: Joe Biden’s, ”, Kathy Hochul, Michael Bloomberg, Andrew Cuomo —, Yuki Iwamura, Kate Slevin, Sam Schwartz Organizations: New, New York CNN, Central Business District, Federal Highway Administration, New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, ” New York Gov, MTA, Bloomberg, Getty, Regional Plan Association, London, Drivers, Los Angeles Times Locations: New York, New York City, Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, United States, Stockholm, London, Singapore, New Jersey, York, Los Angeles

☆ New Jersey senators seek to delay New York City congestion pricing plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - New Jersey's two Democratic senators and the state's governor said on Monday they are seeking to halt a plan by New York City to adopt a congestion pricing plan in Manhattan, which would be the country's first. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker urged U.S. Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Pete Buttigieg not to grant final approval to environmental reviews needed to implement the congestion pricing plan after his department gave a key approval on May 5. Governor Phil Murphy said he would work "to halt implementation of this misguided tolling plan" and said the state is assessing legal options. Earlier this month, USDOT approved release of the final environmental assessment for New York's congestion pricing plan for public review. New York said drivers could face a traffic congestion charge of up to $23 a day.

☆ New Jersey’s Senators Push Back on Congestion Pricing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Ana Ley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Many transit advocates, community leaders and urban planning experts in New York have celebrated the progress made toward congestion pricing this month, saying it was long overdue. The loudest opposition to the program has come from New Jersey. Mr. Murphy on Monday also unveiled an advertising campaign criticizing the program, complete with billboards near interstate crossings. Other opponents of congestion pricing have included taxi drivers and Lyft and Uber drivers, who worry that fare increases triggered by the tolls could slash demand for taxis and for-hire rides by up to 17 percent. says the program, which would affect drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street, could begin as soon as spring 2024.

☆ American car culture is changing thanks to younger generations. But Gen Z and Millennials see vehicle ownership much differently.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The forward-thinking youths are at it again: This time, they're changing the car culture embedded in American society. Statistics from the Federal Highway Administration show that in 2021, 68% of 19-year-olds had a driver's license. "The turn away from cars is a little like the turn away from marriage and having children," Knowles writes. Throughout his book, Knowles writes that suburban sprawl, and the prevalence of cars, go hand in hand. Getting people, including younger generations, to envision a world with fewer cars is key, Knowles told Insider.

☆ New York City congestion pricing plan clears tall hurdle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 5 (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Friday approved the release of the final environmental assessment for New York City's congestion pricing plan for public comment, a key step before the project can be green-lighted. In August, New York said drivers could face a traffic congestion charge of up to $23 a day in late 2023. New York, which has the most congested U.S. traffic, would become the first major U.S. city to follow London, which began a similar charge in 2003. New York lawmakers approved the plan in 2019, and it was originally projected to start in 2021. The environmental assessment found the charge would cut traffic, improve air quality, make buses more reliable and increase transit use by 1%-2%.

☆ New York City congestion pricing plan clears key hurdle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

☆ N.Y. Congestion Pricing Plan Moves a Step Closer to Reality
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Ana Ley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Vehicles carrying people with disabilities and authorized emergency vehicles would be exempt from the tolls. will literally pilfer out of the pockets of Jersey families will go to the M.T.A.”Other critics include taxi drivers, as well as Lyft and Uber drivers. Manhattan residents who live north of the tolling zone have said they fear that motorists, to skirt the new charge, will cluster in their neighborhoods. To the disappointment of those who oppose the plan altogether, protests will most likely not stop transportation officials from moving ahead, though officials have made tweaks to ease concerns. What’s NextOpponents have threatened legal action if the plan continues to advance.

☆ Harris to close out ‘Invest in America’ tour by announcing $300M in bridge repair funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Donald Judd | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The Biden administration will announce nearly $300 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to repair and replace bridges across eight states and the District of Columbia Thursday, closing out its three week “Invest in America” tour highlighting legislative achievements under President Joe Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris will make the announcement at the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge, which connects Washington, DC, to Northern Virginia and will receive $72 million in funding for repairs, the White House said. According to a fact sheet shared with CNN, the bridge serves over 88,000 vehicles per day. Thursday’s announcement marks the last stop on the administration’s “Invest in America” tour, which Biden launched last month by touring a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Durham, North Carolina. Per an administration official, 20 representatives from the Biden administration traveled to over 50 cities across 25 states during the tour, highlighting $435 billion in funding for 23,000 infrastructure projects in 4,500 cities and towns across the US.

☆ Meet the typical Tesla owner: A white man with a household income over $130,000
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Tesla drivers are typically white men, a study that analyzed Model S, 3, and X owners found. The typical Tesla owner has a household income over $130,000 per year, per the study. The average Tesla owner is an upper middle class white male, according to a study from Hedges & Company, a digital marketing firm for automakers. The analysis found Tesla drivers largely come from the upper middle class (commonly referred to as individuals that have household incomes over $100,000 per year). Hedges and Company's analysis mostly lines up with other studies of Tesla drivers when it comes to gender and income.

[1/3] A Tesla is charged at an electric car supercharger station in Los Angeles, California, U.S. August 2, 2018. A dearth of chargers on U.S. roads has slowed the growth of EV sales and the positive environmental impact, advocates say. In January of last year, Tesla wrote the Federal Highway Administration, offering the Biden administration suggestions on how to shape the charging program. In Ohio, the company responded to a recent request that companies submit charging proposals, state officials told Reuters. The Department of Transportation next week will detail final requirements that all electric vehicle chargers must meet to be eligible for funding under the $7.5 billion effort to electrify highways and interstates across the nation.

☆ Biden highlights bipartisanship during House GOP chaos
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"To have a Congress that can't function is just embarrassing," Biden said before he left Kentucky to return to Washington. The GOP senator called the bridge an example of bipartisanship that the "country needs to see." "The Brent Spence bridge is one of them. The Brent Spence, which carries Interstates 71 and 75 between Cincinnati and northern Kentucky, was declared functionally obsolete by the Federal Highway Administration in the 1990s. "We're going to get it fixed," Trump said about the Brent Spence, which he called "dangerous."

☆ The typical Tesla driver is a Millennial or Gen-Z man that lives in an area with a median household income of $85,000
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Most Tesla drivers were 34-years-old or younger and lived in areas with median household incomes that averaged $85,000. Some 30,000 of those trips were taken by 228 Tesla drivers, allowing them to determine how the electric-car drivers compare to others on the road. The average median household income across the zip codes Tesla drivers called home was $85,000, while non-Tesla drivers had median household incomes of $62,000, Jerry reported. And about a third of the Tesla drivers lived in zip codes with median household incomes of $100,000 or more. Jerry's analysis mostly lines up with previous studies of Tesla drivers, and is the most recent to date.

☆ U.S. approves 50 states' EV charging plans
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

An electric vehicle charge station by ChargePoint, Inc. is seen outside New York City Hall in Manhattan, New York, U.S., December 8, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew KellyWASHINGTON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) said on Tuesday it has approved the electric vehicle charging station plans for all 50 states, Washington and Puerto Rico covering about 75,000 miles (120,700 kms) of highways. The White House announced earlier this month it had approved 35 of the 50 state plans. USDOT's Federal Highway Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how many charging stations the funds would support. Federal funds will cover 80% of EV charging costs, with private or state funds making up the balance.

☆ Biden administration picks former Chicago, DC transportation leader to head EV charging program
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Matt Mcfarland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Washington, DC CNN Business —Gabe Klein, who has led transportation departments in Washington, DC and Chicago, will head the Biden administration’s $7.5 billion program to build out the country’s electric vehicle charging network. His leadership in DC and Chicago was marked by being among the first transportation departments to embrace emerging transportation trends like car-sharing, bikeshare and bike lanes. Gabe Klein, shown in 2015 in Washington, DC, will lead the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. Electric vehicles have much smaller carbon footprints than gas-powered vehicles over the typical lifetime of a vehicle. The federal government passed new tax credits for electric vehicles last month.

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