Transportation advocates rally around Commissioner Eudaly as challenger gains momentum

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Portland Commissioner Chloe Eudaly is in trouble.

As Willamette Week reported today, she’s well behind challenger Mingus Mapps in both polling and fundraising and there’s a very real possibility she won’t earn a second term on council.

This reality has set off alarm bells within Portland’s transportation reform circles. As the commissioner-in-charge of the transportation bureau, Eudaly has led several very popular initiatives. Most notably her office created the Rose Lane Project which has the stated goal of reducing commute times for people of color. Eudaly’s vision of streets as places for much more than just car and truck users is also evident in the Safe Streets Initiative, a major undertaking to make public right-of-way more accessible and safer for vulnerable road users and small business customers.

Portland has a strong transportation activism legacy; but the issue’s political heft has waned significantly in recent years. As other issues like housing

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Virginia’s transportation funding plan was finally in place. ‘Then COVID-19 hit.’ | Govt-and-politics

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Success came in 2013, when the assembly approved a $6 billion transportation funding package — sponsored by then-House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford, and supported by then-Gov. Bob McDonnell — much larger in scope than they originally sought. The final package included long-sought regional funding for transportation priorities in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne, then a member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board, said Southard played an important role in getting the bill passed, as well as subsequent legislation that led to the creation of the Smart Scale program for ranking state transportation projects and committing money to get them done.

“He was a steadfast proponent of transportation funding,” Layne said.

Later, as transportation secretary under Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Layne said he initially clashed with Southard and his industry over reforms to the Public Private Transportation Act to protect the state’s interests in major highway deals with

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Three Gratiot communities seeking transportation millage | News

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Three Gratiot County communities have formed a public transportation authority and are now looking to pass a millage in the Nov. 3 general election to operate it.

Pine River Township, along with the cities of Ithaca and St. Louis are asking voters to approve a five-year, 0.96-mill levy that would provide funding to become part of the Alma Transit system.

 

The millage would raise $117,000 a year in Pine River, $72,000 in Ithaca and $51,000 in St. Louis.

 

Alma has had a similar levy in place for a number of years that funds its Dial-A-Ride bus service.

 

Currently, St. Louis has a contact that pays Alma Transit $10,000 annually to prove some service to city residents.

 

Pine River was paying $2,500 a year but that only covered a small portion of the township between Alma and St. Louis.

 

If the millage passes it would provide the same level of service

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Sharjah Municipality launches bicycle patrols on beaches

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a group of people standing next to a bicycle: NAT 201010 shj beach-1602315591465

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NAT 201010 shj beach-1602315591465

Sharjah: Sharjah Municipality has launched bicycle patrols for the beaches of the city of Sharjah and green spaces in order to educate its users and urge them to adhere to preventive measures. The movement aims to enhance its monitoring and awareness role on beaches and green spaces.

Thabit Al Turaifi, Director General of Sharjah City Municipality launched the first stage, which included five patrols and they were launched from the main building in Al Musalla area. A number of municipality staff attended the ceremony.

Al Turaifi said that the bicycle patrols enhance the monitoring role of the municipality on the beaches of Sharjah, which is characterised by the availability of special lanes for such bicycles, through which the municipality promotes awareness among the public of the importance of adhering to all the instructions and

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Ready to ride in a driverless car? Waymo vans going public in Arizona

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CLOSE

Waymo is expanding the number of its driverless cars in Arizona.

Arizona Republic

PHOENIX – Waymo will allow the general public to download an app and catch a ride in a fully autonomous van – with nobody behind the wheel – in the weeks ahead.

It will be the first time average Janes and Joes can order a ride in the conspicuous Pacifica minivans that buzz around public roads in Chandler, Arizona, and othe Phoenix-area  cities the way they might use a service like Lyft or Uber.

The launch of this new phase of Waymo’s car service, which began with a smaller step Thursday, marks a significant milestone in the company’s march toward offering a fully autonomous ride service.

Waymo, like Google, is a division of California-based Alphabet Inc. The company brought autonomous vehicles to Chandler in 2016 and has incrementally expanded both the area where the cars operate

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Effects Of Climate Change On Transportation Are Not Always Obvious, Immediate : NPR

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Wildfire recently closed I-70 through Colorado for two weeks. It burned steep slopes above the highway, so future closures are likely due to rockfall and mudslides from climate change driven storms.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Some of the effects of climate change are obvious and immediate – more intense wildfires, for example, which means more widespread destruction and heavier lingering smoke on the West Coast, not to mention the rest of the country. Other effects are more subtle and persistent, like an interstate highway that could see ongoing closures for years to come. Colorado Public Radio’s Dan Boyce takes us to a burned over narrow canyon now vulnerable to dangerous rockfall and mudslides.

DAN BOYCE, BYLINE: Summer 2020 was going gangbusters for Steve Nieslanik.

STEVE NIESLANIK: Prior to the canyon closing was the best five weeks we ever had.

BOYCE: He owns an Indian restaurant called Masala and Curry in the

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Bicycle-themed scavenger hunt pushes more people to pedal in Pinellas County

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SAFETY HARBOR, Fla. — Why walk or drive when you can pedal, according to Forward Pinellas. The agency says the number of people bicycling in Tampa Bay has reached record numbers during the pandemic.

“Since 1890, biking has not been as popular as it is right now,” said Angela Ryan, with Forward Pinellas.

Ryan’s favorite mode of transportation involves two wheels, some spokes and a pair of handlebars.

“Bikes are a solution to cities’ traffic problems, bikes are a solution to parking issues, they are also really important for our physical health and the health of our environment,” said Ryan.

Cycling on the Pinellas Trail alone has gone up an average of 100,000 riders a month during the pandemic.

Forward Pinellas is trying to expand on this growth by creating a scavenger hunt made for pedaling.

“So we developed a two-week-long scavenger hunt with 20 different locations throughout Safety Harbor,”

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The German Car Industry Musters for a New Tech Battle

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Having spent years—and tens of billions of dollars—preparing for a shift in production toward electric vehicles, German car makers are expressing a new angst: that digitally “connected cars” could prove even more disruptive to their traditional strengths. This second leg of their race against Tesla could become a fresh excuse to squander investors’ capital.

Daimler set two priorities for technological leadership in a new strategy for its

Mercedes-Benz


DMLRY -1.38%

brand this week: electric drive and car software. For the latter, the company is working on an entire operating system, MB.OS, that from 2024 will run not just Mercedes’s proprietary infotainment system and its mobile broadband connection but also crucial elements of the driving experience, including self-driving features and battery management.

The company will partner with technology specialists for specific applications, notably

Nvidia

for automated driving. Yet the closer the software gets to the customer experience, the more Daimler wants

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Why you should think about your tyres

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Tyres are something that we rarely ever think about. When we buy a car we just kind of assume that they’re going to do the job, and we never really think twice about it. If you want to buy new ones, it really is as simple as going to a website like Renkaat and buying the ones we need.

But have you ever thought about why it’s so important to get the right tyres?

Smoother Journey

The first reason why getting the right tyres is vital is because they’ll help your journey to go smoother. You want to make sure that when you’re driving, you’re as comfortable as you can be. The last thing you’re going to want is for the car itself to start playing up and not doing it’s job properly.

Tyres which are too rough will make the journey bumpy, but tyres that are too smooth will … Read More

‘Transportation is the key issue for a lot of people,’ starting Monday Norfolk voters can cast their ballots at satellite locations

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NORFOLK, Va. – “It’s just an exciting experience,” said Dr. Bill Newell.

An experience that gets Dr. Newell out of the bed every morning to City Hall.

“If you are a citizen of this country and a proud citizen like I am; you want to participate,” he adds.

The 74 year-old has been serving as an election official in the city of Norfolk since the 2008 election. “It’s so amazing that it has taken us this many years to reach this point,” said Newell.

A point where people can now come in and cast their ballots early.

The city’s general registrar tells News 3 that 7,879 people have voted early as of October 9.

Newell said some days have been slow. “The busiest day will be close to a thousand people in a day,” he said.

To help with the crowds the city now has 4 additional locations for people

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