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On the road again: Every year, state and local governments around the United States set their sights on big new highway projects, promising to address the demands of congestion, aging infrastructure, and a growing population. As these projects jockey for federal funds, the transportation needs they’re supposed to be addressing often go unexamined, while the costs to taxpayers grow ever larger.
For the past five years, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group has compiled an annual list of the worst “highway boondoggles,” calling out some of the country’s most spendy and questionable roadways. This year’s culprits include a highway expansion in the heart of Portland, a six-lane corridor in Raleigh, a proposal to fatten a Houston highway, and a High Desert Freeway to connect California’s Inland Empire—plus five others. Together, they are set to consume about $25 billion, driven by a formula that encourages driving at the expense of other, less costly transportation alternatives. CityLab’s Laura Bliss digs into the report: Americans Are Spending Billions on Bad Highway Expansions
Bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators are crucial to helping plants reproduce. Without them, about 90 percent of the world’s wild flowers couldn’t survive, nor would many of the plants we rely on for food. But cities are finding ways to protect pollinators, in part through urban gardens they can consider “home.” The efforts don’t have to be citywide: They can take hold in places as small as a backyard, community garden, or windowsill box. And there are all sorts of ways humans can help their flower-loving neighbors thrive. Visual storyteller Ariel Aberg-Riger shares the story: How Birds and Bees Survive in the City
L.A.-to-Vegas and back by electric car means eight hours of driving, five hours of charging (New York Times)
Your business-casual office is killing the planet (Outside)
Can coworking companies sell inclusive communities? (Curbed)
How 9 people built an illegal $5 million Airbnb empire in New York (Wired)
Trump postpones ICE’s planned deportation raids in big cities (Vox)
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