Bus Dramatically Plunges Off Bridge; Driver, Passengers Hurt
An articulated bus dramatically plunged off a bridge in New York City late Thursday, leaving its front half hanging over a highway ramp, its fall broken only by the road below.
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highways
Risky Driving: US Traffic Deaths Up Despite Virus Lockdowns
The number of people killed on the nation’s highways rose 4.6% in the first nine months of 2020 despite coronavirus lockdowns that curtailed driving early in the year.
Read morePolitical Ads
A federal court in California ruled in favor of Attorney General Xavier Becerra in a case challenging California’s Outdoor Advertising Act, which limits political ads on billboards near highways to 90 days before elections. Plaintiff NorCal Outdoor Media lacked standing to bring the suit, the court decided.
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Ninth Circuit Clears Path for Contested Highway Project in Ancient Redwood Grove
The Ninth Circuit gave California a green light Wednesday to move forward with a contested highway project through a majestic grove of ancient redwood trees, reversing a lower court ruling that halted construction pending further environmental review.
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Kosovo’s Rival Communities Reach Deal on World Heritage Site
Italian mediation on Thursday helped resolve a long-running dispute between Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian government and the Serb minority, allowing a highway project that will bypass a historic Christian Orthodox monastery listed as an endangered World Heritage site.
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German Tolls Shouldn’t Include Police Fees, Court Rules
German highway tolls are too high, the EU’s high court ruled Wednesday, calling out the country’s inclusion of policing costs in autobahn fees.
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Truckers Ask Panel to Put Brakes on Indiana Toll for Heavy Vehicles
States cannot unfairly single out heavy vehicles in their operation of toll roads, a trucking association challenging Indiana’s toll system argued before a Seventh Circuit panel Monday.
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Fight Over Redwood Highway Rehab Cruises Into Ninth Circuit
California officials appeared in front of a three-judge panel at the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to argue a highway construction project running through an old-growth grove of magnificent redwood trees would not harm the forest.
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Oilfield Group Warns of Uptick in Deadly Crashes, Even as Industry Slows
Deadly crashes on highways in the West Texas oil patch have ticked up even as oil production has slowed down, raising concerns about anxiety-fueled distracted drivers.
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Planners Envision an Electric Highway Future
The U.S. interstate highway system covers 800,000 acres which are “doing nothing but holding up concrete,” an electric-vehicle advocate said at a “Transportation Revolution” symposium Tuesday, envisioning highways lined with solar panels delivering power directly to autonomous semitrucks.
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Trump Moves to Fast-Track Projects by Cutting Environmental Review
The Trump administration on Thursday proposed scaling back a key environmental law to reduce the time it takes to assess the environmental impact of major federal projects like oil pipelines.
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Netherlands to Lower Speed Limits in Effort to Cut Emissions
Daytime speed limits in the Netherlands will likely be reduced to 62 mph next year to combat nitrogen emissions.
Read moreRhode Island Grilled at Hearing on Truck-Focused Tolls
A lawyer for Rhode Island faced stern questions Tuesday from the First Circuit while defending the state’s system of making only large trucks pay bridge and highway tolls.
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EPA Threatens to Cut California Road Funds Over ‘Chronic’ Smog
Amid a growing dispute over climate change and vehicle emissions standards, the Trump administration on Tuesday threatened to withhold highway funding and other federal grants from California over its “chronic air quality problems.”
Read moreLawmakers Debate Ways to Ease Traffic on US Roads
In 2017, people driving to work in the Washington, D.C., metro area each paid an average of $1,840 in extra costs related to being stuck in traffic, wasted 38 gallons in fuel idling on freeways and spent an extra 102 hours on roadways, for a total of 248 million hours lost to congestion delays.
Read moreAdministration Takes Step to Relax Trucker Drive-Time Rules
The Trump administration has taken a step closer to relaxing federal regulations governing the amount of time truck drivers can spend behind the wheel, a move that was long sought by the trucking industry but opposed by safety advocates who warn it could lead to more highway crashes.
Read moreFederal Lands
The Natural Resources Defense Council claims in a federal complaint that endangered cacti, sensitive shale soils and riparian areas are at risk after the Interior Department lifted a 12-year-old closure of off-highway vehicle travel on 5,400 acres in the Factory Butte area of Utah, without environmental review.
Read moreBlind Salamander
The Save Our Springs Alliance claims in a federal complaint that the Texas Department of Transportation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refused to protect the endangered Austin blind salamander from the Oak Hill Parkway development.
Read moreTurnpike-Toll Class Action Pulls Into Third Circuit
Fuming over tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike that rake in 300% of operation costs, a truck company urged the Third Circuit on Tuesday to revive its $6 billion class action.
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