$7.5 Billion for EV Chargers, None Built Yet

Every day at The Overhead Wire we sort through over 1,500 news items about cities and share the best ones with our email list. At the end of the week, we take some of the most popular stories and share them with Urban Milwaukee readers. They are national (or international) links, sometimes entertaining and sometimes absurd, but hopefully useful.

EU looks to ban large US vehicles: The European Union is considering whether to close a loophole that allows large American-style pickup trucks to be sold and operate in Europe. 6,800 oversized trucks were sold in the EU in 2022 and Belgian researchers found that pedestrians or cyclists are three times as likely to be killed by a large truck than in a collision with a car. (Lucien Mathieu | Transport & Environment)

BRT and autocentric land uses: Plans for a drive-thru on Colfax Avenue in Denver where a future BRT line will run are causing local urbanists to think deeper about zoning changes that were supposed to support more walkable building forms in certain districts. Existing zoning creates restrictions that prioritizes pedestrians but still allows auto based uses and a zoning overlay might not fix the problem. (Andy Cushen | Denver Urbanism)

$7.5B for EV chargers but not one built yet: As sales of electric vehicles increases, the demand for vehicle chargers grows as well. In anticipation of this need, the IIJA (Infrastructure Bill) set aside $7.5B for charging infrastructure, much of it to be distributed through states. But 27 states and DC have yet to start soliciting bids from installation companies and those that have are yet to distribute any funds. States that prepared for charging networks even before the bill such as Ohio however, are way ahead of everyone else. (James Bikales | Politico)

Two schemes for fighting poverty: Alan Ehrenhalt discusses two schemes for fighting poverty and wonders which one works better. Does investing in disadvantaged neighborhoods reap rewards with programs like enterprise or opportunity zones, or does moving people to places with more economic opportunity improve outcomes? The place based investment strategy he argues in the end, might be the best way forward, even if it sometimes fails. (Alan Ehrenhalt | Governing Magazine)

Indoor air pollution deadly: Indoor air pollution around the world is responsible for 3.2 million deaths according to the World Health Organization. It primarily effects people in middle and low income countries where residents have open fires in homes or use fuel for cooking. But in the United States, the most common causes of indoor air pollution are cigarette smoke, radon, and particulates from any number of sources including cooking and building materials. (Ana Clara Faria | Salon)

Quote of the Week

It was suggested that the commissioners of Kitsap Transit take a day and just use the bus system. The immediate response was, ‘Well, we don’t have time to do that.’

-Blind advocate and Kitsap County resident Kris Colcock in an Urbanist article wondering why transit boards are full of non-riders.

This week on the podcast, we’re joined by author Ben Goldfarb to talk about his book, Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet.

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