Thursday, April 3, 2025

Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs Scraps Its Ambitious Toronto Project

The Google sibling envisioned a tech-enabled and eco-friendly neighborhood. But residents rebelled over plans to collect and use their data, among other things.

Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs Scraps Its Ambitious Toronto Project

When Google sibling Sidewalk Labs announced in 2017 a $50 million investment into a project to redevelop a portion of Toronto’s waterfront, it seemed...

As Cities Reopen, Outdoor Dining May Provide a Lifeline

Restaurants are anxious to expand beyond takeout, and some researchers believe open-air transmission of the coronavirus is rare.

As Cities Reopen, Outdoor Dining May Provide a Lifeline

The virus can be spread from droplets that an infected person coughs or sneezes, but researchers still aren’t sure how infectious those droplets are....

Covid-19 Spurs a Road Repair Boom—and Threatens a Bust

Empty highways clear the way for speedier construction projects, but loss of fuel taxes could bring them to a halt.

Covid-19 Spurs a Road Repair Boom—and Threatens a Bust

Until a few weeks ago, the California Department of Transportation was girding itself for a summer disaster. Come July, it was planning to shut...

Delivery Robots Aren't Ready—When They Could Be Needed Most

Starship and others building robots for sidewalks have faced criticism for operating there, where they compete with pedestrians and people in wheelchairs for space....

Delivery Robots Aren’t Ready—When They Could Be Needed Most

Americans choosing to —or forced to—stay inside during the Covid-19 pandemic are leaning heavily on food delivery. Instacart sales soared 98 percent, and Amazon...

Hospitals Quickly Reshape to Treat Covid-19 Patients

Until mid-March, the emergency room entrance at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, looked much like the entrance to other ERs: an illuminated red...

The Pandemic Could Be an Opportunity to Remake Cities

Last Tuesday, a Gemballa Mirage GT barrelled into a series of parked cars on a Manhattan street. The driver fled and was arrested. And...

Latest articles

A need to rethink how we assess the health of our nation’s bridges

A year after the Key Bridge collapse, the National Transportation Safety Board is urging the owners of 68 bridges across the U.S. to assess...

Revitalizing Mexico City’s Historic Buenavista Central Station

The current iteration of Buenavista Station debuted in the 1960s and continues to serve as a vital lifeline for thousands of commuters every day....

Shifting gears: Gender equity in transit

Gender inequities in transportation systems have often overlooked women’s travel and safety needs. From biased crash testing to undervalued non-work trips, this Women’s History...

The country’s civil engineers agree: $1.5 trillion didn’t produce good infrastructure

Despite historic levels of investment in infrastructure over the last twenty years, America’s 2025 infrastructure grades for roads, bridges, safety, and transit look mostly...