Wednesday’s Headlines: Another Highway Boondoggle Erased Edition

The big news yesterday was a bombshell from New York Focus, which, clearly inspired by Dave Colon’s recent reporting on the demise of the Cross Bronx widening, mused, “Hmm, we wonder about other highway widening.”

Well, reporter Sam Mellins got a huge scoop in reporting that the state Department of Transportation would not widen Route 17 in the Catskills.

Of course, we followed (and added some value). None of the other outlets thought the cancelation of a waste of $1.3 billion in taxpayer money was that big a deal. We beg to differ.

Here’s hoping we see more fiscal restraint when it comes to unnecessary highway widenings, both in Albany and in Washington.

In other news from another slow day on the streets beat:

• More the merrier: NY1 cribbed a lot from our reporting on daylight for its … reporting on daylighting.
• So is Citi Bike cheaper than the subway? It depends … so use this calculator. (Reddit)
• Hell Gate says the newly resilient East River Park is awesome.
• Here’s an interesting “livable streets” case: Who owns the streets in Forest Hills? (NY Post, QNS, Gothamist)
• Check out the taxi driver clubhouse. (The City)
• Chi, DSA. DSA, Chi. (NYDN)