Future pedestrianized Broadway in NYC. Image from Streetsblog.

Midtown Manhattan’s Broadway to go pedestrian-only: Times Square and Herald Square are some of the nation’s most crowded outdoor spaces. Diagonal Broadway jams up traffic on Sixth and Seventh Avenues, by taking away traffic signal time from the avenues. Yesterday, New York announced an innovative solution

: close Broadway to traffic in these areas. Pedestrians may finally have enough room, and it’ll actually reduce car delays. (Tips: Greater Greater Dad, Robert H.-D., Andrew K., and others.)

Go blogs! Yesterday’s Broadway announcement is also a huge win for Streetsblog, the New York City Streets Renaissance Campaign, Transportation Alternatives, and other advocates who have persuaded the NYC government to completely transform its approach to transportation. A Wednesday segment about the future of news on NPR’s Marketplace mentioned the rapid rise of small, online-only news operations focused on city government, local politics, and development.

T4A launches platform: The national Transportation For America coalition officially launched their platform on Capitol Hill today. It calls for this fall’s transportation bill (TEA) to fund a 21st-century network that allocates transportation dollars based on objectives, like lowering carbon emissions and ensuring economic access, rather than set amounts for highways and (much smaller amounts) for transit.

PG neighbors debate highway widening, light rail: Residents of Temple Hills, Clinton and Brandywide debated widening Route 5 south of the Beltway. Some residents are eager for the widening, while others don’t want the sprawl it will bring to southern Prince George’s and counties to the south; some are pleased about the county’s proposed light rail corridor, while others worry about the development that could result. (Gazette)

Reject a bungalow, get a skinny box: A developer built a 12-foot-wide modernist house on a lot in Arlington after neighbors rejected a zoning variance to put two bungalows in the place of one.

Up in Montgomery-land: The new Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville will be much worse for walkers (JUTP) … The debate over Falkland Chase continues (Gazette) … JUTP’s Dan Reed and some friends encountered a Rockville leasing agent who said they “don’t look like [they] could afford to live here” (Diamondback Online)

And: The Historic Preservation Review Board approved the revised design for the Whitman-Walker redevelopment project at 14th and S (CSNA) … Metro has started layoffs (Examiner) … the Senate passed the voting rights bill, with an amendment repealing DC’s gun laws, but which will probably come out in conference. (Post, City Paper) … The Virginia House rejected a bill to give residents the right to dry clothes on clotheslines.