U.S. cities are planning investments to make their communities greener and spur an economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.
In Los Angeles, residents have grown accustomed to walking and biking on their streets and dining on sidewalks with fewer cars on the road. The city is looking at ways to extend policies to turn more pavement over to pedestrians and cyclists. Oakland, California is moving to banish cars from 74 miles, or around 10% percent, of its streets.
New Orleans is spending hundreds of millions of dollars worth of infrastructure projects to protect it from rising seas and storms. The Crescent City is also installing more electric vehicle charging stations, and plans to make solar panels more easily available for households.
Many of these projects will address the need to reduce air pollution, which has been cited as a factor that exacerbates the effects of COVID-19 on those who contract the disease.
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