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Why we need to raise the gas tax — and then get rid of it (Washington Post) 

An interview with Rep. Earl Blumenauer about the looming insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund, the need to raise the federal gas tax in the short-term to patch up the fund and then eventually replace it with a vehicle mile tax. Good interview with a lot of information about the history of the gas tax and how a VMT could work.

Five lessons U.S. transit systems should learn from London (Citylab)

On the list are annual fare increases to keep pace with operating costs, service upgrades corresponding with fare hikes, technology upgrades and both leasing and developing agency property. That last one is something I know many of our readers have said that Metro should be doing given there seems to be available space at some transit stations.

New Sixth Street viaduct will have climbable 60-foot arches (Curbed LA)

The new bridge over the Los Angeles River is still being designed but it looks like a pair of the arches will have stairs to the top to provide views of the river and downtown Los Angeles. Sounds like a good sunrise/sunset photo spot!

Garcetti website getting good (LAObserved) 

Bill Boyarsky likes the improvements to the DataLA website, which he says pulls together the kind of data from a variety of sources that allows people to come to conclusions about the performance of city government and the local economy. I think all government agencies should take a look — as most agencies, including Metro, are sitting on a pile of performance data that often resides in many different places. Consolidating that data and making it presentable and easy to navigate is a ton of work, of course. It’s also good for democracy.

How to photograph fireworks (Ken Rockwell) 

A very helpful guide for those planning on shooting some pics tomorrow night. And, of course, our PSA: You can Go Metro to many of the fireworks displays around our region from Long Beach to downtown L.A. to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. We’ll have a post up soon.