Photo by Graham Davis on Flickr.

Detroit is instituting a tax to pay for more transit, the world’s longest rail tunnel just opened in Switzerland, and Expedia is moving to Seattle, but wants to be suburban. Check out what’s happening around the country in transportation, land use, and other related areas!

Motorbus city: Detroit is going to put a tax measure on the November ballot that would pay for an expanded transit network. The plan has been in the works for 3 years, and would include bus rapid transit lines, improved bus service, universal fare cards, and a Detroit-to-Ann Arbor commuter rail line. (MLive)

All about that Base: Wednesday marked the first run for trains traveling through the 35-mile Gotthard Base Tunnel under the Swiss Alps, now the longest rail tunnel in the world. The project took 17 years and cost $12.5 billion dollars. Project planners claim that a million trucks a year will be taken off the road as goods are shipped through the tunnel’s rails. (New York Times)

Suburban campus: Expedia is leaving its offices in Bellevue, WA to move into Seattle. But unlike Amazon, which is downtown, Expedia will be in a more suburban, car-friendly campus, away from high-rise buildings. (Wall Street Journal)

Bad reputation rebrand: Dongguan, a city in southern China, has a reputation for prostitutes and crime. The state hired Hong Kong designers to re-shape the city using modular designs. The project is ambitious, yet officials know it won’t fix all their problems. (Fast Company Design)

Shh, don’t tell: Cities are hip and fashionable these days, but some of the people you might expect to end up with that loft on a lively street have instead opted for the suburbs. They might even be a little embarrassed about it, but should they be? No. (Philadelphia Magazine)

Red Zone: An influential New York transportation planner in the 70s and 80s, Sam Schwartz created the term “gridlock” and was an early champion of congestion pricing and car-free zones. He’s happy to now enjoy some of the ideas he never got to implement, like bike lanes and public plazas. (Guardian Cities)

Quote of the Week

“The floods of 20 years ago are not as bad as the floods that are going to be 20 years from now. But [FEMA’s maps] only look at historic experience.” Michael Gerrard in an article on Frontline describing how many FEMA floodmaps are out of date and don’t take into account the effects of Climate Change.