DENVER, Colo. — Jonathon Stalls knows the dangers of being a pedestrian in Denver. In the winter, he has to walk through mud and snow alongside busy streets.

"You have engineering that has long, long, been centering high-speed car traffic as the priority," he said.

Jonathon became an advocate for safer streets after he walked across the entire country. He now documents what he says are fatal flaws in infrastructure that are a symptom of generations of prioritizing car travel on social media under the name "Pedestrian Dignity."

The Governors Highway Safety Association says pedestrian traffic deaths have been rising steadily since 2010, increasing faster than all other kinds of traffic deaths. Last year, was a record-breaking year.

The association estimates that 7,485 pedestrians were killed last year, an 11.5% increase from 2020.

It fits into the larger picture of America’s unsafe roads. Nearly 43,000 people died on roads last year, a sharp 10.5% spike from 2020. About 17% of those deaths were pedestrians.

"Our city streets were designed primarily to move cars, to move as many cars as fast as possible with pedestrians, bicyclists, people trying to access their transit system, basically an afterthought," said Jill Locantore, the executive director of Denver Street Partnerships.

Locantore works to connect lawmakers with changemakers to make sure pedestrians are heard. She says the conversations her group is having are being echoed in cities nationwide

"Pedestrians and bicyclists are the most vulnerable and the most likely to be hit and killed in a crash, but our streets are unsafe for everybody. There's a lot of drivers and passengers of cars that are dying in preventable traffic crashes as well," she said.

It seems the federal government is listening. At the end of October, the U.S. Department of Transportation released a set of guidelines on how to create safer streets for pedestrians, hoping cities will use some of the $9 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law to improve streets with pedestrians and cyclists in mind.

Stalls, who wrote a book on how to invite people into the conversation of changing streets, says a good place to start is exposing more lawmakers and drivers to the realities that pedestrians face.

"Consider replacing some of your car trips if you're a driver so that you can have just awareness and be an agent of community and change for how you vote, how you might organize, how you support people," he said.

PHILADELPHIA —

The driver of a tractor-trailer hauling gasoline lost control on an off-ramp and flipped the tanker truck on its side in a wreck that set it afire and destroyed a section of the East Coast’s main north-south highway, Pennsylvania's top transportation official said Monday.

In the first official accounting of a wreck that threw hundreds of thousands of morning commutes into chaos and disrupted untold numbers of businesses, state Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll said the driver was northbound “trying to navigate the curve, lost control of the vehicle, landed on its side and ruptured the tank.”

The driver was feared dead, and a relative of a New Jersey truck driver who has not been heard from since Sunday told The Philadelphia Inquirer that investigators had contacted the family in an effort to identify human remains recovered from the wreckage.

Pennsylvania State Police said a body was turned over to the Philadelphia medical examiner and coroner, but did not identify the remains or respond when asked if they belonged to the driver.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, speaking of those on the roadway and not the trucker, said he “found myself thanking the Lord that no motorists who were on I-95 were injured or died.”

Interstate 95 will be closed in both directions for weeks as the summer travel season kicks into high gear. The elevated southbound portion of I-95 will have to be demolished, as well as the northbound side, Carroll said. Motorists should avoid the northeast corner of the sixth-largest city in the country, transportation officials said.

The accident also disrupted the automotive route from Canada to Florida through the Boston, New York and Washington metropolitan areas, increasing Americans' dependence on air travel and on the interstate rail network.

Videos shared on social media showed a number of close calls around the accident, with people driving through the area as flames licked upward from the fire below.

The National Transportation Safety Board was on the scene Sunday night. Federal investigators have been collecting information about the truck and talking with the company and emergency responders in order to understand the sequence of events. They are expected to make a preliminary report within weeks.

The damaged I-95 segment carries about 160,000 vehicles daily, Carroll said. State police don't know if the driver was speeding, and no other vehicle has been found. Officials said they had been in contact with the trucking company, but they did not identify it.

Carroll said the highway span was 10 to 12 years old, had appeared sound, and officials blamed the damage on the heat of the fire, which took about an hour to control.

Video below: Shapiro speaks on the collapse at a news conference

Shapiro signed a disaster declaration Monday, saying it gives state agencies the ability to skip normal bidding-and-contracting requirements so the span can be repaired faster.

He said a flight he took over the area showed “just remarkable devastation.”

High heat from the fire or the impact of an explosion could have weakened the steel beams supporting the overpass, according to Drexel University structural engineering Professor Abi Aghayere. Bridges like the one that collapsed don't typically have fire protection, like concrete casing, he added. It could have been coated in a fire-retarding paint, but even then the beams could have been weakened.

“It just gives you time,” he said.

Among many transportation changes across the region, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said it was operating three extra morning and late afternoon trains on its Trenton, New Jersey, line, and adding capacity to regularly scheduled lines during peak hours following the collapse.

The collapsed section of I-95 was part of a $212 million reconstruction project that wrapped up four years ago, state Transportation Department spokesman Brad Rudolph said. PennDOT rated the 104-foot span as in “good” condition earlier this year, with another inspection set for 2025.

Shapiro, a Democrat, said the complete rebuild of I-95 would take “some number of months,” and in the meantime officials were looking at “interim solutions to reconnect I-95 and get traffic through the area."

Joseph L. Schofer, a retired professor of civil and environmental engineering from Northwestern University, said a big challenge for PennDOT in quickly replacing the bridge could be getting heavy-duty steel beams of a hundred feet or more.

Ensuring the precise length necessary — either by finding the construction records or taking measurements — and finding a fabricator to make them could take time, he said.

“You can’t go online to Amazon and order it and have it delivered the next day,” said Schofer, who also hosts a podcast on infrastructure.

In California, a similar situation happened with a highway ramp in Oakland. It was replaced in 26 days, he said.

“Now that’s almost a miracle,” Schofer said. In Atlanta, an elevated portion of Interstate 85 collapsed in a fire, shutting down the heavily traveled route through the heart of the city in March 2017. It took authorities there 43 days to replace it, Schofer said.

In Pennsylvania, officials were also concerned about the environmental effects of runoff into the nearby Delaware River.

After a sheen was seen in the Delaware River near the collapse site, the Coast Guard deployed a boom to contain the material. Ensign Josh Ledoux said the tanker had a capacity of 8,500 gallons, but the contents did not appear to be spreading into the environment.

From the Rockies to New England, an expansive system is dumping snow and creating an ice storm that brought dangerous conditions from Arkansas through Ohio.

The messy winter storm turned deadly, prompting treacherous road conditions as more than 85 million Americans are under winter weather warnings or advisories Friday.

Trucks and cars were at a standstill in northwest Kentucky. Near Houston, Texas, at least ten vehicles were involved in a pile-up after skidding across an icy roadway, making a travel nightmare for drivers near San Antonio.

A woman there said she was stuck on an interstate for more than 12 hours as police declared the road "not drivable." As of Friday afternoon, ice-covered and downed power lines left more than 300,000 customers without electricity. Nearly half of those outages were reported in Tennessee.

In New Mexico, authorities say two people died in weather-related crashes as more than three feet of snow piled up. In Alabama, one person was killed after the storm spun up a likely tornado, leaving several others injured. Forecasters say the severe weather there was on the warm side of the winter storm.  

In Memphis, a doorbell camera captured the moment a tree limb snapped under the weight of the ice. The National Weather Service is encouraging people to stay home as officials reported crash-after-crash on interstates. 

New York City and Boston are under a winter weather advisory until 7 p.m. tonight for freezing rain and sleet. Both cities were hit hard by heavy snow during last week's powerful nor'easter and could experience ice piling up to a tenth of an inch.

This story was originally published by Maura Sirianni of Newsy.

DICKSON, Tenn. — A Tennessee state trooper delivered a baby on the shoulder of a Nashville-area interstate earlier this week.

Trooper Aaron Ranker of the Tennessee Highway Patrol was responding to a crash on Interstate 40 in Nashville on Tuesday evening when he got a second call for help.

When he arrived at the scene, he saw that Sharie Madrid was in labor.

"With my medical experience I did realize, it was imminent, and there was no waiting for the ambulance, and was able to walk her through the birth, and was able to birth a beautiful baby boy," Ranker said.

Before he was a trooper, Ranker was an EMT. It was the third baby he'd delivered during his career.

He said he was lucky to be nearby when the call came.

"I usually work midnights, 8 p.m. to 7 a.m," Ranker said. "But for the fact that I happened to be two miles away, experienced, and even on shift at that time, is just, the factors are unbelievable."

The mother and her baby are both healthy. Madrid said the trooper saved the day.

"It happened so fast," Madrid said. "Couldn't have asked for a better trooper to come be there for me. I would have not been able to do it without him."

It was cold, but fortunately, Ranker had blankets in his car.

"We have some parts of our job that are, you know, kind of tough sometimes. But to do something like that just means everything in the world," Ranker said.

Madrid is currently staying at a hospital in Dickson. They'll soon make their way back to their home in Mississippi.

"It was wild, that's for sure. Didn't really have a lot of time to process," Madrid said.

Madrid's husband, James, said the couple hasn't decided on a name yet because the baby came three weeks early.

"Very excited, very happy," James Madrid said.

The baby boy is the couple's second child together.

This story was originally published by Alexandra Koehn on Scripps station WTVF in Nashville.

More than 53 million Americans will be traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday this week.Ninety percent of those travelers will be driving. The holiday get-away is expected to ramp up Tuesday evening.According to AAA, travelers driving Wednesday between 12 p.m. and 8 p.m. will encounter the most company on the roads. If you're leaving Wednesday, you might be better off waiting until late evening. On Thursday the worst time to travel is between noon and 3 p.m.Some drivers said they have a strategy to beat the traffic. "Leave tomorrow, go visit some friends in Buffalo, do a Friendsgiving as they call it, and then hopefully get myself back here for my own Thanksgiving — barring traffic and weather," said Julian Ortiz, of Norwich, Connecticut.After Thanksgiving, AAA says peak travel hours will be Friday between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. will be the busiest.On Sunday, when most people head home, expect the roads to be packed from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

BROWN COUNTY, Ohio — The driver of a pickup truck was airlifted to the hospital Friday morning after a head-on collision involving a school bus.

Brown County Dispatch confirmed air care responded to a collision between a truck and school bus before 9 a.m. along Purdy Road in Sardinia. The bus belonged to Eastern Local Schools, and Superintendent Dr. Michele Filon said the district is fully cooperating with the investigation.

None of the 20 children on the bus were seriously injured, but the family of the 39-year-old pickup truck driver said he has broken bones and may need surgery. Troopers said the driver was on his way to work when the crash happened.

Britton Denny, a man who lived near the crash, said he helped pull the students out of the back of the bus after the vehicle had extensive damage to the front.

"They were terrified," Denny said. "[I] really just tried to talk them down, calm them down and get the adrenaline to stop flowing, but I don't think there was a kid who came off that bus that wasn't crying."

Ohio State Highway Patrol said it is still unclear how the crash happened.

The crash comes one day after several students were taken to the hospital when a pickup truck hit the back of a Middletown City Schools bus. All of the students had "minor injuries" per the city's communications manager.

CINCINNATI —

A project to replace the skylight at the Cincinnati Library's downtown location is underway.

It is the first phase of the Downtown Main Library's building improvement project. Crews placed a construction crane directly underneath the skylight on E. 9th Street. As a result, 9th Street between Vine Street and Walnut Street will be closed to all street and pedestrian traffic. The project is expected to continue through December.

Anyone who wishes to visit the library is asked to enter through the Walnut Street entrance or through the garden gate. The Downtown Main Library's drive-thru and parking lots will be closed.

Later this month, work will begin to disassemble the book sculpture and fountain on the Vine Street Plaza, which will be moved into temporary storage so renovations on the plaza can begin.

Hamilton County voters passed Issue 3, a levy that increased property taxes, to pay for the library improvements in 2018.

Giannis Antetokounmpo ended one of the greatest NBA Finals ever with 50 points and a championship Milwaukee waited 50 years to win again.

Antetokounmpo had 50 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots as the Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns 105-98 on Tuesday night to win the series 4-2.

It was the third game this series with at least 40 points and 10 rebounds for Antetokounmpo, a dominant, debut finals performance that takes its place among some of the game's greatest.

He shot 16 for 25 from the field and made an unbelievable 17-of-19 free throws — a spectacular performance for any shooter, let alone one who was hitting just 55.6% in the postseason and was ridiculed for it at times.

He hopped around the court waving his arms with 20 seconds remaining to encourage fans to cheer, but it was way too late for that.

Their voices had been booming inside and outside for hours by then, having waited 50 years to celebrate a winner after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson led the Bucks to the championship in 1971.

In a season played largely without fans, the Bucks had 65,000 of them packed into the Deer District outside, a wild party that figured to last deep into the Midwestern night.
Confetti rained down inside as fans chanted "Bucks in 6! Bucks in 6!" — which began as a hopeful boast by a former player turning out to be a prophetic rallying cry.

The Bucks became the fifth team to win the NBA Finals after trailing 2-0 and the first to do it by winning the next four games since Miami against Dallas in 2006.

Chris Paul scored 26 points to end his first NBA Finals appearance in his 16th season. Devin Booker added 19 points but shot just 8 for 22 and missed all seven 3-pointers after scoring 40 points in each of the last two games.

The teams that came into the NBA together as expansion clubs in 1968 delivered a fine finals, with the last three games all in the balance deep into the fourth quarter.

The Bucks won them largely because of Antetokounmpo, a two-time MVP in the regular season who raised his game even higher in the finals and was voted the NBA Finals MVP.

The Larry O'Brien trophy was presented to the Bucks by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.

This story will be updated shortly.

COVINGTON, Ky. — Drivers who have just gotten used to the new traffic patterns on the Brent Spence Bridge should brace themselves for another shakeup this week.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced Monday new lane closures on the Interstate 71/75 span across the Ohio River that will go into effect this coming weekend. The changes will impact northbound traffic only.

Starting at 10 p.m. Friday, access to I-75 north from the bridge will be closed as crews prepare for the next phase of maintenance and repainting. Once that setup is complete, crews will then close the bridge's access to I-71 north. KYTC officials said they expect that closure to remain in effect until 5 a.m. Sunday, at which point the longer-term lane patterns will be put into place.

By Sunday morning, the two center northbound lanes on the bridge will be closed, leaving the far-right and far-left lanes open: The far-right lane will provide access to I-71, and the far-left lane will provide access to I-75.

Officials expect this traffic pattern to remain in effect through Sunday, Aug. 29. The southbound traffic patterns — the two right lanes are open, while the two left lanes are closed — will remain in place.

Also in the release, KYTC District 6 chief engineer Bob Yeager said the maintenance project remained on schedule.

"We are more than 50% complete with the maintenance project on the bridge," he said. "This is a routine project that is part of the normal lifecycle of a major structure like the Brent Spence Bridge."

Yeager also emphasized in the release that inspections of the bridge show it remains safe to carry vehicles.

"They continue to reiterate the structure is sturdy, it is safe, and our maintenance work will ensure it stays that way," he said.

When KYTC first announced the project, they estimated work would continue through November 2021.

COVINGTON, Ky. — Construction on a new pedestrian bridge in downtown Covington will mean traffic and parking headaches Tuesday, city officials said.

Three 117-foot-long semi-trailers will deliver three 96,000-pound concrete beams Tuesday morning as part of what will become a new mixed-use bridge that will span the CSX railroad tracks at 11th Street between Madison Avenue and Russell Street.

In a news release, a city spokesperson said the trucks will arrive from Lexington around 10:30 a.m., although potential gridlock along Interstate 71/75 could delay that arrival. The trucks will exit the freeway at 12th Street before maneuvering along Pike, Seventh, Scott, West 10th and North Washington streets before a crane unloads them.

Drivers should expect restricted parking along those streets, the release indicated.

The new 12-feet-wide bridge will replace a retired span that crews demolished earlier this year. It will accommodate all types of non-vehicular traffic, including walkers, runners and bicyclists.

CINCINNATI —

It happened in a flash.

A 10-year-old boy is in critical condition after he ran out into the path of an oncoming car and was struck in Westwood Tuesday afternoon.

It happened around 2:30 p.m. in the 3200 block of Montana Avenue outside of a crosswalk.

He ran right into the path of a white Chrysler 200.

"The car saw him at the last minute and tried to stop real fast," the woman said.

She said she called 911 as the boy's brother carried him out of the street.

Investigators said the boy was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital with life-threatening injuries. He is currently listed in critical but stable condition.

Neighbors are hoping for the best.

Some were nearby as the boy ran into the path of a car outside of a crosswalk. They said there was nothing they could do.

"I was crying, screaming Jesus name. His mom was crying," a woman who did not want to be identified said.

That woman did not want to share her name or show her face in an interview, but the pain of the situation could be heard in her voice as she recounted a horrific crash steps from her porch.

"Quick as you can blink your eye, it happened fast. I had close my eyes because I knew he wasn't making it across that street, you know, I saw it and I just did like this and I heard it, 'boom' and then I opened my eyes and he was laying on the ground," she said.

The driver was visibly upset and police said he cooperated completely. Cincinnati police said he was wearing his seatbelt at the time of the crash and wasn't injured.

Excessive speed and impairment do not appear to be factors in the crash.

Neighbors said the area is packed with cars and kids.

"It's a rarity that kids run out in the street, but it's always busy. It's constantly with kids," neighbor Holly Kenerly said.

They said this scene is a reminder of the danger anytime anyone steps off of one of these curbs.

"Just be mindful. Be mindful of your surroundings. Kids, adults, drivers," Kenerly said.

We were unable to talk with any of the boy's family about how he is doing.

Neighbors said they are praying for all involved.

Anyone who witnessed the crash is asked to call the Cincinnati Police Department's Traffic Unit at 513-352-2514.

The bourbon will flow again, flowery hats and humans will return to the scene and 19 horses will run the most chaotic race of their lives. After being disrupted by a pandemic, the Kentucky Derby is back with many of its traditions intact.

America’s longest continuously held sporting event returns to its traditional spot on the calendar — the first Saturday in May. The 147th edition comes less than eight months after its run without spectators last September because of COVID-19, making it the shortest time between Derbies in history.

Here, we'll break down everything you need to know about the biggest event in Louisville:

The horses

Each year, 20 horses compete in the Kentucky Derby.

Essential Quality is the early 2-1 favorite on Saturday and has the bona fides. The striking gray colt was last year's 2-year-old champion. He comes in undefeated in five career starts. The last unbeaten colt to win the Derby was Justify in 2018, and he went on to sweep the Triple Crown.

Essential Quality's jockey, Luis Saez, is seeking his first Derby win after crossing the finish line first aboard Maximum Security in 2019 only to have his colt disqualified.

“Essential Quality is a deserving favorite,” trainer Todd Pletcher said, “but I think it's a wide-open race.”

Besides Essential Quality, the other undefeated horses in the field are 5-1 Rock Your World and 50-1 Helium, both 3-0. Rock Your World won his first two starts on turf before switching to dirt and winning the Santa Anita Derby.

→ Current leaderboard

→ Horse study guide

As of Friday afternoon, one horse has scratched: King Fury, leaving only 19 for Saturday's race. Click here for a look at all the remaining horses.

Make your bet

Now that you know the horses, time to make your bet. If you're going, you can bet at Churchill Downs. You can also place bets online, by clicking here.

Not sure what you're doing? This page includes expert tips and a betting calculator.

Changes due to COVID-19

Attendance of about 45,000 is expected at the Derby, about 100,000 less than usual.

Churchill Downs limited seating to 40-50%, up to 60% in certain private areas that allow social distancing.

Churchill Downs officials anticipate about 50,000 people for Oaks and Derby.

Masks will be mandatory — which should come as no surprise with a statewide mandate still in place.

Churchill Downs says it has implemented a "Compliance Ambassador program" to drive awareness and adoption of public safety measures. Signage is placed throughout the facility, including the Infield, to remind guests to wear masks and practice social distancing.

In addition, food and drinks are all-inclusive to lessen long lines and separate payments for every transaction.

The fashion

Half the fun of the Derby is the fashion, of course! And with fans back in the stands, there is sure to be plenty of it.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.