From the Coeur d'Alene Press:
COEUR d'ALENE - The signal, after all, was right where it belonged.
Now, just like before, traffic by both foot and motor will be controlled by lights at Fifth Street and Sherman Avenue.
With the old, new addition comes an added wrinkle - an actuated, audible crosswalk that beeps and barks orders.
"Having (the light) without actuation was problematic," said Jon Ingalls, deputy city administrator, on the old signal that was removed in November on grounds that it was outdated, breaking down, and ran on a predetermined timer system that could hold up traffic unnecessarily, and vice versa. "Actuation was the best thing, especially with the amount of pedestrian traffic."
A review by the city's Engineering Department showed that the vehicle and pedestrian cross traffic was minimal, and the signal wasn't warranted there, according to a press release at the time.
Since then, though, City Hall has fielded its share of concerns, including a pair of letters to the editor in The Press questioning the change.
The city reanalyzed the light and, as of last weekend, it was resurrected with actuation, which is a timer-based technology that can switch its time limits based on demand.
"I know people are happy to have it back," Mayor Sandi Bloem said, standing near the intersection Tuesday afternoon.
Mostly.
Some - especially those hanging out right next to it - could do with a little less noise.
The signal, designed to aid the visually impaired, beeps to indicate its location and tells you when the coast is clear.
"Beep, beep, beep ... Wait, wait, wait, ... Sherman, cross," for example.
Eating lunch Tuesday at Scratch Restaurant's outdoor seating on Sherman Avenue, just a few feet from the crossing, Deb Saunders and Brenda Gabriel spent 40 minutes or so listening to the beeping and commands.
"Grrrrrrr," Saunders said on how she was handling the noise, which she later articulated as: "It'd make me certainly not want to come back here."
The beeping grates worse than the talking, both said, but the talking commands are catching passersby off guard, too.
"You see people turning around looking," Gabriel said, of the voice that seems to come from nowhere.
Jeri Schaffner, Scratch manager, said she's worried it could be something that could negatively affect business if the beeping isn't tweaked, although she's thrilled to have the crosswalk back. After the old light was removed, the pedestrian walkway wasn't controlled by anything except the old pedestrian-has-the-right-of-way rule, and Schaffner said she saw dozens of pedestrian and vehicle near-misses.
"And that's just one person," she said. "That's huge, the light."
As signals need to be replaced, verbalized, Americans With Disabilities Act compliant crosswalks will be the direction the city goes, City Engineer Gordon Dobler said. The city, which has been adding several of the signals over the last two years, will lower the beeping levels at the Fifth Street intersection.
The new devices, several of which are around town including at Kathleen Avenue and Government Way, are music to Larry Kimble's ears.
The legally blind Coeur d'Alene resident lives near the one on Kathleen Avenue, and it has made a "phenomenal" difference, he said.
"Absolutely," he said. "That's a great thing."
His advice to people who are put off by the noise?
"I'd tell someone like that you may lose your eyesight yourself or someone in your family may have diabetes and lose their eyesight," he said. "You never know."
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Bike Parking at Art on the Green
For the third year in a row, patrons of Art on the Green can come and go from
the event with more ease while saving time and gas thanks to a “bike corral” organized by the
North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation with support from the Kootenai County Young
Professionals. “The Bike Corral is basically valet parking for your bicycle,” said Charlie Miller,
Manager of the North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation. “Parking and traffic can be a huge
challenge during Art on the Green, but people can easily ride their bicycle to the event, leave it at
the Bike Corral, and enjoy the festivities knowing their bike is looked after.”
The Corral will be located at the main entrance to Art on the Green on the North Idaho College
Campus and will be manned during the hours of the festival, beginning on Friday, August 5 and
ending on Sunday, August 7.
“We want to encourage people to get out on their bikes and enjoy the community. The Bike
Corral was a huge success the past two years, and we hope to see even more people on bikes this
year,” said Miller.
The Kootenai County Young Professionals will help run the corral but anyone form the community
interested in volunteering is encouraged to spend a few hours in the shade tending to the corral.
Contact Charlie Miller at (208) 292-1634 or charlie@nictf.org to sign-up for a shift. "This is a great
opportunity to not only ride your bike, but also to help out.”
The North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation is a membership-based organization that strives to
help preserve, develop, and improve the trail systems in our community. Visit http://www.nictf.org/ for
more information.
the event with more ease while saving time and gas thanks to a “bike corral” organized by the
North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation with support from the Kootenai County Young
Professionals. “The Bike Corral is basically valet parking for your bicycle,” said Charlie Miller,
Manager of the North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation. “Parking and traffic can be a huge
challenge during Art on the Green, but people can easily ride their bicycle to the event, leave it at
the Bike Corral, and enjoy the festivities knowing their bike is looked after.”
The Corral will be located at the main entrance to Art on the Green on the North Idaho College
Campus and will be manned during the hours of the festival, beginning on Friday, August 5 and
ending on Sunday, August 7.
“We want to encourage people to get out on their bikes and enjoy the community. The Bike
Corral was a huge success the past two years, and we hope to see even more people on bikes this
year,” said Miller.
The Kootenai County Young Professionals will help run the corral but anyone form the community
interested in volunteering is encouraged to spend a few hours in the shade tending to the corral.
Contact Charlie Miller at (208) 292-1634 or charlie@nictf.org to sign-up for a shift. "This is a great
opportunity to not only ride your bike, but also to help out.”
The North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation is a membership-based organization that strives to
help preserve, develop, and improve the trail systems in our community. Visit http://www.nictf.org/ for
more information.
The Dutch Way: Bicycles and Fresh Bread
From the New York Times:
Amsterdam
AS an American who has been living here for several years, I am struck, every time I go home, by the way American cities remain manacled to the car. While Europe is dealing with congestion and greenhouse gas buildup by turning urban centers into pedestrian zones and finding innovative ways to combine driving with public transportation, many American cities are carving out more parking spaces. It’s all the more bewildering because America’s collapsing infrastructure would seem to cry out for new solutions.
Geography partly explains the difference: America is spread out, while European cities predate the car. But Boston and Philadelphia have old centers too, while the peripheral sprawl in London and Barcelona mirrors that of American cities.
More important, I think, is mind-set. Take bicycles. The advent of bike lanes in some American cities may seem like a big step, but merely marking a strip of the road for recreational cycling spectacularly misses the point. In Amsterdam, nearly everyone cycles, and cars, bikes and trams coexist in a complex flow, with dedicated bicycle lanes, traffic lights and parking garages. But this is thanks to a different way of thinking about transportation.
To give a small but telling example, pointed out to me by my friend Ruth Oldenziel, an expert on the history of technology at Eindhoven University, Dutch drivers are taught that when you are about to get out of the car, you reach for the door handle with your right hand — bringing your arm across your body to the door. This forces a driver to swivel shoulders and head, so that before opening the door you can see if there is a bike coming from behind. Likewise, every Dutch child has to pass a bicycle safety exam at school. The coexistence of different modes of travel is hard-wired into the culture.
This in turn relates to lots of other things — such as bread. How? Cyclists can’t carry six bags of groceries; bulk buying is almost nonexistent. Instead of shopping for a week, people stop at the market daily. So the need for processed loaves that will last for days is gone. A result: good bread.
There are also in the United States certain perceptions associated with both cycling and public transportation that are not the case here. In Holland, public buses aren’t considered last-resort forms of transportation. And cycling isn’t seen as eco-friendly exercise; it’s a way to get around. C.E.O.’s cycle to work, and kids cycle to school.
It’s true that public policy reinforces the egalitarianism. With mandatory lessons and other fees, getting a driver’s license costs more than $1,000. And taxi fares are kept deliberately high: a trip from the airport may cost $80, while a 20-minute bus ride sets you back about $3.50. But the egalitarianism — or maybe better said a preference for simplicity — is also rooted in the culture. A 17th-century French naval commander was shocked to see a Dutch captain sweeping out his own quarters. Likewise, I used to run into the mayor of Amsterdam at the supermarket, and he wasn’t engaged in a populist stunt (mayors aren’t elected here but are government appointees); he was shopping.
For American cities to think outside the car would seem to require a mental sea change. Then again, Americans, too, are practical, no-nonsense people. And Zef Hemel, the chief planner for the city of Amsterdam, reminded me that sea changes do happen. “Back in the 1960s, we were doing the same thing as America, making cities car-friendly,” he said. Funnily enough, it was an American, Jane Jacobs, who changed the minds of European urban designers. Her book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” got European planners to shift their focus from car-friendliness to overall livability.
When I noted that Manhattan’s bike lanes seem to be used more for recreation than transport — cyclists in Amsterdam are dressed in everything from jeans to cocktail dresses, while those in Manhattan often look like spandex cyborgs — Mr. Hemel told me to give it time. “Those are the pioneers," he said. “You have to start somewhere.”
What he meant was, “You start with bike lanes” — that is, with the conviction that urban planning can bring about beneficial cultural changes. But that points up another mental difference: the willingness of Europeans to follow top-down social planning. America’s famed individualism breeds an often healthy distrust of the elite. I’m as quick as any other red-blooded American to bristle at European technocrats telling me how to live. (Try buying a light bulb or a magazine after 6 p.m. in Amsterdam, where the political elite have decreed that workers’ well-being requires that shops be open only during standard office hours, precisely when most people can’t shop.)
But while many Americans see their cars as an extension of their individual freedom, to some of us owning a car is a burden, and in a city a double burden. I find the recrafting of the city in order to lessen — or eliminate — the need for cars to be not just grudgingly acceptable, but, yes, an expansion of my individual freedom. So I say (in this case, at least): Go, social-planning technocrats! If only America’s cities could be so free.
Russell Shorto is the author of “The Island at the Center of the World” and a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine. He is working on a book about Amsterdam.
Amsterdam
AS an American who has been living here for several years, I am struck, every time I go home, by the way American cities remain manacled to the car. While Europe is dealing with congestion and greenhouse gas buildup by turning urban centers into pedestrian zones and finding innovative ways to combine driving with public transportation, many American cities are carving out more parking spaces. It’s all the more bewildering because America’s collapsing infrastructure would seem to cry out for new solutions.
Geography partly explains the difference: America is spread out, while European cities predate the car. But Boston and Philadelphia have old centers too, while the peripheral sprawl in London and Barcelona mirrors that of American cities.
More important, I think, is mind-set. Take bicycles. The advent of bike lanes in some American cities may seem like a big step, but merely marking a strip of the road for recreational cycling spectacularly misses the point. In Amsterdam, nearly everyone cycles, and cars, bikes and trams coexist in a complex flow, with dedicated bicycle lanes, traffic lights and parking garages. But this is thanks to a different way of thinking about transportation.
To give a small but telling example, pointed out to me by my friend Ruth Oldenziel, an expert on the history of technology at Eindhoven University, Dutch drivers are taught that when you are about to get out of the car, you reach for the door handle with your right hand — bringing your arm across your body to the door. This forces a driver to swivel shoulders and head, so that before opening the door you can see if there is a bike coming from behind. Likewise, every Dutch child has to pass a bicycle safety exam at school. The coexistence of different modes of travel is hard-wired into the culture.
This in turn relates to lots of other things — such as bread. How? Cyclists can’t carry six bags of groceries; bulk buying is almost nonexistent. Instead of shopping for a week, people stop at the market daily. So the need for processed loaves that will last for days is gone. A result: good bread.
There are also in the United States certain perceptions associated with both cycling and public transportation that are not the case here. In Holland, public buses aren’t considered last-resort forms of transportation. And cycling isn’t seen as eco-friendly exercise; it’s a way to get around. C.E.O.’s cycle to work, and kids cycle to school.
It’s true that public policy reinforces the egalitarianism. With mandatory lessons and other fees, getting a driver’s license costs more than $1,000. And taxi fares are kept deliberately high: a trip from the airport may cost $80, while a 20-minute bus ride sets you back about $3.50. But the egalitarianism — or maybe better said a preference for simplicity — is also rooted in the culture. A 17th-century French naval commander was shocked to see a Dutch captain sweeping out his own quarters. Likewise, I used to run into the mayor of Amsterdam at the supermarket, and he wasn’t engaged in a populist stunt (mayors aren’t elected here but are government appointees); he was shopping.
For American cities to think outside the car would seem to require a mental sea change. Then again, Americans, too, are practical, no-nonsense people. And Zef Hemel, the chief planner for the city of Amsterdam, reminded me that sea changes do happen. “Back in the 1960s, we were doing the same thing as America, making cities car-friendly,” he said. Funnily enough, it was an American, Jane Jacobs, who changed the minds of European urban designers. Her book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” got European planners to shift their focus from car-friendliness to overall livability.
When I noted that Manhattan’s bike lanes seem to be used more for recreation than transport — cyclists in Amsterdam are dressed in everything from jeans to cocktail dresses, while those in Manhattan often look like spandex cyborgs — Mr. Hemel told me to give it time. “Those are the pioneers," he said. “You have to start somewhere.”
What he meant was, “You start with bike lanes” — that is, with the conviction that urban planning can bring about beneficial cultural changes. But that points up another mental difference: the willingness of Europeans to follow top-down social planning. America’s famed individualism breeds an often healthy distrust of the elite. I’m as quick as any other red-blooded American to bristle at European technocrats telling me how to live. (Try buying a light bulb or a magazine after 6 p.m. in Amsterdam, where the political elite have decreed that workers’ well-being requires that shops be open only during standard office hours, precisely when most people can’t shop.)
But while many Americans see their cars as an extension of their individual freedom, to some of us owning a car is a burden, and in a city a double burden. I find the recrafting of the city in order to lessen — or eliminate — the need for cars to be not just grudgingly acceptable, but, yes, an expansion of my individual freedom. So I say (in this case, at least): Go, social-planning technocrats! If only America’s cities could be so free.
Russell Shorto is the author of “The Island at the Center of the World” and a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine. He is working on a book about Amsterdam.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Bicyclist pulled over going 42 mph in West Seattle
From KREM TV:
SEATTLE -- A bicyclist was clocked going 42 miles per hour on a notorious West Seattle hill Wednesday by Seattle Police.
The bicyclist was pulled over on Southwest Admiral Way, where Seattle Police were conducting an aggressive driving patrol. The hill is a 30 mph posted speed zone.
The bicyclist was issued a written warning.
In an interesting twist, a person claiming to be the bicyclist who was pulled over, calling himself Kevin, commented on an article about the incident on the West Seattle Blog. Here is what he posted:
"As the cyclist involved … I figure I should give my 2 cents.
I was fine with being pulled over. I could have gotten a ticket and would have been OK with it; however, the SUV gaining on me from behind should have also been given a ticket. Going 42 (and by the way… why does everyone assume I was going downhill) on Admiral just keeps you with the flow of traffic. This morning, I was going about 30 mph and had a car zoom past on the right hand side and cut over right in front of me just before the merge to Spokane. Like it or not, it’s safer for a bike to break the speed limit and keep up with traffic (if possible) than to try to obey the law.
The officer was nice about the whole situation (and seemed to get a kick out of pulling over a bike). He said he had been looking for a bike to pull over for a while (apparently, I was the first going fast enough). He told me he was careful to write a neat contact report so that I could frame it. If only I had known I was going to be clocked…"
The bicyclist wasn't the only one caught speeding. One driver was pulled over for going 61 mph down the hill, and several others were ticketed for going between 51 and 46 mph.
SEATTLE -- A bicyclist was clocked going 42 miles per hour on a notorious West Seattle hill Wednesday by Seattle Police.
The bicyclist was pulled over on Southwest Admiral Way, where Seattle Police were conducting an aggressive driving patrol. The hill is a 30 mph posted speed zone.
The bicyclist was issued a written warning.
In an interesting twist, a person claiming to be the bicyclist who was pulled over, calling himself Kevin, commented on an article about the incident on the West Seattle Blog. Here is what he posted:
"As the cyclist involved … I figure I should give my 2 cents.
I was fine with being pulled over. I could have gotten a ticket and would have been OK with it; however, the SUV gaining on me from behind should have also been given a ticket. Going 42 (and by the way… why does everyone assume I was going downhill) on Admiral just keeps you with the flow of traffic. This morning, I was going about 30 mph and had a car zoom past on the right hand side and cut over right in front of me just before the merge to Spokane. Like it or not, it’s safer for a bike to break the speed limit and keep up with traffic (if possible) than to try to obey the law.
The officer was nice about the whole situation (and seemed to get a kick out of pulling over a bike). He said he had been looking for a bike to pull over for a while (apparently, I was the first going fast enough). He told me he was careful to write a neat contact report so that I could frame it. If only I had known I was going to be clocked…"
The bicyclist wasn't the only one caught speeding. One driver was pulled over for going 61 mph down the hill, and several others were ticketed for going between 51 and 46 mph.
To boost cycling, make women happy
Check out this article in the Chicago Tribune to see why women are seen as an indicator for a bike friendly community.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Genre de Vie
Genre de Vie from Photo Booth Works on Vimeo.
Genre de Vie is a full length documentary exploring the relationship between man and the city, with the bicycle as the discovering function.
Where sidewalks came from
Head on over the Where the Sidewalk Starts for a brief history of when sidewalks where first introduced. I learned an interesting fact that Julius Ceasar was a pioneer in car-free streets.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Bicycle Safety Town
Now here's a really cool concept that would benefit the community immensely. Now, where could we find a place (and some money) to build one of these?
Fort Collins is preparing to take bicycle safety education to the streets of a kid-sized town.
City officials are looking for a location to build Bike Safety Town, a miniaturized village complete with roads and bicycle lanes on which youngsters and their families can learn and practice techniques for safe riding. The streetscape will likely include intersections, traffic signals, driveways, crosswalks, and turn lanes.
The town would likely cover less than an acre of ground at an existing park, said Matt Wempe, a city transportation planner.
Parks and transportation planners are looking at several locations for the facility.
Candidates include city parks adjacent to elementary schools, including Beattie, Kruse, McGraw and Lopez, as well as parts of community parks, including City Park, Rolland Moore and Spring Canyon.
Public input on a potential site will be taken through Aug. 8 through the website www. fcgov.com/bikesafetytown.
More than 100 comments have already been received, Wempe said. So far, reactions have been mixed, he said, with some residents excited about the prospects for the park and others questioning the cost to taxpayers.
Significant public outreach will be done during the planning process, including neighborhood meetings once a site is proposed.
"There are a variety of things you can do with a project like this," he said. "We intend to do something that fits the needs of the Fort Collins community."
Building a facility dedicated to teaching bike safety to children is included in the city's Bicycle Safety Education Plan. The bike education program received $50,000 in funding in 2011 and 2012 through Keep Fort Collins Great funding.
Site planning and design is scheduled this fall with possible construction in 2012. The planning process has a $15,000 budget, Wempe said.
No funding has been identified for building the town. The city may pursue grants and other funding sources for constructing and operating the facility, Wempe said.
The site is not likely to be as elaborate as safety towns built in other cities, he said. A facility in Peoria, Ill., covers four acres while the town of Brookhaven, N.Y., spent $1.3 million on its safety town.
The Brookhaven town includes a classroom facility, miniature electric cars and a small zoo. It was funded primarily with federal transportation dollars.
Dave Kemp, the city's bicycle program coordinator, said the Fort Collins version of Safety Town would be simpler and probably operated in conjunction with local schools.
The town's primary purpose would be to educate children, he said, but it also would a place for older students and adults to learn how to mentor youngsters.
"It will be a great place to pursue the core mission of teaching children and their families about bicycle safety," he said. "There will be a lot of things we will be able to do through other programmatic efforts."
From the Coloradoan.
Fort Collins is preparing to take bicycle safety education to the streets of a kid-sized town.
City officials are looking for a location to build Bike Safety Town, a miniaturized village complete with roads and bicycle lanes on which youngsters and their families can learn and practice techniques for safe riding. The streetscape will likely include intersections, traffic signals, driveways, crosswalks, and turn lanes.
The town would likely cover less than an acre of ground at an existing park, said Matt Wempe, a city transportation planner.
Parks and transportation planners are looking at several locations for the facility.
Candidates include city parks adjacent to elementary schools, including Beattie, Kruse, McGraw and Lopez, as well as parts of community parks, including City Park, Rolland Moore and Spring Canyon.
Public input on a potential site will be taken through Aug. 8 through the website www. fcgov.com/bikesafetytown.
More than 100 comments have already been received, Wempe said. So far, reactions have been mixed, he said, with some residents excited about the prospects for the park and others questioning the cost to taxpayers.
Significant public outreach will be done during the planning process, including neighborhood meetings once a site is proposed.
"There are a variety of things you can do with a project like this," he said. "We intend to do something that fits the needs of the Fort Collins community."
Building a facility dedicated to teaching bike safety to children is included in the city's Bicycle Safety Education Plan. The bike education program received $50,000 in funding in 2011 and 2012 through Keep Fort Collins Great funding.
Site planning and design is scheduled this fall with possible construction in 2012. The planning process has a $15,000 budget, Wempe said.
No funding has been identified for building the town. The city may pursue grants and other funding sources for constructing and operating the facility, Wempe said.
The site is not likely to be as elaborate as safety towns built in other cities, he said. A facility in Peoria, Ill., covers four acres while the town of Brookhaven, N.Y., spent $1.3 million on its safety town.
The Brookhaven town includes a classroom facility, miniature electric cars and a small zoo. It was funded primarily with federal transportation dollars.
Dave Kemp, the city's bicycle program coordinator, said the Fort Collins version of Safety Town would be simpler and probably operated in conjunction with local schools.
The town's primary purpose would be to educate children, he said, but it also would a place for older students and adults to learn how to mentor youngsters.
"It will be a great place to pursue the core mission of teaching children and their families about bicycle safety," he said. "There will be a lot of things we will be able to do through other programmatic efforts."
From the Coloradoan.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Bicycling Forever Stamps
The Postal Service announced last week that they’ll be issuing a bicycle-themed set of stamps for 2012. The stamps were designed by art director Phil Jordan of Falls Church, VA using illustrations by John Mattos of San Francisco, CA. The four stamps depict a young child on training wheels, a commuter (!), a racer, and a BMX rider. More information is available at the “Beyond the Perf” website.
Los Angeles outlaws yelling threats at bicyclists
From USA Today:
Motorists who even threaten a bicyclist by yelling at them could be held as criminals or potentially face a lawsuit before charges are filed under a law being enacted in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles City Council made it a crime to threaten cyclists physically and verbally. Yes, that means you can't even yell at them. If you do, cyclists can sue drivers in civil court -- even before the city files criminal charges, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The state could go further: It's considering a law that could get motorists ticketed if they venture within a 3-foot safety zone for bicyclists.
The L.A. law involving shouted threats or actual violence results from bicycle activists who have loudly complained about abuse from drivers in the nation's automotive mecca. Two bikers crashed as they rode downhill on a popular stretch three years ago when a motorist deliberately slammed on his car's brakes in front of them. He was successfully prosecuted.
The Times cites Census data as saying upward of 13,000 Angelenos commute to work by bicycle, a 48% increase in the past eight years.
L.A. has put huge attention recently on bicycle laws and safety as more take up the sport for trips around town. Like so many things involving bikes, the plan risks a backlash from motorists. Biking has become popular for commuting in many major cities, especially in places such as Seattle, Portland, Ore., San Francisco and New York.
-- Olivia Ouyang and Chris Woodyard/Drive On
Motorists who even threaten a bicyclist by yelling at them could be held as criminals or potentially face a lawsuit before charges are filed under a law being enacted in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles City Council made it a crime to threaten cyclists physically and verbally. Yes, that means you can't even yell at them. If you do, cyclists can sue drivers in civil court -- even before the city files criminal charges, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The state could go further: It's considering a law that could get motorists ticketed if they venture within a 3-foot safety zone for bicyclists.
The L.A. law involving shouted threats or actual violence results from bicycle activists who have loudly complained about abuse from drivers in the nation's automotive mecca. Two bikers crashed as they rode downhill on a popular stretch three years ago when a motorist deliberately slammed on his car's brakes in front of them. He was successfully prosecuted.
The Times cites Census data as saying upward of 13,000 Angelenos commute to work by bicycle, a 48% increase in the past eight years.
L.A. has put huge attention recently on bicycle laws and safety as more take up the sport for trips around town. Like so many things involving bikes, the plan risks a backlash from motorists. Biking has become popular for commuting in many major cities, especially in places such as Seattle, Portland, Ore., San Francisco and New York.
-- Olivia Ouyang and Chris Woodyard/Drive On
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Making the case for investment in the walking environment
Living Streets is pleased to present its new report, Making the Case for Investment in the Walking Environment.
Researched by a multi-disciplinary team of experts from the University of the West of England and Cavill Associates, the report brings together and evaluates the multiple health, economic, social and environmental benefits of investment in walking friendly public spaces.
It draws on inspiring case studies of schemes which have resulted in safer and more attractive public places in neighbourhoods and city centres in the UK and elsewhere.
Key findings include:
•Investing in walking environments can support local economies by increasing footfall, improving accessibility and attracting new business and events
•Investment in the walking environment is likely to be of equal or better value for money than other transport projects
•Retailers and residents express a willingness to pay for improvements to the walking environment, while good quality public realm increases the value of both residential and commercial property
•Residents of walking friendly neighbourhoods are less likely to be depressed or to have poor mental or physical health
•People walk more when they feel their neighbourhood is safe, well maintained and lively, while increased walking in a neighbourhood is associated with better perceptions of safety and greater social interaction.
Download 'Making the Case' - the full report.
Researched by a multi-disciplinary team of experts from the University of the West of England and Cavill Associates, the report brings together and evaluates the multiple health, economic, social and environmental benefits of investment in walking friendly public spaces.
It draws on inspiring case studies of schemes which have resulted in safer and more attractive public places in neighbourhoods and city centres in the UK and elsewhere.
Key findings include:
•Investing in walking environments can support local economies by increasing footfall, improving accessibility and attracting new business and events
•Investment in the walking environment is likely to be of equal or better value for money than other transport projects
•Retailers and residents express a willingness to pay for improvements to the walking environment, while good quality public realm increases the value of both residential and commercial property
•Residents of walking friendly neighbourhoods are less likely to be depressed or to have poor mental or physical health
•People walk more when they feel their neighbourhood is safe, well maintained and lively, while increased walking in a neighbourhood is associated with better perceptions of safety and greater social interaction.
Download 'Making the Case' - the full report.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Quote of the Day
"If constellations had been named in the 20th century, I suppose we would see bicycles."
-- Carl Sagan
-- Carl Sagan
BEYOND SAFETY IN NUMBERS: WHY BIKE FRIENDLY CITIES ARE SAFER
According to a June 27th Planetizen article "Davis, California, is widely celebrated as the bicycling capital of the United States with over 16% of the population commuting to work on bikes. What is less well known is the fact that the traffic fatality rate in Davis is also unusually low, at about 1/10th of the California statewide rate. Although this fact is not widely disseminated, there is growing data showing that cities with very high use of bikes for routine transportation almost always have much lower than average traffic fatality rates. The finding that most bike friendly cities are safer than average has been reinforced by the recent experience of cities such as Cambridge, MA, Portland, OR, and New York. These cities have garnered much press for their success in dramatically increasing bike use over the last several years. This increase in bike ridership has corresponded with an equally dramatic decrease in traffic fatality rates in all three cities. Interestingly, the decrease in fatality occurred not just for people on bikes, but for all classes of road users -- including people in cars and people on foot..."
Carmageddon Challenge: The Bikes Won!
How a team of cyclists—and a guy on the subway, and a Rollerblader—beat a Jet Blue flight from Burbank to Long Beach.
Read the article in Slate.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
The Great Bicycle Protest of 1896
From 8-80 Cites:
The Great Bicycle Protest of 1896
By Hank Chapot
Ever heard “the roads were made and built for cars” well that’s not entirely accurate. Be transported back to late 19th century San Francisco to the genesis of popular movements for good roads. Hank Chapot delivers a great account of “The Great Bicycle Protest” that took place on the streets of San Francisco in 1896 and the unintended consequences that the popular movement had both locally and nationally. Learn how the demand for good roads by early bicyclists can help those currently engaged in popular movements fighting for the same cause.
Read the full article here.
Monday, July 18, 2011
My summer vacation
I was gone for a couple weeks on vacation travelling across the country to our end destination in Michigan. I took a couple photos along the way that I thought were worth sharing.
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The Bike Library in Fort Collins, CO. A membership with them will allow you to check out bikes to use for your daily activities in Fort Collins. Maps and information are also available as well as restrooms.
This on-street bike corral in Fort Collins, CO takes the place of one on-street parking spot and allows up to 12 bikes (by my count) to park. 12 bikes for 1 car. I consider that a deal.
Bike racks in Marquette, MI. Each bike rack throughout the downtown had a variation of the art in the back wheel, with this one being music
Friday, July 15, 2011
New bike rack at Pilgrim's Market
Made by a local artist, this bike rack does what it should; it allows two points of contact to support your bike, allows secure locking points, is placed near the building, and is even partially covered by the building's roof. This is a great example for others in the community to follow in embracing active transportation. Thank you, Pilgrim's!
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