The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and Bikes Belong issued a comprehensive report yesterday arguing that the governments should spend more on transportation infrastructure for bicycling and walking.
The report documents the benefits of bicycling and walking in creating a more efficient transportation system and a healthier environment. The report also outlines how modest investment in bicycling and walking infrastructure can improve the local business climate and individual health. All of these benefits, the report says, will end up saving billions of dollars in gasoline, oil imports, health care costs, and tons of CO2 emissions.
I plan to spend a few days discussing this 48-page report. Today I want to discuss a connection I find particularly interesting considering how pervasive, and perverse, our automobile culture as become. These three areas are closely related and form a powerful argument (of a kind Americans can hear):
First, the report states that, according to a national survey conducted in 2001, “48 percent of all trips were three miles or less and 24 percent were one mile or less.” An average person can cover three miles by bicycle in about 20 minutes. That same person can walk a mile in about 20 minutes. I don’t know about you, but on the rare occasions when I drive my car the trip usually lasts about 20 minutes.
Second, the report further states that one mile of urban 4-lane highway costs about $50 million. That same money pays for “hundreds of miles of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure…an investment that could complete an entire network of active transportation facilities for a mid-sized city.” Springfield is a small city.
Third, the report makes interesting claims about living, mobility, and business patterns:
There are three different mechanisms through which bicycling and walking reduce miles driven. First, bicycling and walking can directly replace cars on short trips. Second, bicycling and walking increase the convenience of public transportation and, therefore, increase ridership. Lastly, public infrastructure investment that increases the numbers of bicyclists and pedestrians also stimulates local forms of compact, mixed-use development which results in destinations that are closer to each other, thereby shortening travel distances for all modes.
For the cost of one mile of urban highway, it could be possible to transform the greater downtown area of Springfield (from Sunshine north to Kearney and from Kansas Expressway east to Glenstone) into a model community for active, green transportation. Business in that area would thrive because residents would traverse that area mostly by cycling, walking, and riding the bus (thus saving money to spend on other things). The business pockets already exist. Some infrastructure already exists. And more and more people are moving downtown because of loft development and because downtown is a destination for entertainment.
Also from the report and related to what I’m highlighting:
Bicyclists and pedestrians are an important market segment for small, local business. Their tendency to travel for shorter distances, buy less at once and buy more frequently gives smaller businesses an edge over suburban mega-stores that cater to the motorized customer. The availability of local businesses can significantly reduce the amount people drive.
In such communities, a bicyclist has the choice of riding two miles to a local merchant instead of being required to drive to a mall several miles away to make the same purchases. In that case, two miles of bicycling may replace 10 miles of driving. Similarly, when pedestrians can safely walk the most direct route to their destination, they can replace car trips that are actually of longer distance. Just as importantly, the compact nature of mixed-use neighborhoods also reduces trip distances for those residents who choose to drive, because they equally profit from the opportunities to work or run errands closer by.
Com’on Urban District Alliance, this is right up your alley. This kind of thinking will benefit your businesses. This kind of thinking will attract people and business to Springfield. This kind of thinking will keep young people — such as the ones we graduate from MSU, Drury, and OTC — here at home.