GetAbout Columbia is the city program primarily responsible for the infrastructure. From its website:

In 2006, Columbia, Missouri was selected as one of four communities in the nation to participate in the Federal Highway Administration’s Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot program.

Columbia’s designation as a pilot city came with $22 million in federal funds over a four-year period to help build infrastructure and establish national standards for public awareness and willingness to use active modes of transportation.

A federally commissioned study conducted between September 2006 and January 2007 indicates 88 percent of Columbia residents primarily make trips by auto. An additional 8.6 percent walk as a primary means of transportation and 1.5 percent ride bicycles. For more study information visit the Federal Highway Administration’s website.

The PedNet Coalition is the organization primarily responsible for programming to educate and encourage. PedNet has done much in its 11-year history to increase bicycle and pedestrian participation. Our STAR Team members left Columbia with many interesting ideas. I will post more extensive information about this organization soon.

I was less impressed with the on-road facilities. Just the condition of Columbia’s streets is a bit shocking. And I found several dangerous, wheel-eating storm drains — something that should have been corrected long ago (two highlighted on the video). Take a look. See what you think.

Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle culture, bicycle infrastructure, bicycle politics, bicycle safety, bicycle trails, complete streets, cycling, traffic design, Transportation Planning

That’s Hammons Pkwy. just north of the 4-way stop at Elm. Notice the placement in this wide lane — just inches from the very center. This does not suggest a gutter lane (which would be an error in sharrow placement). This clearly tells car drivers to expect bicyclists to command the lane.

I love it!

Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle infrastructure, bicycle safety, complete streets, cycling

• If you like to race bicycles, or watch people race bicycles, you’ll enjoy the St. John’s Powerful Medicine Criterium on Sunday 25 July at 101 E. Commercial St. For more information, see StJohnsCycling.com.
• The third iteration of the Bicycle Friendly Springfield petition is available for your signature now. This year’s petition is green. So if you have not signed the green petition, please stop what you’re doing and head to your nearest Springfield bicycle shop now.
• The transportation committee for the new city strategic plan has finished its initial work and submitted its report to the city manager. Complete Streets concepts play a large role in the current plan. Stay tuned for more details as the planning process moves into phase two.

Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle politics, complete streets, cycling, Transportation Planning

Kid 1: “There’s just too much sprawl here.”

Kid 2: “Yeah, not enough density.”

Kid 3: “It doesn’t matter. We’re not going to live here anyway.”

How do we make our urban core more dense and, thus, have a chance at making Springfield the kind of place where these kids want to live?

I began this series with this claim:

I think making the urban environment attractive comes before increasing population density. The reasons to move must exist before people will move. One way to make the urban core attractive is to make it easier — better — to get around by some other means than a car. I believe creative classers will be attracted to a place in which they can live greener lives. We might even be able to attract workers for a green economy this way.

Build it, and they will come.

Well, as it turns out, this isn’t such a new idea (not that I made that claim). In terms of modern urbanism, it dates back at least to the construction of street-car cities (grid pattern, 7+ units per acre, narrow streets, public transportation along the thoroughfares) in North America — late 1800s — according to Patrick M. Condon in his new book Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities. Christopher B. Leinberger makes the same claim in the current issue of The Atlantic.

You want density? Build the transportation amenities that attract developers to build the dense urban housing and businesses that attract people. You can even let the developers build the transportation amenities as an attraction for their properties. That’s the way it used to be done, according to Condon and Leinberger.

We could begin this process in Springfield with a gung-ho complete streets effort to make our streets attractive to walkers and bicyclists — and, perhaps, a change from a route-based bus system to a grid-based bus system.

Our Urban Challenge Series:

• First in a Series
• Getting Started
• Green Density
• Networks
• Barriers
• Free Parking
• The Good Life
• Cost of Living

Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle infrastructure, complete streets, cycling, public transportation, sustainability, traffic design, Transportation Planning, Urban and Regional Planning, urban design, urban development, Urban Planning, walking

The resolution is a comprehensive outline of the reasons for pursuing complete streets policies and urges all levels of government–from the city level up to the federal government–to use complete streets principles when designing their transportation systems.

Technorati Tags: bicycle infrastructure, bicycle politics, complete streets, cycling, urban design