What can happen after a community spends a lot of money painting bicycle lanes? Well, someone will get the idea that, having spent so much money, bicyclists should be required to ride in the lanes. Check out what Keri Caffrey writes about why that’s a problem. A couple of highlights: Forward focus is your priority in a [...]
Can you be persecuted (and, perhaps, prosecuted) for having an (informed) opinion about traffic infrastructure and voicing/writing that opinion as part of bicycle and pedestrian advocacy. Apparently, yes. This is partly a case of attempting to criminalize speech for political purposes. Although it also appears apparent that you’ll “win” even if the worst should happen. [...]
The open house hosted by the Traffic Advisory Board yesterday to get citizens’ comments on bicycle and pedestrian issues was a success. I was only able to be there for the first 30 minutes — needed to get home before the storm, seeing as how I drove my bicycle to the event. It gave me [...]
My headline over-promises. I am not particularly interested in increasing participation as an end in itself. But it is clear that many bicycle advocates believe that providing such infrastructure as bicycle lanes, tracks, and separated paths does increase participation. According to recent studies, it’s not entirely clear what the cause-and-effect relationship actually is between infrastructure and participation. [...]
The official city website for the Bicycle-Pedestrian Plan is ready to view. Just click here. From the website: The City presently has a Bicycle Plan, a Greenways Plan and miscellaneous pedestrian policies and manuals. Our goal is a comprehensive strategy that updates these plans and adds a formal Pedestrian Plan. This project is in response [...]
Here’s a good opportunity to have your say about the future of sustainable, carbon-neutral transportation in Springfield (i.e. bicycling and walking): The City of Springfield Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan Open House. When: 28 February, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Where: Busch Municipal Building I assume there will be much talk of bicycle lanes. Again, I have [...]
Raise your hand if you own a computer. Keep your hand up if your computer has ever glitched while in use, i.e. lost its internet signal or crashed or done some other annoying thing that basically ended its functionality if even for a few seconds. Ahhhh … all of you Now imagine a computer driving [...]
City Councilman Tom Beiker held a public forum at The Hub yesterday — first in a series of planned public discussions. The main topic was bicycling and helping make Springfield a bicycle-friendly community. I was unable to attend the meeting. The News-Leader published an article today. It’s difficult to tell how much talk there was [...]
Last year I reported here, based on a conversation at a STAR Team meeting, that the city was uninterested in painting more bicycle lanes. With the creation of new lanes on Division and Benton and the discussion at night’s STAR Team meeting, it has became clear to me that painting more bicycle lanes is in [...]
It be shining on me. I’m happy that the whole honor was focused on my efforts for bicycle and pedestrian advocacy instead of simply academic stuff. The academic stuff is important, but all too often it is, well, academic Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, cycling, green transportation, transportation, Transportation Planning
Interesting lecture from TED: Technorati Tags: transportation, Transportation Planning
The Holy Grail of bicycle advocacy is numbers of kiesters in saddles on two wheels on the road. Some advocates are willing to do almost anything to increase participation — including putting novices in danger. There’s a “but”: It appears rather clear that the more people who ride bicycles in a given area the safer [...]
You want to increase bicycle participation and safety for all road users? Apparently the way to do it is create a bicycle-friendly city — one with a dense grid pattern, narrow streets, and calmed traffic. That almost sounds like the urban core of Springfield. Beyond Safety in Numbers discusses the work of Norman Garrick and [...]
Five members of the STAR Team of Ozarks Greenways toured the bicycle/pedestrian facilities in Columbia, Mo. on June 23-24. Columbia has earned a silver level Bicycle Friendly Community award from the League of American Bicyclists. GetAbout Columbia is the city program primarily responsible for the infrastructure. From its website: In 2006, Columbia, Missouri was selected [...]
Just returned from my trip to Ecuador (more on the Quito traffic situation soon), and the first thing I did this morning was head downtown for my usual routine. The one big change: The new bicycle corral appeared in my absence. From left to right is Rick Scarlet, James Radke, and yours truly. This corral [...]
