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Tag Archives: transportation

Bicycling Op-Ed in the N-L Today

STAR Team chairman Bruce Adib-Yazdi wrote an op-ed for the editorial page of the Springfield News-Leader today about alternative transportation. It’s also a promo for the Ozarks New Energy Conference that will be held October 7-8 at Plaster Student Union at Missouri State University. I’ll be part of a panel discussion on alternative transportation on 7 October at 2:15 [...]

Posted 25 August 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § announcement § news ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: , ,

Is Commuting Killing You?

A new Gallup study suggests that long commutes are bad for your well-being. I don’t find that surprising. What’s disappointing about the study is that it doesn’t take mode into account. I don’t think I’m going very far out on a limb to claim that long car commutes can drive you crazy — like what [...]

Posted 23 August 2010 † Andy Cline § ecology § news ‡ Comments (2) ° Also tagged:

Don’t Laugh, Really, Don’t…

So the Chinese are now driving more than ever. And the results are predictable. China will eventually regret its growing love of the automobile. From the story on the traffic jam: “Insufficient traffic capacity on the National Expressway 110 caused by maintenance construction since August 19 is the major cause of the congestion,” a publicity officer with [...]

Posted 23 August 2010 † Andy Cline § ecology § news ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged: , ,

A Dangerous Syllogism

See if you can spot the problem (from montrealgazette.com): A 2003 study published in the Injury Prevention Journal by Peter Lyndon Jacobsen concluded: “A motorist is less likely to collide with a person walking or bicycling if more people walk or bicycle. Policies that increase the numbers of people walking and bicycling appear to be [...]

Posted 11 August 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § ecology § news § policy ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Will Bicyclists and Pedestrians Squeeze Out Cars?

Tom Madigan, writing for National Journal, asks 10 experts if efforts to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians risks squeezing out cars. On first blush, considering the overwhelming odds in favor of cars (numbers plus massive subsidies), the question seems absurd. Read the whole thing. Very interesting. Several of the respondents do not like the question because, for example, the situation [...]

Posted 05 August 2010 † Andy Cline § ecology § news § policy ‡ Comments (2) ° Also tagged: , , , , ,

(Ir)Rational Choice On The Road

Rational Choice Theory is a useful idea as long as we don’t get too hung up on the word “rational.” Rational choice theorists use a slightly different concept that claims individuals seem to balance costs against benefits (the “rational” part) in order to make choices that maximize personal gain. The problem with this idea is that [...]

Posted 27 July 2010 † Andy Cline § ecology § policy ‡ Comments (4) ° Also tagged: , ,

Woo-hoo! We Did It!

Today, Springfield, Missouri is a bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community, according to the League of American Bicyclists. I am especially proud that we earned this award without painting anymore bicycle lanes. This award partly represents the hard work of a the STAR Team of Ozark Greenways. And we’ve been encouraged by enlightened leaders in our community [...]

Posted 01 May 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § announcement § news ‡ Comments (3) ° Also tagged: , ,

NPR Interview with LaHood

From All Things Considered on NPR: Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle culture, bicycle infrastructure, bicycle politics, cycling, transportation, Transportation Planning

Posted 28 April 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § ecology § news § policy ‡ Comments Off ° Also tagged: , , , , ,

Keep A Bicycle At Work

Last week I introduced a “new” idea called Keep A Bicycle At Work. Or, rather, not so much new as it is a just name for something that I suspect might help more people throw bicycles into the transportation mix. This idea is related to the 1-mile Solution. Basically, there are some people who cannot [...]

Posted 19 April 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § ecology ‡ Comments (5) ° Also tagged: , , , ,

Our Urban Challenge: The Good Life

Image via Wikipedia One of the participants at the last transportation committee meeting tried to patiently explain to me that the reason people want to move to southwest Missouri is to have that house-on-three-acres lifestyle. This is part of what explains why Christian County is growing so fast. The towns of Nixa and Ozark offer [...]

Posted 12 April 2010 † Andy Cline § ecology § news § policy ‡ Comments Off ° Also tagged: , , , , ,

World of Tomorrow

We spent much of our time in vision exercises during the strategic plan transportation committee meeting yesterday. Our goal was to imagine what role transportation should play in creating the kind of community we want to live in by 2035 (when I’ll be 78 years old). We did an overall visioning exercise and a series [...]

Posted 09 April 2010 † Andy Cline § ecology § news § policy ‡ Comments Off ° Also tagged: , , , , ,

Planning Process Begins Today

The Transportation Committee for the new Springfield Strategic Plan meets today in an all-day session to bring members up to speed on the planning process. You can follow the process here on Carbon Trace and at the committee web site liked above. I’ll be reporting our progress as part of my Urban Challenge series and [...]

Posted 08 April 2010 † Andy Cline § news § policy ‡ Comments Off ° Also tagged: ,

Tale of Two Springfields

As often happens, a person I met yesterday asked me about bicycling in Springfield. People are generally curious about someone who rides as much as I do, i.e. rides for basic transportation. The usual attitude seems to be mild wonderment about logistics. I always point out that I think riding in Springfield is very easy. [...]

Posted 06 April 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § ecology ‡ Comments (6) ° Also tagged: ,

CIP in the News

Check out the front page article on the CIP tax renewal in today’s News-Leader. Apparently Councilman John Rush is worried that the 1.5 percent of the money set aside for bicycle route improvements could cause people to vote against the tax renewal. At noon the article shows that nine people have commented. But only six [...]

Posted 29 March 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § news § policy ‡ Comments Off ° Also tagged: , ,

Our Urban Challenge: Barriers

Chestnut Expressway cuts east-west through the middle of Springfield’s urban core as I’m defining it. It is a 4-lane, 40-mph loop for I-44. It’s very well designed to move cars and trucks across Springfield giving these vehicles easy access to the urban core — especially downtown, OTC, MSU, and Drury. And that’s the problem with [...]

Posted 28 March 2010 † Andy Cline § advocacy § ecology § policy ‡ Comments (12) ° Also tagged: , , , ,