Date:         Fri, 27 Feb 2004 12:44:15 -0600
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Subject:      Re: Was!!    now that it's Friday!   Now:  Rant!! Long!
In-Reply-To:  <403F7FFA.1080404@bellsouth.net>
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>
> My complaint, among many, is that there is absolutely NO planning for
> any pedestrian traffic anywhere. The streets and roads are constructed
> with no shoulders, or they are weed and brush covered and you can't use
> them. Sidewalks??? Mention that to a land developer or contractor and
> they look at you like you are crazy or they just get a glazed look in
> their eyes.
>



I know and work with several local developers from time to time and
they are always going to do what makes the value of their property the
highest, though, and it's not usually the cheapest route. The problem
though is that people are happy pedaling and strolling around their
neighborhoods. It never occurs to them that they could go to work and
to the store on a bike or on foot, so they don't pressure their local
municipality for the means for any more.

My wife and I bike everywhere when the weather is OK and other
circumstances allow. We travel on all sorts of roads in all sorts of
cities in the right-hand lane. We'll go 20 miles for lunch each way, go
to the store, visit parents and friends, etc. by planning out a route
we know will work. Even around here, in a mid-sized southern town, you
can come upon some impossible roads for bike travel. When we are in
Orlando or San Jose, though, we see places where there isn't a single
major road than can be negotiated in anything but a car or truck.

Most people don't want to do what we do, they are afraid they would get
hit and maybe they are right. But we know that in our lifetimes, the
problem of this sprawl and disregard for anything but car traffic is
only going to get worse. We haven't had any bad experiences to speak
of, but in general there is an arrogance towards bike traffic and an
attitude that cyclists are intruders in a car's domain. To mention more
would be to go below the tip of the immense iceburg of american
car-consumer mentality, as mentioned recently on this list in the
energy and SUV related posts.

Bottom line is this: if you want to walk or ride a bike, you need to
get as many people as you can to lobby your city or county government
about it. It will take years to change anything very much (it has here)
but at least sensible development rules, such as sidewalks with curb
cuts and bike lanes build into major roadways, and bike trail
designations can start today. I am about to ask our city engineer to
please do something about the car sensors that run left turn signals at
a couple of intersections here. Bicycles cannot trip these sensors, and
you just have to run a red light to turn left because if there's not a
big, stinking hunk of metal over it, the sensor will never let you
pass.

If your city or county thinks nobody cares, they will do business as
usual. You have to bring it to their attention.

I have to add a comments about a pice of insfrastructure near me that
the city it's built in is very proud of. It's a multi-million-dollar
pedestrian walkway over a six-lane boulevard that is considered to be a
symbol of progress. The boulevard was widened to the point that kids
couldn't walk to an elementary school nearby. So they built this thing
with about 200 feet of spiraling ramp on each side of the road and
built a big mesh-enclosed bridge over the highway. It is a monument to
failure if there ever was one, but that's not how it is considered by
most people. The question is, how did that two-lane road become six
lanes wide without anyone know it? Shameful planning, with the shameful
result of a soviet-era conveyance over a miserable, car-choked
intersection where drivers felt they couldn't afford to slow down even
for school children.

Jim