This is Don! He looks pretty technical... but he rode the Batavus and not his mountain bike. He had his suit at city hall so he just wanted to ride in his wind proof jacket and change at work. Don is less concerned with style than I am. But to his credit, he does just hop on the bike in his normal clothes, which is what I generally advocate. If he's not working, Don could just live in jeans and a t-shirt and bed head. He is like a lumberjack. Camping really becomes him.
Council is deciding on whether or not to invest (and to what extent) in the sorely needed improvements to bike infrastructure here in Edmonton.
We have lots of 'bike lanes' that just end suddenly. Broken links in trails. Weird signage. And even our bike lanes aren't like specialized painted lanes, they're just streets that happen to have a sign on them with a little bike. These changes are really important because they're a long term investment that will have significant environmental and health benefits for people who are encouraged to try biking, even if it's seasonally, as transportation. Edmonton has tons of great trails and a beautiful river valley so the recreational biking in the city is thoroughly enjoyed by 'sport' cyclists. However, it's the increased use of bikes as a viable mode of transportation and a vehicle on a regular daily basis that we really hope for.
Funny. People freak out because they read that the plan is $100 million over the course of 10 years. But... even if there's grumbling, nobody really freaks out about paving new roads out to new subdivisions for cars. And those new roads take wicked beatings with the weather and the encouraged use of cars, which means dumb traffic, not smart traffic. Fixing up bike infrastructure is using what we already have, but pimping it!
Anyway, nobody likes to spend lots of money on anything in this city. And for some people maybe it seems frivolous, but I see it as an investment in the future of the city and I think it would be healthy for the city to make a commitment to reduced emissions and active transportation by approving plans like this. Sure, there's a global economic crisis, but this strikes me as a way to plan ahead. I know it's hard for some people to get their head around.
Go read all about the wonderful work Don is trying to do with the bike plan.
More press:
CBC
4 comments:
Very interesting! I'll have to give the Edmonton bike plan a closer look. My husband is the Comprehensive Planner in Flagstaff and has been making his pitch to the pedestrian and bicycling subcommittees about getting their ideas in for our regional plan. A much smaller city than Edmonton but we have the same issues - narrow lanes, lanes that suddenly end, and of course heavily traveled streets deemed unsafe for bikes (so I peddle on the sidewalk). The investment in bike infrastructure and facilities that make bike commuting easier goes a long way in creating a more livable community. I hope our Bike to Work Week festivities this May will increase interest in bicycling as a alternative to driving. With the stress people feel about the economy being able to get back on my bike during the nice break in the weather has definitely lessens my anxiety.
Oh Sarah! Same here about the poor planning, the lanes that suddenly stop, and the roads to nowhere (well, to the horrible subdivisions growing like fungi on the best farmland in the region). In addition to spending huge sums to make 2-lane roads into 4-lane quasi-expressways that fill up with cars and potholes, we have terrible bus service that is not permitted entry into those residential areas but only on the main thoroughfares that circumnavigate them. I'm not kidding! The local bus completes an attenuated figure-8 pattern travelling in only one direction (meaning that before I can head east on the bus I must first travel west, and then north, and then south!). The unidirectional trajectory of the bus lines out to the 'residential' areas also means that children are forced to cross 4 lanes of traffic in areas that have lights only once per kilometer+.
We have 'green trails' in the residential neighbourhoods, but I call them the 'paths from nowhere to no place'. Honestly, one cannot use them to walk to anywhere one wants to go.
I do like cycling across the U. Waterloo campus, like the multi-use trail that borders it, and find the Iron Horse trail to be a nice way to get downtown, but to get around the city, I generally claim a lane and ride *in* traffic. That's jim-dandy for me, but I realise that it knocks most people outta the game because they are too fearful to ride in traffic like that.
But all this reminds me, it's time for me to start riding with our local Critical Mass people.
As for today, I'm going to get myself out there and cycle down to the UW library cafe where I'll find a sunny spot and read, read, read. OK, and I'll grade some papers too....
I'll look at that city plan later! I'm very interested for the purposes of my upcoming lecture on environmental problems. I'm also really keen on building *up* for urban growth, instead of *out*. So if you know of any urban planning with good models of upward growth, I'd love to hear about them.
Hey Ladies,
It's so great to hear about people who understand how frustrating bad infrastructure can be! But it's not great to hear that this problem is so pervasive;( Edmonton had a bunch of stuff approved in 1992 which has finally all sort of gotten together. From what I've hard it's MUCH better than pre-1992 now. However, that doesn't mean there is no longer room for massive improvement!
Morgan, I wish you could be my project (thesis) advisor:(
S*
I relate to stupid bike lane logic.
And to squemishness in spending money on bike infrastructure. We had big controversy recently about $9 million for a mile of trail in downtown Minneapolis. They didn't point that 1 mile would connect many more miles of trails, and allow cyclist to avoid riding through downtown.
It's good to point out how much is really spent, supporting our car habit. Google 28 reasons to ride a bike for more ammo to back it up.
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