Pedal. To the NY Times, this is
a solution to congestion
on the Brooklyn Bridge.
(Photo © J. Maus)
A lot of bikes in the news this week — and plenty of other transportation news as well.
– A smart and inspiring New York Times op-ed calls attention to the “war” created by forcing people to bike and walk together on the relatively narrow Brooklyn Bridge walkway, and calls for a separated bike path on the car deck.
– An op-ed in the London Times this week calls for the British government to make cycling “dull” and criticizes the much-touted new “cycling superhighways” for not being particularly good for cycling on.
– Streetsblog has the best analysis I’ve seen yet of who pays what for roads, positing that the almost complete lack of direct cost for using the highway system is what causes freeway congestion and low ridership on facilities (like transit) that are less subsidized and must charge fees.
– A highway expansion project in Wisconsin looks to be nearing an early demise, after a judge found its environmental impact assessment lacking.
– Some interesting inside baseball from Streetsblog about the politics of federal transportation funding under LaHood (who has recently praised NY’s great strides in sustainable transport).
– Scientific American says if you want to get more people bicycling on the roads, look to women and focus on what they want — “safety and utility,” according to PSU’s Jennifer Dill, whose studies the article cites.
– A World Bank working paper emphasizes the importance of transportation in the struggle for gender equality worldwide.
– Boise’s Kristin Armstrong, who won the gold last week in Olympic cycling time trials, was interviewed about how to improve conditions for cycling in Boise — she’d like to see safer infrastructure, like in Europe.
– A Swedish study has found that the noise generated by car traffic contributes significantly to risk factors for heart disease and strokes.
– Time Magazine writes about what might be a bike renaissance in Detroit (the topic might sound familiar).
– Parade Magazine highlights Columbia, Missouri as an up and coming bicycle friendly city. The mayor rides a bike and he’s led the city to participate in a pilot program for funding bicycle infrastructure, including lanes and corrals.
– Oregon’s DJC covers the new buffered bike lanes on far SE Holgate.
– The Mercury’s Sarah Mirk has a nice feature out this week on Portland’s “Dead Freeway” history and how our relative lack of inner city freeways has made the city what it is.
– Portland mayor Sam Adams has declared a war on potholes… but some local media see it a bit differently.
– Just in time for last week’s World Carfree Day — the winners of the first International Car Cartoon Contest have been announced. Here’s another one in the same vein.
– Smartypants culture/lit blog Making Light has challenged the public to take a photo every 50 feet along their bike commute and post to flickr with the tag “bikecommute.”
From the pothole article:
“At 3 p.m., Adams will be personally filling in potholes at Southeast
Caruthers Street between 11th and 12th avenues.”
Sorry, but I’m still kind of mad at the mayor, as I hope many others are, and publicity stunts like this one are really stupid. I’m so glad to be paying his salary.
@Nick V: Well, if he actually does some work, even just a little, it will be a good thing. It’s a good way to stay in tune with what’s happening out on the street, both literally and figuratively.
Is it just me, or is the background dark on this page, rather than white? I see a white background on the home page but not on this one. I love reading these roundups and the white background is much more readable! (going off to check my browser settings….)
The article cited in the London Times (Making cycling irrestistible) is available here. Enjoy!
Maybe the people who fill potholes full-time should ask for Sam’s yearly pay rate.
Thanks for the extra link, Heidi (everyone should feel free to contribute more news stories that we might have missed).
This page looks normal to me — is anyone else having trouble with it? If you’re using Internet Explorer, that’s been interacting badly with the site lately. Let me know via email if you still have trouble.
hey, Elly, what a great collection of links, thanks. either it was an exceptional week or you have outdone yourself, possibly both.
Thanks, are — full credit goes to “the news” this week, unless my best work is in fact done in a hurried half hour before the second cup of coffee hits. 🙂
By the way, our ability to let you know about news is improving as more folks are sending us links and we figure out better where to look. Stay tuned in early October for a “where we get our news” post.
Thanks for all the links Ely,
Just a small correction, Kristin Armstrong won Olympic gold LAST year, but won the World Championship gold medal this past week! Way to go Kristin.
The Hawthorne bridge has far too much bike congestion. The time to create a bike only lane on the Hawthorne is now. The investment cost will be minimal, the payback over the next 30 years will be huge. Few will complain now, and none will complain in the future. The cars don’t need 4 lanes.
All it takes is for people to write letters and make some calls to the office of Sam Adams. I think his office is in charge of PDOT.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/contactsam
503-823-4120
and put it in your cell, call every time you see a near miss on Hawthorne
My guess is that people who take a car to work on the freeway instead of a bike do so because it is convenient. It isn’t convenient to arrive sweaty or drenched from rain if you need to look presentable. It is true that we should not be forced to look presentable – business attire is the height of stupidity – wearing suits when it’s 90 degrees out? wearing slick leather-soled shoes in snow and ice? Business dress codes were written by and for idiots, and that’s putting it gently.
Convenience is why we use cars. Max doesn’t go near where most work. It goes near where a few work. Buses are way too slow and full of coughing, hacking sickos.
Biking is better but it isn’t easy and it’s not convenient.