It’s time for the Monday news roundup!
Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire has elected to replace Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct freeway with a tunnel.
– Inauguration-related transportation was big news last week. The Washington Post’s Dr. Gridlock has published a three part “How It Worked” column, discussing the bicycle, walking, and carfree streets solutions DC used to make the big day accessible to all.
– Sarah Goodyear of the Livable Streets Network has compiled network member blog stories about the upcoming stimulus package and what it includes for transit and rail. Streetsblog has its own cutting analysis of what they call a “1950s-era stimulus package”: “Hire a construction worker, fire a bus driver?”
(Photo: Velocouture Blog)
– Chris Smith has rounded up the latest spate of Columbia River Crossing news. Smith also reports that two city council meetings this week will focus on the CRC. One is a public hearing, and the Coalition for a Livable Future urges Portlanders to take action.
– In other highway news from the north, Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington has decided to replace Seattle’s crumbling Alaskan Way Viaduct harborside freeway with a tunnel. The tunnel option is the most expensive of all those considered, and anti- “Big Dig” opponents are already gathering signatures to block the decision.
– The BBC has a three part radio series, The Bicycle Diaries, highlighting everyday bicycle use around the world (via Washcycle).
– Tom Vanderbilt reports that people driving Hummers get more traffic tickets than anyone driving any other type of car.
– And finally, here are a couple of new additions to my bikes and transportation blogroll. Local cyclist, cheesemaker, and graphic designer Patrick Barber has started brand new blog Vélocouture to chronicle his fascination with the intersection between utility cycling and fashion. Patrick is inspired in part by A view from the cycle path, a blog written by a Brit living and cycling in Amsterdam Assen, the Netherlands. I checked it out and immediately was drawn in by a nice description of what makes a good city bike.
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Congressman Peter DeFazio (D Eugene) is trying to get an additional $2,000,000,000 added to the stimulus package for transit. This is not strictly bike related, but it may be even more important. If you are in the 4th District give him shout of encouragement.
I read some of the ‘A view from the cycle path’ entries and checked out some of the photos. In light of the recent thread here on bike parking, there are some truly amazing facilities in the Netherlands. One observaion from the pictures – most of the bike racks shown are variations of the “wheel bender” type that is much reviled here. How come it seems to work over there?
Thanks for featuring my blog. btw, I live in Assen, not Amsterdam.
buglas: the bike parking is not actually “wheel bender” in style. They grip far too much of the wheel for it to have that effect.
The result is a stand that supports the bike far better than any other parking I’ve used. Bikes don’t fall over, they don’t try to roll away, and they stay perfectly upright and stationary even as you load panniers on both sides, baskets on the top etc.
As with so many things about Dutch cycling infrastructure, it may look unusual, even unlikely, but it is as it is because it is extremely effectively. If you want to see things that work, and encourage mass cycling there is no better place to look than here where there is more cycling than any other place in the world.
It’s almost Darwinistic. Survival of the fittest. There is a huge ecosystem of cyclists here constantly testing everything on the streets and anything that survives and catches on does so for a reason.
I have quite a lot of posts showing cycle parking.
Thanks for writing in, David. I corrected your hometown, sorry about that.
Metro has released the Case For An Integrated Mobility Strategy, which is the report that comes in part from the study trips to Amsterdam and Copenhagen.
http://www.oregonmetro.gov/files/about/08478_brc_final_report_pks_11-12.pdf
David – thanks for the response. You have answered my “Why does it work there” question better than I could have hoped. My wife is asking for a bike rack for our patio, so I think I’ll study the photos and perhaps track down a couple of commercial websites and learn from the masters.
Love the Vélocouture blog! I like seeing stylish people on their bikes, maybe because I’m so style-deficient.
Thanks for keeping the CRC news coming!
The StreetsBlog link took me to Google Reader, but I think I tracked down the link you were aiming for:
http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/01/23/hire-a-construction-worker-fire-a-bus-driver/
Oh, I’d love one of David Hembrow’s bike baskets so very much…
buglas: Amongst the best of the bike rack designs is the tulip by velopa. These put the bikes at two heights so that they can be parked compactly, and (to my eye at least) they look rather better than a lot of racks.
Donna: you need only to ask…
Hi – I live in the Washington, D.C. area and I biked to DC for the Inauguration. It was a great way to get to and fro! Check out my blog to read details. 🙂
Charmaine