Monday Roundup: Why women win, Houston’s carfree main street, and more
Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)
Welcome to the week. Yes I realize it’s Tuesday. Hope you had a good Juneteenth. Here are the most notable stories our writers and readers have come across in the past seven days…
This week’s Roundup is sponsored byGorge Pass. Get a ticket-to-ride transit for you and your bike in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge for just $40!
And now, let the Roundup begin…
A wonderful machine: Here’s to hoping this video of that delightful protected bikeway making machine used in Santa Monica is making its way around offices at PBOT and ODOT! (Streetsblog LA)
Houston: “We solved a problem”: Houston business owners loved a carfree main street experiment enacted during Covid so much, the city has decided to make it permanent. It’s downright embarrassing that Portland hasn’t done something like this yet! (Chron)
Safer big rigs: An in-depth investigation revealed that side underride guards on trucks save lives, yet federal regulators dragged their feet in mandating them due to concerns from trucking companies. (ProPublica)
Culture always wins: Glad to see national traffic safety leaders finally coming to terms with the fact that throwing money at “safer streets” will never be enough to reverse our epidemic of deadly driving. (Smart Cities Drive)
Drive less: This short and sobering bit of reporting underscores a fundamental necessity going forward: Cities must do more to reduce vehicle miles traveled. (NY Times)
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High(er) cost of parking: This new policy in a town near London will charge higher parking fines for cars that emit more pollution. Seems like a brilliant way to make people pay their fair share. Wonder if we could do this based on vehicle size? (Guardian UK)
Women are just tougher: Turns out that women are making a routine of beating men at the ultra-endurance Race Across America, and it might have something to do with their innate ability to endure pain. (The Guardian)
Good idea: Many people don’t bike in Portland’s central city due to theft fears, so a program in Vancouver (BC) that offers bike valet service with a human attendee would make a lot of sense. (Vancouver is Awesome)
Screw your ‘single file’ sign: Bike activist hero Charles Komanoff explains his annoyance with a sign on a popular recreational route that tells cyclists to “ride single file”. (Streetsblog NYC)
Cost of cars: File this devastating story about leaking underground gas storage tanks under the myriad reasons why we must start making car users pay more for the vast negative impacts of driving. (Grist)
