Cyclists Need More Than Bike Lanes
Think bike lanes are enough to get people biking? WalkBikeCT would have you think again. A post on this Streetsblog Network member site today says that a more comprehensive planning approach is necessary to make most people feel safe on two wheels:
Photo from BikePortland.org's photo pool on Flickr.Thereason cycling as transportation is not too popular in this country isthat, as a policy, roads are optimized for recklessly fast automobiletravel.…As you might guess, bike lanes, i.e. paint stripes and abicycle symbol on the side of the road, are not going to help thissituation much. A few people might feel safer and venture into theroad, but at the end of the day you still have cars traveling fastenough to easilyand instantly kill a human being.
Designing townsoptimized for pedestrian travel, where cars proceed slowly enough thatthey can safely share the road with pedestrians and cyclists — that’s asolution you can believe in.
From Ohio, we have two encouraging posts. Car Less Ohio
writes about a new office park development in Wooster, OH, that is
being designed with 8,000 feet of sidewalk and a bike path. And Xing Columbus reports that the Central Ohio Transit Authority's stimulus wish list includes a light rail project, a bike path and a greenway.
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