I disagree. While rail trails are great, University sorely needs some
bike/ped improvements. There are stretches of nice path along there,
but the bike route detours in a few sections are ridiculous if you are
commuting or trying to get to a business along University versus taking
a liesurely weekend ride. And just continuing those existing multi-use
paths along University is no good due to the number of dangerous road
& driveway crossings. Bike lanes in those sections connecting the
existing paths would seem a good compromise.
I like arterials for the same reason motorists do - they are usually
the most direct route, and there aren't stop signs every few blocks.
If it were a real, immediate either-or choice I might think
differently, but right now the tantalizing possibility of a nearby rail
trail in some distant
future isn't enough to convince me not to spend money on bike lanes.
And on that report, it would seem to me that "provision of separate
cycling facilities" would include marked bike lanes. While no doubt
completely separate is better, it's rarely practical and even more
rarely actually pulled off..
-Doug Adler
Indeed, the rail route would be infinitely
preferable to biking along University Avenue. Over time, pedaling on a
high-traffic roadway like that does cause respiratory damage, not to
mention the moral distress it causes to see so many people yakking
alone on their cell phones. The rail route provides a
healthy separation from traffic pollution and a scenic boost to the
psyche. If rail transit ever emerges, then the engines will need to be
all-electric, rather than diesel electric, to protect trail users'
health. It is overall cleaner as well as lower-carbon and more energy
efficient to run a train on electricity produced at the Walnut Street
plant than by a diesel engine, even if it ran on biodiesel.
It would be great to team up with Middleton
and Dane County at the same time, and extend a path all the way to
Deming Way, and then connect across Hwy 14 to the Hwy 12 path (as much
as I denigrate its proximity to Hwy 12, that junction could be the site
of a successful "Park and Bike" for our daily guests from Cross Plains
and Sauk Prairie, the next time oil prices leap to record levels).
Jeff Schimpff
Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources
Madison, WI
608-267-7853
"Bus, Bike, Carpool to Work
for Clean Air for Kids"
"The key to achieving high
levels of cycling appears to be the provision of separate cycling
facilities along heavily travelled roads and at intersections, combined
with traffic calming of most residential neighbourhoods."
I believe that we have reached the same
conclusion but we continue to add bike lanes on arterial streets rather
than provide separate cycling facilities. Case in Point: we are
required to add bike lanes on University Avenue between Segoe and Allen
(scheduled for 2011). To do so will require the acquistion of right of
way, which will be quite costly. Those resources could be better spent
on a separate facility, such as the construction of a bike path on the
rail corridor about a 1/2 mile to the south. Now that facility would
get people out of SOVs.
|
This is in a British Journal Transportation
Review- you may be able to get a copy of it through your local library.
Journal Article
|
| Making Cycling
Irresistible: Lessons From The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. |
| Pucher
J, Buehler R. Transp Rev 2008; 28(4): 495-528. |
| DOI: 10.1080/01441640701806612
What is this? |
| (Copyright
© 2008, Taylor and Francis Group) |
| This article shows how the
Netherlands, Denmark and Germany have made bicycling a safe, convenient
and practical way to get around their cities. The analysis relies on
national aggregate data as well as case studies of large and small
cities in each country. The key to achieving high levels of cycling
appears to be the provision of separate cycling facilities along
heavily travelled roads and at intersections, combined with traffic
calming of most residential neighbourhoods. Extensive cycling rights of
way in the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany are complemented by ample
bike parking, full integration with public transport, comprehensive
traffic education and training of both cyclists and motorists, and a
wide range of promotional events intended to generate enthusiasm and
wide public support for cycling. In addition to their many pro-bike
policies and programmes, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany make
driving expensive as well as inconvenient in central cities through a
host of taxes and restrictions on car ownership, use and parking.
Moreover, strict land-use policies foster compact, mixed-use
developments that generate shorter and thus more bikeable trips. It is
the coordinated implementation of this multi-faceted, mutually
reinforcing set of policies that best explains the success of these
three countries in promoting cycling. For comparison, the article
portrays the marginal status of cycling in the UK and the USA, where
only about 1% of trips are by bike.
Language: Eng
|
Steve Meiers
Safety educator
(608) 267-1102
_______________________________________________
Bikies mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
|
