Drunk Driving or Texting!

[donner]

I'm not surprised. It's tough to strike the right balance but more and more people are demanding green space and more pedestrian friendly options in lots of cities. Most of the infrastructure in lots of cities is built around cars, which is fine and dandy, but it would sure be nice to have a dedicated bike lane, at least.

Spokane, WA was pretty incredible for bike lanes and paths and people from the pacific NW told me how crappy it was. (These people are high and have never lived anywhere else.) There's one path where you can literally ride across the entire Idaho panhandle with virtually never having to deal with a car but for minor crossings. It was heaven. I would totally pay more in taxes for something like this. (Though not everyone else would sadly.)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_the_Coeur_d'Alenes

there are lots of things that go into it, and i'm certainly not a fan of riding on all the roads. That said, it's been interesting to study places that have started to make changes. Memphis has reclaimed a bunch of old rails for paths and ridership has skyrocketed. Places there were initially against the projects are now it's biggest supporters as they've seen a big increase in property value and added businesses.

The dutch have done amazingly well at including infrastructure and it's often touted as one reason they are so happy. People do the majority of their trips by bike, often with kids in tow and/or on their own bikes. Many are willing to let their kids ride themselves to school at a young age because the network is so well designed.

And the health benefits of doing short trips by foot or bike can't be denied.

There has also been an interesting trend towards what is called tactical urbanism. The idea that individual neighborhoods are starting to do their own road projects (often unsanctioned). Things like painting crosswalks where they want them (when the city wont) and narrowing roads using things like planters and such as a method of traffic calming or to add bike lanes. Recently someone put a series of plungers out along a road to make a protected bike lane in boulder.

 

[ShaunyP26]

there are lots of things that go into it, and i'm certainly not a fan of riding on all the roads. That said, it's been interesting to study places that have started to make changes. Memphis has reclaimed a bunch of old rails for paths and ridership has skyrocketed. Places there were initially against the projects are now it's biggest supporters as they've seen a big increase in property value and added businesses.

The dutch have done amazingly well at including infrastructure and it's often touted as one reason they are so happy. People do the majority of their trips by bike, often with kids in tow and/or on their own bikes. Many are willing to let their kids ride themselves to school at a young age because the network is so well designed.

And the health benefits of doing short trips by foot or bike can't be denied.

There has also been an interesting trend towards what is called tactical urbanism. The idea that individual neighborhoods are starting to do their own road projects (often unsanctioned). Things like painting crosswalks where they want them (when the city wont) and narrowing roads using things like planters and such as a method of traffic calming or to add bike lanes. Recently someone put a series of plungers out along a road to make a protected bike lane in boulder.

Have you ever been to Amsterdam? It's insane the level of people on bikes there. Copenhagen is similar. I do think quite a few cities are like this as well, such as Portland. Portland is a weird place in general though. It also has the most strip clubs per person, because the city regulations make it easier to open a strip club that has food than just a pure restaurant for some reason. City zoning is a weird thing indeed.

 

[ShaunyP26]

I definitely like the idea of tactical urbanism, but god forbid some HOA busybody comes along and ruins it.

 

[donner]

Have you ever been to Amsterdam? It's insane the level of people on bikes there. Copenhagen is similar. I do think quite a few cities are like this as well, such as Portland. Portland is a weird place in general though. It also has the most strip clubs per person, because the city regulations make it easier to open a strip club that has food than just a pure restaurant for some reason. City zoning is a weird thing indeed.

I haven't been to amsterdam, but i have good friends who summered in copenhagen and loved the bike-ability of it. I'm trying to get our city to do a few things the dutch do in terms of traffic calming. Things like alternate left and right side of the street parking down some of the neighborhoods. It breaks up the straight line that many cities call roads, helping reducing speeds.

And yes, the urbanism requires a lot of buy in from those in the neighborhood. We've completed a couple 'pop-up projects' (with city approval). The last one we did was restriping a road near campus to cut it down from 4 lanes to 2. We used temporary road tape and a bunch of citizens (with the help of one police car and some traffic cones) covered and remarked the entire length of road. We added bike lanes to take up the extra space (though, truth be told, it wasn't a road that needed them). The biggest thing we accomplished was adding a pedestrian island between two buildings on campus, thus making it easier for people to cross the road (crossing to a protected middle island instead of 4 lanes of active cars).

While the city ultimately opted not to adopt that plan, they were convinced that the reduction in speed, and popularity of the crossing, meant that something should be done. The eventually added raised pedestrian crossing (big speed bumps) and the average speed on the 30-mph road dropped from 37 to closer to 30.

 

[ShaunyP26]

I haven't been to amsterdam, but i have good friends who summered in copenhagen and loved the bike-ability of it. I'm trying to get our city to do a few things the dutch do in terms of traffic calming. Things like alternate left and right side of the street parking down some of the neighborhoods. It breaks up the straight line that many cities call roads, helping reducing speeds.

And yes, the urbanism requires a lot of buy in from those in the neighborhood. We've completed a couple 'pop-up projects' (with city approval). The last one we did was restriping a road near campus to cut it down from 4 lanes to 2. We used temporary road tape and a bunch of citizens (with the help of one police car and some traffic cones) covered and remarked the entire length of road. We added bike lanes to take up the extra space (though, truth be told, it wasn't a road that needed them). The biggest thing we accomplished was adding a pedestrian island between two buildings on campus, thus making it easier for people to cross the road (crossing to a protected middle island instead of 4 lanes of active cars).

While the city ultimately opted not to adopt that plan, they were convinced that the reduction in speed, and popularity of the crossing, meant that something should be done. The eventually added raised pedestrian crossing (big speed bumps) and the average speed on the 30-mph road dropped from 37 to closer to 30.

That's awesome. Little by little it's catching on in places that used to resist things like that. I'm convinced sprawl and long commutes make us all miserable and unhealthy. The only problem is housing supply in the long run. You ever read Matthew Yglesias? He's very much a progressive, but his views on land use, zoning, and other transportation type problems firmly place him well outside and to the right of the liberal view. He writes a lot about things like this and praises Texas frequently on these types of topics.

 

[RickN]

You're referring to the felony murder rule, and Oklahoma has it. Can you puzzle out why it's called the felony murder rule?


Seriously? "Selling their vote?" And I assume you'd define that generously, to include campaign contributions, not as being caught actually receiving cash.

My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle.

You say that like I am supposed to care.