Archive for the ‘suburbs’ Category

How to make our kids better drivers

As I was riding my bike today a thought crossed my mind : bicycling forces you to become hyper-aware of your surroundings at all times. I constantly scan the road ahead of me for any drivers who might try to turn into my lane, open their door, or otherwise try to kill me. I’m aware of who or what is behind me in case I need to make an abrupt lane change or stop suddenly. And with no windscreen to obstruct my view, I can check corners and intersections as I approach.

Imagine if we went back to a time when most children road bicycles as their primary form of transportation (instead of as passengers in Mom or Dad’s SUV). A child could put in at least 6-10 years of bicycling before they ever got behind the wheel of a car. By internalizing the skills of defensive driving, I think it’s a reasonable conclusion that they would be much safer drivers once they got a license at age 16.

What would it take to get kids on bicycles? I can think of two hurdles:

1. Many people buy bicycles in a big box store like Walmart or Target. They cost $100 and 100% garbage. These bikes are extremely heavy, poorly assembled, and feature inferior components. Due to the increased weight, rolling resistance, and friction, riding one of these bicycles is not fun at all. I don’t blame kids for letting their Huffy grow dusty in the back of the garage. Real bicycles are purchased at a bicycle shop and cost $200-500. This may seem like a lot, but a well-built and well-maintained bicycle will easily last 25 years if not more.

2. Our suburban landscape is not at all bicycle friendly. Many kids in the US live on a cul-de-sac or feeder road that leads directly to a 2- or 4-lane highway. This is not conducive to bicycling whatsoever. Fortunately, many communities are building bicycle lanes and dedicated bicycle paths. I suspect that this trend will continue as gas prices rise again into the $4 range and bicycling is seen as a more attractive mode for kids and adults alike.

As the icing on the cake, getting more kids onto bicycles is a great way to fight childhood obesity. A casual bike ride to and from school every day would do wonders for our youth.

Filed under bicycle, culture, suburbs : Comments (0) : May 31st, 2010

Transportation is more than cars

Transportation secretary Ray LaHood took a wide departure from his predecessors in formalizing a policy that guides transportation projects to include bicycling and walking as well as motorized vehicles.

“Today I want to announce a sea change,” he wrote on his blog last week. “This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of nonmotorized.”

As a bicyclist and walker fond of urban geographies, I’m thrilled that the DOT has [finally] acknowledged the benefits–dare I say, criticality–of a multi-modal transportation scheme. To demonstrate why, consider the following chart:

Each mode of transportation has an efficiency curve. Walking is extremely efficient for short distances. Bicycling is ideal for anything within a few miles. As distances increase, automobiles make more sense, leaving trains or airplanes for long-distance travel.

Sadly, this is a common-sense approach that many (most?) communities in the U.S. ignore in favor of an all-cars-all-the-time mentality. As an example, compare the two cities below for transportation efficiency. Each image is a quarter square mile (1/2 mile on each side) which would be an easy walk for an adult. Based on transportation infrastructure choices, only one of the two cities is actually walkable. Can you guess which one?

It wasn’t so long ago that gasoline was nearing $4/gallon and we were lamenting the cost of filling our cars. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the option to ride a bicycle or walk to get a coffee with friends?

Filed under culture, politics, suburbs : Comments (3) : Mar 30th, 2010

Livable Streets

Here is a great description of a few simple, easy to grasp changes that would greatly improve the quality of urban streets. Many of these improvements have low costs and high returns. The key concept is to design streets so that humans and automobiles can coexist peacefully.

1. Allow street vendors
2. Provide pedestrian street lamps
3. Install curb extensions at crosswalks
4. Create dedicated bus lanes
5. Create dedicated bike lanes
6. Install raised, textured crosswalks
7. Adjust street lights to give lead to pedestrians
8. Install bollards at intersections
9. Nurture street trees and plantings
10. Use speeds bumps where necessary

Filed under culture, environment, suburbs : Comments (0) : Apr 8th, 2009

We need a new plan

To paraphrase Albert Einstein, we can’t expect to solve a problem using the same thinking that created it. I fear that this is the approach Washington is taking regarding oil prices. The suggestions come from our elected leaders is mind numbingly foolish. “Let’s drill in ANWR!” “Let’s make oil out of coal!” “Let’s tell the Saudis to open up the spigot!” These ideas are coming from the industries and their political supporters who have profited generously during our descent into total oil dependence. I think it’s safe to say they won’t be helping us dig back out.We need to change the way we think about energy if we’re going to flourish in this century. At a personal level, it’s about changing your relationship with your car and your community. Driving to the big-box store to save a few dollars doesn’t make sense if it costs you $10 to get there. Communities will contract out of necessity and we will all find ourselves walking or bicycling for our daily errands. Urban living will see a rebirth as the economic balance of life in the suburbs starts to make a turn. This transition will not come easily, or without cost, but it will come nonetheless. It’s difficult to keep the suburban dream alive at $4/gallon. It’s all but impossible at $8.

On a state and regional level, we will need to start diverting precious tax dollars from highways to railways. Passenger train service is woefully inadequate in most regions. The trains that do run are slow, outdated, and expensive. Anyone who’s traveled in Europe knows that we’re stuck with decades-old technology. From an energy perspective, trains are the most efficient transportation alternative (far better than cars & airplanes). From a time perspective, the city-to-city service of a high speed train will beat today’s air travel for all but the longest routes. Even though an airplane travels faster while in the air, it also requires slow speed travel to the airport, then hours of sitting still as you wait to board the plane. I would gladly trade a few minutes travel time for the convenience of a train.

At the federal level, what we desperately need is leadership. Jimmy Carter proved in the 1970s that we’re able to drastically reduce our energy usage through coordinated efforts. [insert interesting statistic here]. Sadly, since then we’ve been driving on cruise control without a strategic energy plan. (Unless you count the energy strategy written in secret by Dick Cheney & friends during the early 2000s.) During WWII, Americans gathered together to show genuine national pride. Food and fuel was rationed, so people compensated with novel programs such as the “Victory Garden” grown in back yards. There’s nothing stopping us from doing this again, save a near total vaccuum of leadership in Washington.

As we enter the 2008 presidential election season, you can be sure that oil and energy will play a leading role. Don’t be fooled by the short-sighted advice of the petroleum pushers who put us in this mess.

Filed under energy, politics, suburbs : Comments (2) : Jun 17th, 2008

Proof that we both need and want mass transit :