A young boy on his bike waits for the red light to change on Logan Boulevard in Logan Square.
When you build for youngest, you build for everyone
This video policy insight is about 8 to 80. I connect the concept of “designing biking facilities for all” to ways cyclists have been divided and then bring it around to a discussion last week between Adolfo Hernandez of Active Transportation Alliance and Rob Forbes, CEO of Public Bikes.
Watch the video after the jump. MORE
As Steve cannot make it this evening to bring his Policy Insight in person, here’s a video message from him!
WORD CHOICE
Biker versus bicyclist?
Person riding bike or bicyclist?
“Avid cyclist” or “bicycling enthusiast”? Are you really enthused about bicycling? How avid does one need to be so that others will consider him or her an “avid cyclist”?
What about driver versus motorist? Motorist can imply that it’s a person who enjoys motoring.
Or, car versus motorist?
Did the car hit you, or did a person driving a car hit you?
“The car stopped and talked to the guy. The car left-hooked my friend.” Do cars talk? Do cars operate by themselves?
Crash versus accident? (don’t have time to talk about this)
When you describe a bicycling riding, and you say they had to “SWERVE out of the way,” do you think that some people may interpret that as the bicyclist doing something they shouldn’t be doing? Maybe they were just swerving to avoid a pothole and crashed, or they swerved to avoid getting hit by someone driving a car when the cyclist disobeyed a red signal. A more objective phrase would be, “the bicyclist maneuvered to avoid hitting the pothole.” In that sense, I’ve made it seem like the bicyclist was riding assertively and in their best interest. Notice earlier how I said “disobeyed a red signal” instead of “blew a red light”?
POINT
When we open our dialogue in order to understand others and to be understand ourselves, language and word choice matters. Be specific, but more importantly be descriptive so that you’re not misunderstood.
Some have called Mayor Rahm Emanuel an “avid cyclist.” Does this photo of him make you think of yourself as someone who bicycles, or your peers?
Cross posted to Steven Can Plan.
This isn’t refined. These are just my notes that I speak from. I may not have spoke about everything written here and I may not have written here everything I spoke about.
There was report of cyclist crashing on the Tuff Curb at Wicker Park.
experimental projects need reviews. I don’t mean projects that are considered experiments, I mean projects that are new to the people who designed it, and new to the people who will be using it.
we need good data collection.
Did the Kinzie bike lane cause congestion? So what if it did?
We would need data points that were collected using well-known methods, and probably at different times of the day and week. And we’d have to be sure to count cyclists, too.
Then 3, 6, or 12 months later, we’d have to do it again.
What was the change?
Is that a change that meets our goals?
Back to the cyclist crashing on tuff curb, what is the city’s plan to monitor the use (or disuse) of the facility? How will the city collect data on something like this?
Census – not gonna happen in 2020
American Community Survey – 5-year estimates (with data gathered annually) will replace decennial Census.
“Here are a few Streetsblog posts about Census and NYC DOT’s bike counts, and the problems with each. The first post has some stuff about what could be done to improve on them:” (Ben Fried, Editor in Chief, Streetsblog NYC)
http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/04/27/how-many-new-yorkers-bike-each-day/
http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/10/01/did-nyc-bike-commuting-decrease-in-2009-thats-what-the-census-says/
http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/04/13/actually-if-you-build-it-they-will-bike/
Cross-posted to Steven Can Plan.
Still to go: 99.5 miles of protected bike lanes, 25 bridges – cross-posted to Grid Chicago
Well, Mayor Rahm Emanuel only promised one: 100 miles of protected bike lanes. But as I pointed out on Friday, July 22, 2011, there are 25 bridges that are still hostile to cycling.
If you can see the water below, you’re on an open metal grate bridge. But don’t look down as you may lose your balance.
Let’s say that Emanuel and Department of Transportation (CDOT) commissioner Gabe Klein finally read that study the department conducted in 2004 and pledged to fix them.
And let’s say they offered this:
25 miles for 25 bridges. Instead of building 100 miles of protected bike lanes in the mayor’s four-year first term, his administration would only build 75 miles, but add bike-friendly decks to 25 bridges.
Would you take that deal?
Comparing costs
We know that the bridge plates cost $30,000 plus installation. And the half-mile Kinzie Street protected bike lane (in both directions) cost $140,000. So it seems bike-friendly bridge decks are cheaper than protected bike lanes – most of the other bridges are longer than Kinzie and will cost more. The study does note the distances and portion of each bridge deck made of metal grates.
Another method of bike-friendly decking is filling the grates in with concrete, like you see on Randolph and Harrison Streets. This may be a more complicated installation because the bridge has to be able to accommodate the extra weight.
The next step
The City likely won’t offer that deal. If citizen cyclists want bike-friendly bridges, they’re going to have to raise a ruckus. “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” The first thing you should do is find out who your alderman is.