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Bikemike May 7, 2015 9:24 AM
^Awesome news. I have been waiting for this next step in bike infrastructure to finally make its way to the US.

M II A II R II K May 8, 2015 3:49 PM
Salt Lake City to Install Nation’s First Protected Intersection for Bicycling

Read More: http://usa.streetsblog.org/2015/05/0...for-bicycling/

Quote:
.....

The intersection design is based on a Dutch template that minimizes potential conflicts between people biking, driving, and walking. For example, it allows cyclists to make a left turn in two stages without crossing against oncoming car traffic. It will be part of a protected bike lane running a little more than a mile through a central portion of the Utah capital.

- Last year, Portland-based Nick Falbo campaigned to introduce the basic template to America and submitted a protected intersection design to a competition at George Mason University. His video is a great introduction to how protected intersections work. Falbo and the team at Alta Planning + Design were consultants on the project working with Salt Lake City transportation officials. The new Salt Lake City bike lane on 200 West will include just one protected intersection. Construction will start in August and will take about two months, local news station KSL reports.

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mrnyc May 14, 2015 11:55 AM
from last year -- we'll see how it goes


Cleveland plans to add 70 miles of bikeways by the end of 2017

http://imgick.cleveland.com/home/cle...507-mmmain.jpg
The city of Cleveland has announced plans to add 70 miles of bikeways to its existing 47.5-mile network. Christopher Bongorno (center), planning and sustainability manager for University Circle Inc., bikes to work with other commuters along Detroit Avenue.

The Plain Dealer By Alison Grant, The Plain Dealer
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on January 19, 2014 at 6:07 PM, updated January 20, 2014 at 10:05 AM

CLEVELAND, Ohio-- The city of Cleveland plans to more than double the amount of bike-friendly routes in town, adding 70 miles of dedicated lanes, trails and pavement markings by the end of 2017.

An update of Cleveland's bikeway plan, introduced Sunday at the annual meeting of the advocacy group Bike Cleveland, showed almost 45 miles of bikeways added over the next two years, and another 25.6 miles in the following two years.

The overall goal is to connect every Cleveland neighborhood to a bikeway network, said Jenita McGowan, the city's chief of sustainability.

The bikeway improvements are woven into the city's capital improvements plan, with some of the changes made as part of street resurfacing projects, with others coming as roadways are rebuilt. Streets where resurfacing and reconstruction work has already occurred will be striped and posted with signs for bicyclists to complete the network.


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The city of Cleveland currently has 47.5 miles of bikeways -- a mixture of sharrows, and bike lanes and trails. It plans to add another 70 miles of bike-friendly routes by the end of 2017. Cleveland today has 47.5 miles of bikeways -- 3.7 miles of streets with sharrows, or pavement markings alerting drivers that bikes are sharing a lane; 10.3 miles of bike lanes, where part of the road is marked off and restricted to bicylists; and 34.6 miles of trails -- paths, often shared with pedestrians, that are physically separate from motorized traffic.

McGowan said it is largely an unconnected patchwork.

"It's a lot of bicycling to nowwhere," she told a gathering of about 150 people who turned out for Bike Cleveland's meeting at the Beachland Ballroom.

But by the end of 2017, McGowan said, cyclists will be able to ride across town on numerous routes without ever leaving a bikeway. For instance, a bicyclist could start out on Detroit Avenue as it leaves Lakewood for Cleveland, head east through downtown and follow Superior Avenue to the city limits.

Jacob VanSickle, executive director of Bike Cleveland, praised Cleveland's plans and said they are more sure-fire than other ideas that have come and gone because they are part of roadway projects that are funded.

Some of the redesigns coming in 2014 -- along Triskett and Puritas Roads, Denison Avenue, 41st Street and 44th Street -- specify establishing lanes for bikes only, rather than the combined auto-bike traffic that comes with sharrows.

The nature of the rest of the added bikeways is not yet pinned down.

"If we can get people at public meetings saying sharrows don't make them feel safe, then we may get more bike lanes," VanSickle said.

Aside from the changes that are part of upcoming Cleveland street projects, the city has identified another 82.5 miles of roads that could be eligible for cycling-related improvements such as restriping and signage. Cleveland has about $1 million earmarked for the work.


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Besides 70 added miles of bikeway planned over the next four years, the city of Cleveland says another 82.5 miles of roadway, as shown in this map, could be restriped and identified as bike routes.


If it all pans out, the city could have a 200-mile bike network by the end of of 2018.

Maps taped to the walls of the Beachland Ballroom showed existing and proposed bike routes. Viewers used bright sticky notes to attach comments.

"Please don't forget Fairmount and Shaker going into University Circle," one said. "Monitor broken glass!!" said another.

Marie Kittredge, executive director of Slavic Village Development, called the extension of biking facilities "huge" for a low-income neighborhood like hers, where 30 percent of residents don't have cars.

Angie Schmitt, a Bike Cleveland board member, said the street changes are not just for already-committed bikers, but also for "people who would like to bike but who are still afraid.

"Cleveland will be a lot more bike-friendly," she said.

M II A II R II K May 20, 2015 12:37 AM
The Economic “Cycle”

Read More: http://whitehallde.com/the-economic-cycle/

Quote:
According to Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN) bicycle manufacturing is a $6 billion national industry. Recreation bicyclists spend millions of dollars on meals, transportation, lodging, gifts and entertainment and the tourism benefits state, regional and local economies.

- We all know that biking is good exercise and good for your health, but studies published through the Adventure Cycling Association show that bicycling also has a strong economic impact throughout our states and communities. Bike recreation and tourism contributes multi-millions of dollars all around the U.S. and abroad. --- Visitors engaged in organized bicycling activities bring an increased demand for recreational and leisure goods and services. Studies have also shown that properties within 50 miles of bike paths and trails will sell for thousands more than similar homes.

Many communities, resorts, and cities across most of the U.S. have conducted focus studies for developing infrastructure for bicycling. Business benefits from investments that attract people on bikes. A lot of parking in a space (12 bikes per 1 car space) means more customers for local business. --- Many communities have made a modest investment in paths, expanded shoulders and trails which have proven to impact the local economy by attracting visitors, residents and businesses. Building cycling infrastructure to attract bike riders is extremely cost effective. Widening shoulders and creating shared-use paths and lanes is far cheaper compared to road transportation projects and enhance shopping districts, communities, generate tourism and support business.

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If you give a girl a bike, she will buy a helmet, cool shades, colorful biking clothes to look good and lots of techie gadgets. Once she’s ready to ride, what will she do next? She stops at a local watering hole to buy some water to refill her fancy water bottle and meets some new biking friends. She meets her friends on a bumpy road and realizes her tire is flat. She heads to the local repair shop and sees the touring bike of her dreams in the window.


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M II A II R II K May 20, 2015 12:55 AM
Chicago Gets First Curb-Protected Lanes; Many Other Bike Projects on Deck

Read More: http://chi.streetsblog.org/2015/05/1...jects-on-deck/

Quote:
In a surprise move, the Chicago Department of Transportation recently began building the city’s first curb-protected bike lanes on Sacramento Drive through Douglas Park. This morning, assistant director of transportation planning Mike Amsden provided an update on this game-changing facility, plus a slew of other bikeways projects slated for 2015.

- The new curb-separated lanes run on both sides of Sacramento, a curving roadway within the Southwest Side green space, on a quarter-mile stretch between Douglas Boulevard and Ogden Avenue. The curbs are about six inches high and two feet wide, with breaks at drainage basins, and wherever park paths cross the street. The Sacramento protected bike lanes were originally installed in 2012 on a section that included some truly awful pavement – a counterproductive practice that CDOT has since discontinued. The new curbs are being put in as part of a resurfacing project.

- While CDOT and the Illinois Department of Transportation announced plans for curb-separated bike lanes on Clybourn Avenue in Old Town last summer, there was no public announcement about the Sacramento curbs, Amsden said. However, 24th Ward Alderman Michael Chandler signed off on the plan. In early 2013, Chandler asked CDOT to downgrade an existing PBLs on nearby Independence Boulevard to buffered bike lanes.

- Along with State and Vincennes, a few other streets designated as “Spoke Routes” in the city’s Streets for Cycling Plan 2020 will be getting improvements this year. Buffered and protected bike lanes on Milwaukee Avenue – the city’s busiest biking street — will be extended northwest to Division Street. The two-to-three-block segment between Elston and the Kennedy Expressway will get PBLs with New York City-style concrete parking end caps – another first in Chicago.

- CDOT is working with several aldermen on new neighborhood greenways, aka bike boulevards, traffic-calmed bike routes on residential streets, Amsden said. In Uptown, a greenway on Leland Avenue, which 46th Ward residents voted to bankroll with ward money via a participatory budgeting election, is currently in design review. The transportation department will also be installing route signs and sharrows on a short stretch of Marshfield Avenue to direct cyclists from the Cortland Street to Walsh Park, the eastern terminus of the Bloomingdale Trail, which is opens on June 6.

- CDOT will also be building a two-way protected bike lane on Clinton Street, similar to the Dearborn Street PBL, which will connect the Randolph and Washington lanes with existing PBLs on Harrison Street. The whole Loop Link corridor is supposed to be up and running by the end of the year. “Soon we’ll have a robust network of protected bike lanes downtown, which, in my biased opinion, is pretty unparalleled in this country,” Amsden said.

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M II A II R II K May 27, 2015 10:23 PM
Salt Lake City Will Be First US City to Build Protected Intersection for Cyclists

Read More: http://sustainnovate.ae/en/industry-...section-for-cy

Quote:
This summer, Salt Lake City, Utah, will build the first protected intersection for bikes and cyclists in the United States, based on a Dutch design that minimizes the potential for conflicts between drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.

- The intersection will be part of a protected bike lane that runs for about a mile through the central part of the city on 200 West, which is said to be "an underutilized street" by as much as 90% (of vehicle capacity) and is therefore an ideal location, according to local news station KSL.

- The protected intersection and bikeway aren't meant to only make cycling more accessible and safer in Salt Lake City, though they will, but to also boost the local economy by encouraging more local shopping and dining. --- "The relaxing pace provided by protected bike lanes and an improved streetscape is more conducive to stopping to shop or eat. Customers who arrive by bike also tend to shop more locally, more often, and often have disposable income because they save money on transportation."

- Construction of the project, which will run from 200 West from 900 South to North Temple, connecting the downtown area and a local ballpark, is scheduled to begin in August. The protected intersection along the bikeway is part of the city's transportation master plan for downtown, and the bikeway's route will come close to two of the city's TRAX light rail stations, as well as be home to four of the city's GREENbike bike sharing stations.

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• Video Link

SHiRO May 28, 2015 11:08 AM
More elaborate video about that:

• Video Link

M II A II R II K May 29, 2015 5:01 PM
FOUR U.S. CITIES ARE RACING TO OPEN THE COUNTRY’S FIRST PROTECTED INTERSECTION

Read More: http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/e...ted-intersecti

Quote:
.....

Fifteen months after American bikeway designer Nick Falbo coined the phrase "protected intersection" to refer to a Dutch-style intersection between two streets with protected bike lanes, the concept hasn't just ricocheted around the Internet — it's been approved by four different cities. The cities of Austin, Salt Lake City, Davis and Boston are now in a four-way race to create the first working protected intersection in the United States.

- For a certain circle of American transportation wonks, the "aha" moment came in 2011, when Dutch writer Mark Wagenbuur produced a video for David Hembrow's popular bike-policy blog called "Junction design the Dutch - cycle friendly - way." --- Wagenbuur took an intersection from the recently published NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide and showed how the same space could be rearranged to make things simpler for people walking, biking and driving. It a tour de force of simple explanation. Then something strange happened: nothing.

- Though U.S. bikeway professionals enthusiastically passed Wagenbuur's video around, and though the ideas could have been applied even to intersections with painted bike lanes, they weren't. Maybe it was Wagenbuur's light Dutch accent, sadly alienating to some U.S. ears. Maybe it was the description of the intersections as "Dutch." Maybe the country just wasn't quite ready for the idea.

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A protected intersection under construction at Manor and Tilley in Austin, fall 2014. Photo: City of Austin.


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M II A II R II K Jun 4, 2015 5:38 PM
Minneapolis is only U.S. city on worldwide bike-friendly list

Read More: http://www.startribune.com/minneapol...ist/305861331/

Quote:
Minneapolis' growing network of bike lanes and a well-used bike share program have landed the city on yet another list of bike-friendly communities -- and this time, it's the only U.S. city to rank among the world's top cities for cyclists.

- The latest recognition is from the Copenhagenize Design Co., a Danish design firm that annually publishes a worldwide index of bike-friendly cities. Minneapolis is No. 18 on the list, which is led by Copenhagen, Denmark, and two Dutch cities: Amsterdam and Utrecht. The only other North American city to make the top 20 is Montreal at No. 20.

- Minneapolis is the first U.S. city to make the list since the firm increased the number of cities up for consideration in 2013. No U.S. cities were on the list that year. The three that made the cut in 2011, the first year for the Copenhagenize index — Portland, San Francisco and New York City — have since fallen out of the top 20. The list’s authors said Minneapolis is “quickly becoming the go-to city in America for building (bike) infrastructure,” noting that the effort has the backing of officials in City Hall.

- The Copenhagenize index makes note of Minneapolis’ status as a leader among cold-weather cities, suggesting that the city do more to ensure bike paths and lanes are kept clear during snowy months. But the authors of the list also suggest that the city would be wise to “stop talking about the winter and to focus on getting a massive ridership during the rest of the year.”

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urbanlife Jun 5, 2015 4:37 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by M II A II R II K (Post 7050519)
Minneapolis is only U.S. city on worldwide bike-friendly list

Read More: http://www.startribune.com/minneapol...ist/305861331/

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As a Portlander, this really aggravates me, good for Minneapolis, I have nothing against that city and tip my hat to them for all the progress they have done with their bike infrastructure, but what upsets me is how much the leaders of Portland have sat on their hands this past 5-10 years because they were so complacent with what we already have that it seems like they stopped trying to improve. Only recently after some serious accidents and a death have we seen the city reacting to the issue, but even then all we are receiving is bandaids for the problems and very little interest in trying to improve the bicycle infrastructure.

Bikemike Jun 5, 2015 7:19 AM
I don't know. I'm compelled to take this ranking with a grain of salt. Even the lesser Dutch cities, like Rotterdam which apparently didn't make this ranking, are light years ahead of Montreal, Minneapolis, Dublin, or Buenos Aires in bike friendliness and saturation. Without taking away from the progress some North American cities have made in such little time, the fact that Rotterdam is absent but Minneapolis or Montreal is ranked make this list a joke IMO

All credit to Minneapolis which deserves being ranked at the top for American cities though.

M II A II R II K Jun 5, 2015 5:42 PM
Scott Walker’s Baffling War On Bikes

Read More: http://thinkprogress.org/election/20...ers-war-bikes/

Quote:
In just one year, Wisconsin’s bike friendliness ranking from the non-partisan League of American Bicyclists dropped from the third best in country to ninth. If the state legislature approves Governor Scott Walker’s budget, which slashes funding for bike infrastructure, boosts spending on freeways and imposes a new tax on bicycle sales, the ranking could plummet further.

- As Governor Walker prepares for a likely run for the White House, he’s been traveling the country touting his record of slashing taxes on corporations and the wealthy, saying he has “put more money back in the hands of the hardworking taxpayers.” --- Governor Walker and his allies in the Madison statehouse have found one corporate sector where they’re willing to raise taxes: bicycles.

- In addition to floating the new bike tax, the budget currently under consideration would repeal the state’s “Complete Streets” law. The policy, which mandates that all new road construction and repairs take cyclists and pedestrians into consideration, makes up only about $190,000, or six-one-thousandths of one percent of the total transportation budget, according to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

- They are also considering gutting millions of dollars from two additional bike infrastructure efforts: the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund, which provides matching grants for creating and maintaining trails, and Transportation Alternatives, which funds the creation of routes for children to safely bike to school, among other initiatives.

- Ward, who works for Trek Bicycles’ flagship store in Madison, Wisconsin, said he’s concerned these changes would people more afraid to ride in the state, and has already heard many complaints from customers. --- “If there’s not infrastructure to protect folks from accidents or interactions with cars, you’re going to make people nervous and not want to ride. You’re creating an unsafe environment,” he said.

- Madison one of the highest rates of bicycle commuting in the country, with more than 5 percent of the city riding to work. This has only grown as the city has created safer infrastructure, such as wide, separated paths that run alongside the lake and the railroad tracks, stretching as far as the eye can see in both directions.

- Dane County Executive Joe Parisi told ThinkProgress that when he held 50 public meetings through the county over the past year, the number-one request from the public was more cycling infrastructure. “They want to bike, and they want to bike safely,” he said. “So it makes people healthier because it promotes biking, it cuts down on greenhouse gases, and it really helps our quality of life.

- Parisi added that even die-hard motorists should appreciate the economic and employment value of promoting cycling in Wisconsin, due to the presence of many local bike companies including Trek, Schwinn, and Saris, a company that makes bike racks. --- “They manufacture those right here in Dane County. We’re talking good old fashioned, made in the USA,” said Parisi. “Not to mention all the bike shops, and the national bike races and Ironman races that come to Dane County because of the facilities and the biking economy we have here.”

- He is baffled, then, that Governor Walker and his allies in the statehouse have singled out cycling for additional budget cuts and taxes. “You’re not saving money by encouraging more people to get in cars,” he said. “It’s almost like they’re picking on people they don’t like, or picking on Dane County and things that work well in Dane County.” --- Other local advocates have speculated that the move is retaliation against Trek Bicycles executive Mary Burke, who ran unsuccessfully against Governor Walker in 2014.

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KevinFromTexas Jun 5, 2015 11:44 PM
https://www.facebook.com/austinparks...type=1&theater
Quote:
Bicycle "Fix-it" Stations

The Austin Parks and Recreation Department has installed 24 Bicycle “Fix-it” Stations at Parks and Recreation facilities all over Austin in an attempt to help promote healthier, more active and sustainable lifestyles for community members of all ages and backgrounds. These stations are free for the public to use in helping to make minor repairs to their bicycles.

The Bicycle “Fix-it” Station project focuses on bicycle commuting and transportation that occurs all over the city, with the aim to provide public bicycle repair stations that allow for more user friendly self-care of bicycles. A “Fix-it” station is a repair stand with securely fasten air pump and hand tools, including screwdrivers, wrenches and a tire lever. The station provides an opportunity for a cyclist to make minor repairs and adjustments on the road rather than having to carry tools or walk an ailing bicycle home.

The stations have been installed through a collaborative effort among the Austin Parks and Recreation Department, Health and Human Services Department and through the Community Transformation Grant Awarded though the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...68&oe=5603AB17
Austin Parks and Recreation Department - https://www.facebook.com/austinparks...type=1&theater

M II A II R II K Jun 10, 2015 10:45 PM
Utrecht in The Netherlands has the world's first bicycle parking guidance system. It offers real-time information about available parking spaces for bicycles.


• Video Link

mrnyc Jun 11, 2015 4:01 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bikemike (Post 7051444)
I don't know. I'm compelled to take this ranking with a grain of salt. Even the lesser Dutch cities, like Rotterdam which apparently didn't make this ranking, are light years ahead of Montreal, Minneapolis, Dublin, or Buenos Aires in bike friendliness and saturation. Without taking away from the progress some North American cities have made in such little time, the fact that Rotterdam is absent but Minneapolis or Montreal is ranked make this list a joke IMO

All credit to Minneapolis which deserves being ranked at the top for American cities though.
for sure that is true. as for the usa, i dont see how bloomington, indiana isnt numero uno every year now and forever because breaking away.

fflint Jun 11, 2015 5:22 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrnyc (Post 7058732)
for sure that is true. as for the usa, i dont see how bloomington, indiana isnt numero uno every year now and forever because breaking away.
I still don't know whether I liked that movie or not.

M II A II R II K Jun 16, 2015 3:34 PM
Google's New Bike Plan Wants Silicon Valley to Be More Like Copenhagen

Read More: http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/...nhagen/395885/

PDF Plan: http://bikesiliconvalley.org/files/G...n_high_res.pdf

Quote:
Commuting in Silicon Valley is a drag. The big tech companies that make their homes there know that, and devote significant resources to sweetening the trip to work for their employees, like the famous (or infamous) buses that shuttle workers from San Francisco down the peninsula’s crowded highways.

- As part of Google’s proposal for its enormous, futuristic new headquarters in the North Bayshore section of Mountain View in Santa Clara County, the company has come up with a bicycle master plan to radically improve bicycle infrastructure in the area by emphasizing connections and creating low-stress cycling environments. The idea is to create a network of high-quality bike routes that would cross city lines throughout the northern part of Santa Clara County (North County, in the plan) and seamlessly allow bikes to negotiate current obstacles, such as freeway overpasses and busy arterials.

- Google’s bike plan is an ambitious vision, developed in partnership with Alta Planning and the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition. It projects a near future in which at least some of North County looks more like Copenhagen than typical suburban California, in that “almost anyone [could] ride a bike comfortably & safely—for any type of trip they might need to take.” Already, nearly 9 percent of Google employees who live in North County commute by bike to the company’s existing headquarters.

- Still, the majority of employees are unlikely to consider cycling as a commuting option because even the best protected bike lanes in the region are often isolated from other lanes by intersections or pieces of road where biking becomes far riskier and more frightening. That’s why the plan emphasizes connections—creating low-stress, continuous routes that transcend municipal lines and create a unified system.

- Poskey says building on the momentum of existing bike commuters as a way of reducing car traffic in the future “is low-hanging fruit in two respects.” First, improving bicycle routes is a lot cheaper and easier than adding capacity to streets and highways for cars. Second, there are a lot of people who would be willing to try biking, if only the infrastructure were there to make them feel secure. “Sixty percent of the people are willing to try this if they have a safe way to get there,” says Poskey, referring to the group known to bike researchers as the “interested but concerned.”

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M II A II R II K Jun 18, 2015 3:31 PM
Separated bike lanes in Toronto all set to grow

Read More: http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hal...t-to-grow.html

Quote:
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Politicians from all parts of the political spectrum, and urban and suburban wards, marveled at and applauded a boom in use of the lanes since the $300,000 pilot project launched a year ago.

- The additional safety afforded to cyclists behind physical barriers was noted, as were the deaths of three cyclists on city streets in the past two weeks. The positive evaluation of the separated lanes noted that removing some vehicle lanes has not noticeably slowed vehicle traffic, and in some cases it has sped it up.

- Councillor Stephen Holyday (open Stephen Holyday's policard), a conservative Etobicoke councillor, said “I’m concerned any time we take away (car) lanes, but I believe there is a compelling case here --- “I will be watching closely the numbers ... to make sure that it is appropriate moving forward, but all indicators at this point in time are that this is a logical way to go.”

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M II A II R II K Jun 20, 2015 9:22 PM
A Case Study in Bike-Friendly Suburban Planning

Read More: http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/201...anning/396107/

Quote:
What the misguided war between cars and bikes often misses is that it’s perfectly possible for both to coexist in peace—even in the suburbs. Such inter-modal harmony is happening right now in a Dutch town called Houten.

- The neighborhoods are filled with medium-density, single-family homes,* a fair number of residents own cars (415 autos per 1,000 locals, with 36 percent of households having at least two cars), and on average there’s even more than one parking space per person. But in many more ways, Houten is anything but typical. Car traffic is primarily resigned to a “ring road” that encircles the area. Within that ring is a network of low-speed streets meant primarily for people traveling on foot or by bike.

- As a result, car trips are the minority in Houten, with an estimated 66 percent made by alternative modes. “Houten is a paradigm of urban planning for bike and public transportation use,” says civil engineering scholar Peter Furth of Northeastern University in Boston, who takes his planning students there every year. --- “It’s kinda been known in transportation or city planning circles for more than 20 years,” he says. “On the other hand, it’s kinda well-hidden.”

- It’s the ring roads around the perimeter of Houten that make the town so unique from a planning perspective. One heads north and the other south, with a speed limit of 55 miles an hour. To get home, drivers exit the ring roads onto local streets in the core of Houten that extend into individual neighborhoods but don’t connect to other parts of town. To get somewhere else by car, you have to get back on the ring road.

- Houten’s local mixed-use street network has a low speed limit (~18 mph) and gives travel priority to walkers and cyclists. Plenty of streets and paths are off-limits to cars—some are physically blocked by bollards. The bike paths in the extensive cycling network have their own brick red coloring. Where bike routes do cross the ring roads, underpasses separate bike and car traffic. On average, Houten residents own more than three bikes per household.

- The mobility breakdown validates the design. Plenty of people still drive; the car commute share is over 50 percent in Houten and South Houten alike. But the vast majority of shopping or social trips are made without a car. And cycling and walking together account for 55 percent of total Houten travel, with public transit making up another 11 percent. “Houten—it is a suburb,” says Furth. “This is what’s incredible. It is a suburb. Where you’d expect a really high car share.”

- From an American planning perspective, the allure of Houten is that it doesn’t push suburbanites to give up their cars or their single-family homes.* UC-Davis transport scholars Mark Delucchi and Ken Kurani recently came up with a conceptual plan for a suburb with a truly sustainable transport network. It too combined high-speed ring roads and low-speed interior roads; the closest real-world example they found was Houten.

- But Delucchi isn’t sure the Houten model translates well to American suburbs. “I think there are a host of reasons it will be difficult to implement our plan or even a milder, Houten-like version in America,” he tells CityLab via email, stressing that he’s speaking not from his research findings but as someone with general knowledge of transport systems. Chief among these challenges is overcoming the pervasive American preference toward individualism over social planning.

- Houten isn’t for everyone. Here’s University of Colorado-Boulder transport scholar Kevin Krizek writing about his impressions of Houten, which he called a Truman Show-style existence: --- "Houten’s character smells “new town”—of the same ilk as those designed around the same time in the U.K., France, and even the U.S. The typical American suburbs are critiqued for being overly auto-dependent but also sterile. Yet, Houten had a slightly different flavor. Here you find a balanced transport system but little else. It is here were you question the degree of vitality and liveliness that multiple modes might provide to an urban fabric."

- That hasn’t stopped other places from mimicking parts of Houten’s success. The Dutch city of Groningen has a ring road, with interior traffic considered “car-lite,” says Furth. Paris recently announced plans to make it easier for cyclists to cross the city’s beltway, a concept that echoes the bike passes below Houten’s ring road. Furth says the closest American counterpart to Houten can be found in college towns.

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• Video Link

M II A II R II K Jun 22, 2015 2:17 PM
How Copenhagen Became A Cycling Paradise By Considering The Full Cost Of Cars

Read More: http://www.fastcoexist.com/3046345/h...l-cost-of-cars

Quote:
Copenhagen is known as a cyclist paradise, a place where the bike is treated equally, if not preferentially, to the car. There are long-running cultural reasons for this—the Danes are into bikes, period—but also more structural factors as well. One of those is how the city justifies its cycling investments relative to other modes of transport.

- In a new paper, Stefan Gössling from Lund University and Andy Choi from the University of Queensland take a look at Copenhagen's approach and argue that it explains how the city has built out so much dedicated cycling infrastructure, including miles of uninterrupted and separated bike lanes, and even dedicated bike tunnels, bridges, and traffic lights. --- When the city decides on a cycling project, it compares the cost to that of a road for cars, and it includes not only the upfront amount, but also things like the cost of road accidents to society, the impact of car pollution on health, and the cost of carbon emitted to the atmosphere.

- One kilometer driven by car costs society about 17 cents (15 euro cents), whereas society gains 18 cents (16 euro cents) for each kilometer cycled, the paper finds. That's because of factors like the health benefits of cycling and the avoided ill-effects of cars. --- "What we learn here is that society profits from people cycling. It's better for society if people cycle from many different angles, from resource intensity to people's health," says Gössling, in an interview. --- As well as costs and benefits to society, there are also personal costs and benefits, including the time lost or gained from taking a bike or car, and the impact of noise and pollution on quality of life. When these are included in the analysis, cars cost 57 cents per kilometer while bikes come in at 9 cents per kilometer, the paper finds.

- Gössling says Copenhagen's costing approach helps illuminate cycling full advantages, as well as the value of good infrastructure in encouraging cycling among different social groups. --- "If we want people to cycle, then we have to change our approach towards urban infrastructure. Cyclists will only cycle [in large numbers] when they feel physically safe and when it's fast, which means they need to be physically separated from cars," he says.

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