[M II A II R II K]

What we know about bike infrastructure: people want it


April 26, 2010

Read More: http://fastlane.dot.gov/2010/04/what...e-want-it.html

We know that 90 percent of the people are not going to be cycling to work or around town. But that opportunity and that kind of alternative is something people have said they want. They said it in a recent study by Transportation For America. They said it last week in Tupelo and Hernando, Mississippi. They've been saying it in Portland, Oregon, for years. They're saying it in Washington, DC.

They said it after an interview I gave in the New York Times earlier this month. And New York bicyclists have said it loudly and clearly with their pedals, increasing their numbers by 28% in the last year alone according to a study by Transportation Alternatives. And in response to an All Things Considered interview, NPR listeners have been saying it over and over on the NPR website. You can listen to the NPR piece below.

Why devote resources to a transportation mode that fewer than 10% of the nation is using? Well, bike infrastructure is relatively inexpensive--particularly if you compare it to, say, adding a lane to an existing roadway. Now, imagine if those people who do bike around chose instead to make all of their trips in single-occupancy vehicles. Our already congested roadways would be brought to a halt.