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Ideas Worth Considering
Walk & Bike for Life is promoting the 8/80 rule:
- Imagine someone 8 years old.
- Imagine someone 80 years old.
- Then evaluate this question, are you comfortable having this pair walk or bike using the proposed infrastructure?
Are we designing cities that serve all citizens? Are we designing streets that increase confidence of the most vulnerable in our community?
If the answer is no, then we’re failing.
Woonerf
Woonerf is a Dutch word for an area, usually residential, where motorists and other users share the street without boundaries such as lanes and curbs. The term can be translated as "residential yard," reflecting its popularity in the Netherlands where private space is limited. In a woonerf, people on bikes and on foot have access to the whole street, not just sidewalks. Moreover, the street functions as a public living room, where adults gather and children play safely because vehicle speed is kept to a minimum.
When Bike Lanes Fail
If we want people to ride bikes more (and we do), we'll have to make room for them on the roads at some point. Right now, bike lanes aren't taken all that seriously. Drivers think of them as a turning lane or parking space, as evidenced by My Bike Lane, a user-submitted collection of photos documenting bike lane misuse. With all the motorists using bike lanes, it's no wonder cyclists are taking to the freeways.
No Bike Lane? Do it Yourself
Do it yourself bike lane ... When officials in Toronto backed out of a plan to expand the city’s bike lanes, a group of anonymous cyclists decided to do what the city would not. Armed with stencils and paint, and sporting disguises and alibis, they descended upon the notoriously dangerous Bloor Street, a major city thoroughfare, and carved out a bike lane all on their own. “The city had been insisting for years that it was impossible to install a bike lane on Bloor,” says “Alvin,” one of the clandestine painters. “We dared to differ.”
Decongestion
Cities around the world are leaps and bounds ahead of America when it comes to issues of urban transit. Though this country is woefully lagging, it’s a rare example of when falling behind actually works in your favor: as U.S. cities work to update their transportation systems for the 21st century, they don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The solutions are already out there.
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