Portland shows off its growing network of neighborhood greenways
[B' Spokes: in the referenced film it looks like when they calmed residential streets they also included storm water management. Think about this for a second, in Maryland one big (exaggerated) concern is space for cyclists increases impervious surfaces and hence damage the environment, in Portland they are taking car centric and environmentally damaging roads and not only making them bike friendly they are making them more environmentally friendly as well. This is what I have been trying to stress all along, Maryland builds roads and parking lots for cars with absolute abandonment to environmental concerns but space for cyclists now that's going to be environmentally damaging. This is just the wrong kind of thinking. We can build space for cyclists and reduce the damage done to the environment by the previous car centric design. This is the power of thinking outside the cage.]
from Bikeleague.org Blog by Jeff
In this new video from StreetsFilms, Portland shows us that bicycle boulevards are a low cost, easily implemented way to encouraging bicycling in communities with tight budgets. Many neighborhoods across the country have great networks of low traffic volume and low speed streets. Converting some of these streets into bicycle boulevards means calmer traffic, opportunities to improve stormwater runoff, and encouraging more “eyes on the street” to make neighbors safer and more pleasant. In other words, there are tons of benefits for residents that don’t or won’t bike.
Learn how your community can create their own here.
~Jeff Peel
State & Local Advocacy Coordinator
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