Eldridge mention of ICC bikeway

[From MoBike-]

Here's a bit from Steve Eldridge's "Sprawl and Crawl" blog about the ICC bike path:

<a href="http://www.commuterpageblog.com/2008/08/getting-it-wron.html">http://www.commuterpageblog.com/2008/08/getting-it-wron.html</a>;

I think he misses the mark in putting all the blame on county planners when the state's original plan didn't include the bikeway except for 7 miles. If there was a bait &amp; switch, it was 3 years ago by the state. But the sentiment is absolutely correct.

Here's the relevant part:

&lt;&lt;The latest travesty involves a road or a highway that has been on the planning books for something like 50 years and construction on it just recently got underway. Anyone living in this region would have to be hiding under a rock to have not heard about all of the controversy the Intercounty Connector (ICC) has brought. State officials say they went above and beyond to make sure that the highway used all of the latest construction innovations to minimize the impact on the surrounding environment. Yet, the current group of planners and elected nincompoops is now planning to eliminate the hiker/biker trail that was one of the centerpieces of the &quot;green&quot; aspect of this highway. They now say that the inclusion of six to eight feet of hiker/biker path will require them to do bad things to the environment. What a crock of box turtle dung. They can build a highway that is 75 or so feet wide but can't build an extra couple feet of paved space for self-powered, two-wheeled vehicles we tend to call &quot;bicycles?&quot; Talk about another bait and switch.

I have supported the building of the ICC because the county and the region just don't have enough east/west arteries. I felt like the state had done a good job to mitigate many if not every single one of the environmental concerns. I also felt like they were using many of the new construction techniques in areas of environmental concern. But actions such as the proposal to eliminate promised accoutrements make me very suspicious about the sincerity of the intentions from the start.&gt;&gt;