The Myth of the Urban Driving Shoppers
Waterkeepers move on MDE
The Maryland Waterkeepers have petitioned the EPA to pull Maryland’s authority to administer the Clean Water Act. This move is primarily about the NPDES discharge permits for industrial operations and other point sources. The second major action against Maryland in a year, this points out that the environmental and development (what’s left of it in this economy) communities have something in common: Frustration with the Maryland Department of the Environment. Hate to say it, as we certainly have friends at MDE – but maybe it is time for some real culture change…
‘Cities for Cycling’ could have huge impact on bikeway innovation
An exciting new coalition of America’s largest cities has joined together to push for more innovative bikeway design guidelines. Cities for Cycling, which will formally launch in Washington D.C. on December 8th, will look to break the shackles of rigid federal roadway design guidelines that have long had a stifling impact on bikeway innovation in the United States.The new coalition was the brainchild of two Portlanders — former city bike coordinator and now planning consultant Mia Birk and current City of Portland Traffic Engineer Rob Burchfield. The impetus comes from a realization that current federal design guidelines for bikeway development are outdated and incomplete.
The goal of Cities for Cycling is to provide support for urban transportation planners looking for guidance in building the next generation of bikeway networks — guidance that the highway-oriented federal government is not willing to provide. The coalition will also create a new manual of bikeway designs that includes technical information and best practices gleaned from what has proven to work in the world’s most bike friendly cities.
Walking, Biking Good for You and the Planet: Study
Pedestrians and cyclists should be made king of the urban jungle, according to an international study showing the big benefits of "mass active travel."[(flickr photo by Smart Trips used under Creative Commons license)](flickr photo by Smart Trips used under Creative Commons license)
It suggests money should be diverted way from roads to make walking and cycling "the most direct, convenient, and pleasant options for most urban trips." Pedestrians and bikers should also get "priority" over cars and trucks at intersections.
The study is one of six reports on the "health dividend" of combating climate change published in the medical journal Lancet Wednesday.
The reports say that enormous changes are needed to slow global warming, but show that reducing carbon dioxide emissions will be good for people's health. Millions of deaths could be averted by getting people out of cars, breathing cleaner air and eating healthier food.
Public health researchers and leaders issued the reports in a bid to get the message across to world leaders and negotiators heading to next month's climate talks in Copenhagen.
"Sadly, policy-makers have been slow to recognize that the real bottom line of climate change is its risk to human health and quality of life," Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, says in a commentary with the studies.
Take Action not to cut off of Loch Raven Trails
This is a forward from the International Mountain Bikers Association. Click the link to send an email to relevant city Councilors and Mayor Dixon.I'm sending this to all the ATB riders I know in the area - I hope you will do the same
Take a few minutes and click this link <a href="https://secure2.convio.net/imba/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=289">https://secure2.convio.net/imba/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=289</a>;
Fill out the form and let the leaders who want to shut off Loch Raven access that there are a lot of concerned MTB users.
They did this to us a decade or so ago and the tremendous response earned us the right to keep riding the singletrack there, let's do it again.
You know it is serious when IMBA gets behind the effort, time to step up!
Jones Falls Trail Walk Through on a Snowy Morning
by Jonathan Cooper The first real snow of the year did not deter about twenty Mt. Washington residents from participating in a walk through of a small piece of our section of the planned Jones Falls Trail, known as Phase V. Once completed, the Jones Falls Trail will be a walking/hiking/biking path, extending for ten miles through Baltimore City along the Jones Falls river valley, connecting twenty neighborhoods with the Inner Harbor, Mt. Vernon, and Lake Roland. In Mt. Washington, the trail will run from Cylburn to the Village, covering a distance of two miles.
Saturday’s walk through was led by Gennady Schwartz, Chief of Engineering Services for the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks, hosted by the Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital, and organized by David Conn, who chairs the Jones Falls Trail Committee of the Mt. Washington Improvement Association (MWIA).
After convening in the warmth of the Pediatric Hospital’s lobby, we headed out into the wet and heavy snowfall towards the woods. Mr. Schwartz led the group, which included MWIA board members and neighbors of all ages, including two children, to the corner of West Rogers Avenue and Wildwood Lane to start the walk. You can refer to the map below, which was generated by the GPS log from my iPhone, to see the path that we walked.
Does Traffic Discourage Walking and Bicycling?
Earlier this week on my ride home I stopped at a red light, waiting to make a left turn, when I heard a woman’s voice say, “excuse me.” I ignored it once but she politely persisted, so I finally turned to see a woman in a large four-door sedan with her window all the way rolled down in the lane next to me. I said hello and she asked me if I felt safe on my bike. “Sure,” I said. “Not me. Not enough protection,” she said, gesturing to her car and the traffic around us. Before I had a chance to reply with more than a shrug, the light changed and we were on our way. I believe her. I am sure that woman does not ride because she considers it too dangerous. I’ve been talking to a researcher in New York City who is tired of people asking her why a woman who doesn’t ride her bike around the city would be interested in studying bicycling. Her answer, in large part, is a great desire to ride and a strong discomfort with riding with traffic. Neither of these women are alone.Yesterday, Peter Jacobsen, author of the famous “Safety in numbers” study, and two others researchers published a paper called “Who owns the roads? How motorized traffic discourages walking and bicycling.” The paper gathers the available evidence on traffic’s impact on levels of active transportation. They found that the “real and perceived danger and discomfort imposed by traffic discourage walking and bicycling. Accurately or not, pedestrians and bicyclists judge injury risk and respond accordingly. Although it can be difficult to measure these effects, observed behavior provides good evidence for these effects, with the strongest association being an inverse correlation between volumes and speeds of traffic and levels of walking and cycling.”
Here are some findings taken straight from the report:
* In the USA, 14 percent of people on crosswalks ran rather than walked across the road. In a study of driver behavior at Zebra crossings, only 5 percent of motorists yielded to pedestrians.
* When the roadways are equipped with sidewalks, nearly four times as many people walk. More than six times as many people walk along two-lane roads as four-lane roads.
* Men and women bicycle as different levels, possibly reflecting different attitudes to risk. In communities with low levels of cycling, more men than women bicycle, but, as the number of bicyclists increases, the sex differences diminish.
* For children who live within a mile of school, the share of children walking or bicycling to school dropped from close to 90 percent in 1969 to 31 percent 30 years later.
Alarming as these findings may be, the authors observe that traffic can be made less dangerous and more pleasure with relative ease, compared to changing land use patterns and population density. Traffic calming measures, lower speed limits, congestions pricing, proper bicycling facilities, and otherwise prioritizing the safety of non-motorized users can all be implemented without major changes to infrastructure. And if we make these low impact, low cost changes we can expect higher rates of cyclists; and then increased safety from those numbers.
Finally, the authors rightly question the use of fear-based advertising in safety efforts, calling for more research into the discouraging impact such campaigns have on walking and bicycling. Our friend Mikael at Copenhagenize would agree. If there is a dampening effect then, overall heath can be hurt by reducing physical activity.
Cannondale Dutchess follow-up
No Chain, handle bars are the lock and nice lines, the ultimate commuter bike?Wytze's graduation project for Cannondale from Eelke D. on Vimeo.
Loch Raven mountain biking hearing
[From our mail bag:]In your 12/1 Spokes about Loch raven mountain biking, you wrote (or transcribed):
There will be a hearing on Mon 12/14 with the DPW and Mary Pat Clark (Balto City Council). Open to the public. Location and time will follow as soon as I find out. Please prepare concerns, ideas / solutions.
Unfortunately, this is not true. The hearing will be scheduled probably in January, after two more readings of the resolution, and reports from DOT and DPW. Public comment and written testimony will be welcome then.
On December 14th, there is a small meeting with Ms Clarke and some of the stakeholders to establish goals and expectations for the hearing. This meeting is not the place for public comment, and is only open to the few people on the City hall access list which has been created for it.
Could you please issue a clarification?
Thanks,
Greg Hinchliffe
"I Lost 331 Pounds"
[ I love inspirational stories like this; Scott could only walk 10 steps before needing a rest but some how a bike gave him the motivation to continue. An excerpt from the article:]Brown, based in Minneapolis, built a steel bike for Cutshall and delivered it in early 2005. But Cutshall was so afraid of breaking it that it sat in his hallway for months, gathering dust. Finally, on Thanksgiving Day, he had an epiphany. He prepared a feast for his family, and only ate a few bites. Then, he took his bike outside and rode 1.9 miles. It took him three hours. From then on, he was hooked.