Complete Streets legislation in US Senate

[Matt O'Toole]

From Jake Helmboldt, our state bike/ped coordinator:

http://www.vabike.org/complete-streets-in-us-senate/

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) has introduced complete streets legislation to
ensure that all users are accommodated in road design and implementation,
wherever federal funds are involved. This bill needs co-sponsors and
supporters, so please contact your US Senator to urge their support. For
Virginia residents, the article above has live links to Senator Webb's and
Senator Warner's offices.

Matt O.

 

[Tom Keats]

In article <[email protected]>,
Matt O'Toole <[email protected]> writes:
> From Jake Helmboldt, our state bike/ped coordinator:
>
> http://www.vabike.org/complete-streets-in-us-senate/
>
> Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) has introduced complete streets legislation to
> ensure that all users are accommodated in road design and implementation,
> wherever federal funds are involved. This bill needs co-sponsors and
> supporters, so please contact your US Senator to urge their support. For
> Virginia residents, the article above has live links to Senator Webb's and
> Senator Warner's offices.

I really appreciate the Complete Streets concept, and
I'd like to join you in urging people to support it
wherever its implementation is considered. I hope
the Complete Streets concept represents a turning point
in attitude toward public transportational access, in
an inclusive rather than exclusive manner.

I opine that the problem with the current urban traffic
paradigm is that it's so mindful of driving with the
least restrictions, people forget that sometimes we'd
like to be able to stop at various storefronts along
the street. Non-drivers wanting to cross the street to
get to the shop/cinema/bowling alley/wherever are impeded
by car traffic on the streets, and drivers are made to
feel compelled to keep going, lest they hold-up traffic.

We all need not only to be able to go, but to also be
able to stop where we desire to stop. Complete Streets
allows us all to go to places, to practical destinations.

The more people are able to get around by whatever
means they choose or rely upon, the more /everybody/
benefits, including that under-considered economic
engine: Small Business. What's good for Small Business
is good for the US of A (and Canada. And customers'
respective LBSs.)

Just supporting the implementation of Complete Streets
projects isn't enough. We must make sure it's done
in a more than perfunctory, lip-service manner.

Complete Streets could very well be the revolution
Don Quijote so desires ;-)


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

 

[[email protected]]

On Apr 4, 1:12 am, Matt O'Toole <[email protected]> wrote:
> From Jake Helmboldt, our state bike/ped coordinator:
>
> http://www.vabike.org/complete-streets-in-us-senate/
>
> Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) has introduced complete streets legislation to
> ensure that all users are accommodated in road design and implementation,
> wherever federal funds are involved. This bill needs co-sponsors and
> supporters, so please contact your US Senator to urge their support. For
> Virginia residents, the article above has live links to Senator Webb's and
> Senator Warner's offices.
>
> Matt O.

I'm totally in favor of sidewalks for pedestrians, and think they
should always be present. But unfortunately, it seems the "Complete
Streets" idea includes bike lanes. And my experience with them is not
good.

As often noted here, a bike lane stripe is at best a mixed blessing.
It attempts to protect against a very rare type of crash, but
increases odds of the most common car-bike crashes.

If added to a street that has insufficient width, a bike lane can be a
curse. Door zone bike lanes are disasters. Bike lanes at
intersections herd cyclists to the far right, where they can be killed
by right hooks, and where they're less visible to oncoming motorists
making left hooks. Bike lanes accumulate glass and gravel... etc,
etc.

Bike lanes do, apparently, delude many people into thinking "Now I'm
safe!" and thus, gets them onto bikes - ironically, onto a street that
was probably safer before it was striped.

On the balance, I can't accept the emphasis on bike lanes. And I
guess that means I'm against the current version of "Complete
Streets."

- Frank Krygowski