Why NBG when we need better city cycling?

[Cycle America/N]

Similar to the psychology employed in the movie "Field of Dreams" where the mantra, 'if you build it
they will come' turned a baseball field built in the middle of a corn field into a vibrant gathering
place that attracted fun and visitors from miles around, this is what we foresee for the
transnational network of roads we call the National Bicycle Greenway. Once we've connected the edges
of the cities throughout America with those safe bikeable roads and paths that we here at the NBG
foresee, people within them will pressure their local governments to build infrastructure that
accesses the bicycle heaven calling to them from the outlying areas.

What's more is that instead of driving their cars and bikes to these bicycle wonderlands, because
they will not, by design, be car or parking friendly, there will be a push to replicate them closer
to home as they become the standard by which those roads and paths of the future will all be built.

We have an example of this here in California. And yet because the attraction was built around an
agency of environmental depredation, the car, and not the earth friendly tool that the bicycle is,
the Filed of Dreams that could have resulted became instead the Field of Destruction. Years ago when
the "visionaries" in our Dept of Transportation built Hwy 5, it was initially in the middle of
nowhere. But little by little as roads reached out to it, like tentacles in the brain, it became
less and less remote. Soon whole cities sprung up around this freeway as well as all of the
infrastructure that services its long distance cars and trucks and RV's, etc. And what has been the
result? California suffers from the overcrowding and gridlock that car centered development can't
help but engender.

With this in mind, the question remains, do we cover even more of America with car roads in what
remains of its outlying areas or do we exercise some vision and rebuild this nation by placing the
bicycle at its center and work backwards from there? With a National Bicycle Greenway in place, we
can be positioned to redesign the cities that will spring up around it with bicycle transport at its
epicenter.

You see, if we don't ask for our bicycle interstate network now, it just may be too late. For
everyone......

M A R T I N K R I E G : "Awake Again" Author Bent Since '83, Car Free Since '89, Attacking with
Love Coma, Paralysis, Clinical Death Survivor '79 & '86 TransAm Vet - Invites you to:
http://www.BikeRoute.com/SCNBGFest N A T I O N A L B I C Y C L E G R E E N W A Y

 

[Matt O'Toole]

"Cycle America/Nat. Bicycle Greenway" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:250220031150394299%[email protected]...

> Similar to the psychology employed in the movie "Field of
Dreams" where
> the mantra, 'if you build it they will come' turned a
baseball field
> built in the middle of a corn field into a vibrant
gathering place that
> attracted fun and visitors from miles around, this is what
we foresee
> for the transnational network of roads we call the
National Bicycle
> Greenway. Once we've connected the edges of the cities
throughout
> America with those safe bikeable roads and paths that we
here at the
> NBG foresee, people within them will pressure their local
governments
> to build infrastructure that accesses the bicycle heaven
calling to
> them from the outlying areas.
>
> What's more is that instead of driving their cars and
bikes to these
> bicycle wonderlands, because they will not, by design, be
car or
> parking friendly, there will be a push to replicate them
closer to home
> as they become the standard by which those roads and paths
of the
> future will all be built.
>
> We have an example of this here in California. And yet
because the
> attraction was built around an agency of environmental
depredation, the
> car, and not the earth friendly tool that the bicycle is,
the Filed of
> Dreams that could have resulted became instead the Field
of
> Destruction. Years ago when the "visionaries" in our Dept
of
> Transportation built Hwy 5, it was initially in the middle
of nowhere.
> But little by little as roads reached out to it, like
tentacles in the
> brain, it became less and less remote. Soon whole cities
sprung up
> around this freeway as well as all of the infrastructure
that services
> its long distance cars and trucks and RV's, etc. And what
has been the
> result? California suffers from the overcrowding and
gridlock that car
> centered development can't help but engender.
>
> With this in mind, the question remains, do we cover even
more of
> America with car roads in what remains of its outlying
areas or do we
> exercise some vision and rebuild this nation by placing
the bicycle at
> its center and work backwards from there? With a National
Bicycle
> Greenway in place, we can be positioned to redesign the
cities that
> will spring up around it with bicycle transport at its
epicenter.
>
> You see, if we don't ask for our bicycle interstate
network now, it
> just may be too late.

This is a wonderful idea.

The biggest obstacle I've found in advocating these projects is the move toward what I call the
"parkification of open space." The easiest way to pay for parks is to fence them in, build a parking
lot, and charge people admission to that parking lot. So trails and points of access other than the
main roads are often discouraged. In fact they're fought against with all kinds of BS excuses, such
as the difficulty of getting easements across private land, etc. The bottom line is that they want
the money from the front gate. In some places parks are actually seen as a valuable revenue
generators.

If anyone has any concrete ideas about this, I'm all ears. I'm headed to a county planning
commission meeting in about 45 minutes, this being one of the issues to be discussed.

Matt O.