Comments for Ride Boldly!

Comment on Advocates, Advocate. Harder. by Tim Y.

Tim Y. — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:15:56 +0000

Well written. I agree that the circle must be expanded.

Comment on A New Transportation Bill? Panic, Round 8,377,201 by julie

julie — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:41:45 +0000

What you say also kind of gets to my point, though, too. There’s not enough full-community commitment to pay for it “ourselves,” even though federal funds are a form of paying for it ourselves, of course.

That lack of broad commitment starts to influence not just the local conversation, but the national conversation, leading to this sort of PANIC MAYHEM. The programs are assailable because advocates and people already in the bicycle/transport community like them, but no one has done nearly enough to sell them to a broader base — thus, your skepticism about walking and biking as legitimate modes. The broader your base of support, the less frequent these shenanigans get. Meanwhile, there is broad support for reduced spending, and since these programs have niche support… they’re assailable.

I’ve referred to it as a circle-jerk before, and I’m likely to again. The circle needs to expand so that the bike lobby isn’t considered a niche interest group.

Comment on A New Transportation Bill? Panic, Round 8,377,201 by Reuben

Reuben — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:31:25 +0000

Fair enough, but in most communities, the idea of using “local funds” is not realistic. Nearly every community I have ever worked with in my professional career is 100% supportive of building bike planning and building bike infrastructure – so long as they can receive grants to do it. Only the most affluent communities have local funds that haven’t already been promised to some other program or commitment. In an atmosphere where the majority of the population continues to be skeptical about walking and biking being legitimate transportation modes, it is difficult for cities to justify diverting public works dollars to bike/ped projects.

However, I agree that momentum can go a long way. I have heard from unofficial sources at MnDOT that even if there is no federal support for SRTS, MnDOT would continue to voluntarily fund the program (albeit, probably at less than current levels) because it has widespread support.

Comment on A Bike Route on Snelling Avenue? by Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:18:32 +0000

Isn’t Fairview a North/South bike friendly street? I thought it has bike lanes, and is only about 4 blocks west of Snelling. And going under 94 makes it much easier than to deal with the entering/exiting of all the maniacs on 94/Snelling.

Comment on A Bike Route on Snelling Avenue? by Julie

Julie — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:45:01 +0000

I’m glad to see someone agree with me. I’ve seen a lot of “but any bike lane is better than none!” stuff, and I simply do not agree. Bike lanes often encourage the less experienced, but in this case it would put them into the path of danger if all that happened was the addition of a lane between the parked cars and main traffic pattern, at least for much of the route. Bad engineering isn’t good for bikes, or anyone else. Snelling Avenue is badly engineered for almost everyone at this point (including cars/trucks).

South Snelling is pretty workable, up through a bit past Randolph.

The big challenge north-south is the I94 crossing. There used to be a pedestrian crossing at Griggs that made a good connector, but it was structurally suspect and torn down. Nothing truly equivalent has been put in place to replace.

Comment on Copenhagenize on Winter Cycling: Right, Yet Not Entirely by dee

dee — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 12:02:51 +0000

“City of London, UK”
I was quite impressed with the well thought out planning for cyclists in the city of London. Although there are bicycle/car accidents, their traffic planning runs smoothly enough for everyone to get to their destination daily and it begins with:
1.bike traffic laws
2.bike paths running with traffic
3.curbs along side bike paths
4.enforcement of misuse inside bike paths… Which means, bikes have right of way over pedestrians..no skateboarding, not littering or other activity inside bike paths. ONLY BICYCLES

In this huge city where everything is ancient; if this commuter mind set can work in London, there is no reason it can’t happen in most cities in the US.

Comment on A Bike Route on Snelling Avenue? by Nathaniel

Nathaniel — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 02:12:48 +0000

1- Great post!
2- I couldn’t agree more, and I’m not even sure that adding bike lanes on Snelling would make a difference. I live by Snelling Ave and it’s an intimidating road to bike along. In fact, I do my best to avoid it whenever possible.
3- In my opinion (and off the top of my head) it might be wiser to look into Macalester St/Fry St, or possibly Saratoga St. being a north/south bikeway (or Bike Boulevard) instead of Snelling.

Comment on Copenhagenize on Winter Cycling: Right, Yet Not Entirely by 42,000 new messenger & courier jobs | Bicycle News

42,000 new messenger & courier jobs | Bicycle News — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 04:31:31 +0000

[...] Boldly comments on Mikael’s thoughts on specialized bike wear for the winter [...]

Comment on Invisible Cyclists Are Invisible by julie

julie — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:10:00 +0000

You’re welcome on the circle-jerking!

wait, what did I just say o no.

Comment on Invisible Cyclists Are Invisible by Jeff Z

Jeff Z — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:42:44 +0000

Way to use circle-jerking in a post BTW