Found: Cycle Copenhagen
September 30, 2007
Beautiful. Why haven’t more places tried this? Why is there not a single American city even approximating this? While cars have their place, I have grown pretty disgusted with the the average American’s dependence on them. My buddy Jonny5 over at Zero Per Gallon recently reviewed Jane Holtz Kay’s Asphalt Nation. When the book was written a decade ago, American households averaged 6 round trips in a car per day. How many do you take?
October 24, 2007 at 1:35 am
I’d just like a sidewalk up the Orr’s Bridge Hill, for starters. I’d love to be able to get out of the suburbs by some mode other than gas-guzzler, but that hill is deadly.
October 26, 2007 at 12:15 pm
I ride my bike in Atlanta, arguably one of the most car dependent least bicycle friendly places in the US. The first thing that jumps out at me when seeing this and other videos like this is the lack of fat people. When exactly are we going to realize our “addiction” to the auto is killing us? Air quality, global warming and our huge asses!
Josh, my husband and I are making a trip to Harrisburg area in hopes of making a move. Ever been to Atlanta? What is the comparison when it comes to the walkability/bikablity of the city?
October 31, 2007 at 1:28 pm
What this all fails to acknowledge is the nature of our infrastructure compared to Europe. When you have a country built on villages, as you have in Europe, then it’s easy to use your bike for lots of things; the market is just down the street, so is the dentist, etc.. Heck, you can walk to many things.
Our dispersed nature here in the US makes this all impractical for many; since so many need to use cars due to this dispersal, then you can’t rationalize your infrastructure (i.e. reduce car lanes in favor of bike lanes) to better support those able to use their bikes.
While you are seeing progress, you’ll never see us reach this type of level, for some very good, real-world reasons.
And before you go beat me up, I put about 1,500 miles on my bike this year.
October 31, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Joe,
Beat you up? Far from it! I agree with you 100%!! It is true that we have undergone many decades of increasingly dispersed development in this country. This is a result of land use policy based on the assumption that we have plenty of land and plenty of cheap energy. Sadly, we are finally realizing that this is not the case. The key is to adjust our policy now because the development is still going on! I’m talking zoning changes to promote increased density mixed-use development. We should rework our tax abatement and business development programs to favor redevelopment and in-fill development. If this is done the demand for bike and pedestrian infrastructure will increase, and elected officials will be pressured to fund these initiatives.
And I commend you on your bike riding. I do most of my transportation on foot.