Fit for a Prince and Princess
31 August, 2008
I just had to post this link to an image I found on Cyclelicious. What you see is Crown Prince Willem Alexander and his wife, Princess Maxima, of the Netherlands taking their children out for a peaceful ride. How nice is this?
Blogs
27 August, 2008
We have several blogs listed in our “blogroll” and I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you why they are there. When we add a new one, we’ll likely tell you about it at that time. So, here we go.
1 World 2 Wheels: This is a blog that is all about getting more people on bikes. It is an initiative by Trek bicycles to get more people on bikes. I support that vision no matter who is doing it, be it Trek or any other company or group.
Copenhagen Cycle Chic: This blog is all about looking good while riding a bike. You needn’t wear spandex and cycle shoes to ride a bike, and this blog will show you how. It all comes to you live from the namesake city, Copenhagen Denmark.
Copenhagenize: A close relative to Copenhagen Cycle Chic, this blog openly seeks to make the world more like Copenhagen, a place where you can ride a bike for transportation and feel safe and comfortable doing so. Let’s make Utah like Denmark. Let’s make the communities of Utah Valley like Copenhagen. Copenhagenize the world!
Sans Auto: This is the blog of a friend of mine. He lives in Spanish Fork and rides a bike to BYU everyday where he is a Doctoral student studying the effects of urban sprawl on health. He has some good insight on things that happen in the world and the state of things. Check it out. I don’t think you will be disappointed.
The Fat Cyclist: This is one popular blog and it originates right here in Utah County. The author is a spandex and shoes type rider, but he commutes by bike, he helps cycling out immensely, and I’d like to meet him one day. Read his stuff. He’s a good writer.
Transit in Utah: This is a new one as of today. I didn’t even know about it until he linked to us today. I love transit. Transit and cycling go hand in hand to make a very efficient transportation system. I hope mass transit becomes a much bigger piece of the transportation mix. I look forward to reading this blog to keep up on what is going on in the world of Transit in Utah.
The Plan
27 August, 2008
Okay, so there is a plan. It is a bike and pedestrian plan. It was just revised, and part two includes priority routes of all things. The other thing is, we as the public get to tell them what our priority routes are so that they can become their priority routes. Cool eh? (They = UDOT by the way). Anyway, the Utah Valley area openhouse will be here in Orem at the Senior Friendship center on September 18. Details are below. Please come. If you ride a bike or want others to ride, this is your opportunity to tell UDOT what you think their priorities should be as far as routes for transportation by bicycle and walking. Pass this along to everyone you know. It is worth your and their time to attend. I’ll see you there!
Thursday, September 18
5 to 7 p.m.
Orem Senior Friendship Center
93 North 400 East
Orem, Utah
A new Train of Thought
25 August, 2008
I borrowed the title to this post from the Deseret News. I rarely agree with much of what editorial boards say in this state, but lately they seem to have become more enlighted. The latest to suffer from this bout of insanity is the editorial board of the aforementioned news organization. I invite you to read the result of this momentary lapse by clicking here. I also came across some other interesting information that I had previously not seen this past week. It comes from the public comment section of the Mountainland Association of Governments’ Transportation Master Plan. Have a gander at these.
“Current plan appears comprehensive, involving the appropriate organizations. On the whole, non-vehicular elements of the plan appear to have a very limited emphasis. I would recommend and favor a much more aggressive mass-transit major interconnect between Salt Lake and Utah counties. A rail system should be implemented at the earliest date before growth rates exacerbate the task and right of way decisions complicated. This should be done even if current vehicular plans need to be compromised to the minimum absolutely necessary. Financial resources will be under increasing pressure over time. Tourism will likely increase as will population increases within Utah county. I urge an improved central element of the draft plan to include a much more aggressive mass-transit element.”
“I would like to see a greater emphasis given to public transportation: expansion and improvement. Also, I would like to see cycling and walking facilitated and encouraged. We must think about solving the congestion problems instead of simply facilitating them.” (I love this comment!)
“Although commuter rail and the BRT system are mentioned in this document, the overall feel is that transit is treated as a nice accoutrement, while roads are give a much higher priority. I do not believe that our continued focus on a predominantly road- and car-based transportation system is the best use of my taxpayer dollars.”
These are just a few. In almost every case, the comments were against more and bigger roads and for increased mass transit, walking, and cycling. This was three years ago. Think about what gas prices have done for this kind of thinking! It has to be much bigger than I even thought it could be. I hope that more of us will speak up to our elected officials and if they don’t listen, I hope we have the willingness to kick them out of office, no matter the party affiliation. If you want to read the rest of the comments, click here and scroll down. To read the entire master plan to see what they were talking about, click here. And to visit the home of the Mountainland Association of Governments on the web, click on the link above. By the way, sorry for the drought. I’ve been traveling and on vacation. More to come real soon.
Lakeview Elementary School Update
25 August, 2008
After emailing the school’s principal, I received a response this weekend. I appreciate his candor, and can understand the amount of pressure he must be under as he starts a brand new school year. It’s obvious that he would like help though, so it’s time to get started. Here is a brief game plan:
- Contact the Daily Herald and see if the author of the recent editorial has extra information about anyone involved in efforts to improve the situation on Geneva Rd.
- Get on UDOT’s case.
- Learn, learn, learn (see below).
I have found what appear to be some promising websites with a lot of great information
- National Center for Safe Routes to School – TONS of information, including free training – how I’ll be spending lunch breaks for the next several days.
- America Walks – “The voice of advocacy for local, state, and national issues. We are at the heart of a growing movement to create walkable communities across North America.”
- International Walk to School in the USA
Time to get started!
Who Loves Sitting in Traffic?
22 August, 2008
Here’s a funny video that should make you think. It satirizes Dan’s obsession with sitting in traffic.
While we at BikeUV don’t think buses will solve our transportation problems, we like the idea of more trains and bikes. We also get uneasy when we think about the money that gets spent building more roads and creating traffic for guys like Dan (read about how more roads can create more traffic – it’s called Induced Demand). Just think of what our cities could be like if half of that money was redirected to bicycle infrastructure.
Special thanks to Streetsblog.org for posting this video.
Utah Air Quality
21 August, 2008
The EPA has just told Utah that it is failing to provide air clean enough for its citizens. Of particular note, the standard is new, so we were doing great on our air quality before this, it is just a new tougher standard. Are you feeling comforted like I am? The next bit is that the new standard isn’t as tough as the EPA’s scientists said it should be. So, we fail the new standard, which isn’t as tough as it should have been. It will be very interesting to see the State of Utah’s response to this. Right now we are in a boom phase in road building. Will bikes and transit play a bigger roll? Or will they do something like oxygenate our fuel like last time? I for one will be watching very closely. I have to breathe every day. For part of the story, click on the picture.
Out of Stock
21 August, 2008
It is an interesting time of year. Bikes are out of stock. You can’t get them. Of particular interest to me is the fact that the Xtracycle is out of stock. In case you aren’t familiar with it, the Xtracycle turns your ordinary bike into something that can haul stuff. It is therefore very useful for someone who wants to use a car less. They have been out of stock for about two months now. Lots of people want one. No one can find them. They will be in soon is what we are told. It is great to know that the demand for practical bikes and accessories is on the rise.
Safety at Lakeview Elementary – Part II
19 August, 2008
It looks like I was a little late to the party. But I’m glad to see that I wasn’t the only one to notice. The Daily Herald ran an editorial on August 14th, highlighting the safety issues surrounding Lakeview Elementary School.
How is it that UDOT has been able to overrule the wishes of concerned parents? Perhaps there aren’t enough people asking for change yet. Contact me (travisATbikeuvDOTorg) if you would like to get involved.
Safety at Lakeview Elementary
18 August, 2008
School started Monday! As exciting as this day was for the many kids and their parents, something troubled me. During my bike ride to work yesterday morning I noticed a long line of cars waiting to turn left off of Geneva Road onto 1390 North in Provo towards the brand new Lakeview Elementary School. Since Geneva Rd. only has two lanes, a line of 10 cars and 1 bus wait stretched out to the south as oncoming traffic from the north prevented them from turning left towards the school. Here’s a map of the area I’m talking about. The school is at 2899 West 1390 North in the large field you see below (I tried to embed the google map, click the link if you can’t see it):
View Larger Map
I think there are serious problems with the location of the school so near Geneva Road.
- The speed limit is 45 mph (though cars should only be going 20 mph during school crossing times)
- There are no sidewalks to the north or south of the school
- Geneva Road lacks good shoulders
- With only two lanes, car traffic is bound to pile up during the morning rush hour
- The number and speed of the cars makes crossing Geneva, even walking or biking along it, extremely dangerous
Provo City could have taken two approaches to avoid these problems.
- Find a better spot for the school – One in a pedestrian friendly neighborhood, not one that is intersected by a heavily used, high-speed road such as Geneva
- Take steps to ensure that kids have a safe way to arrive to school on their own – Calm traffic on Geneva Road, add shoulders and sidewalks before the school is even built, adopt more pedestrian friendly zoning laws, etc.
What bothers me the most is that it appears as though little thought was given to where the school was built. Perhaps even less thought was given when Provo added several new subdivisions along Geneva Road to the north and south of the school. These subdivisions were added years ago, so it seems negligent to have not adequately planned for wider streets with more safety features for pedestrians. Surely they saw the demand for a school coming, and should have planned for it.
As a result, some of my Provo neighbors who live less than a mile from school are forced to either drive their kids to school or put them on a bus. The most visible problem with this is increased traffic. Less noticed, however, are the side effects poor planning has on our kids. Childhood obesity, while certainly not caused solely because of kids being driven to school, has been linked to the failure of communities to encourage cycling and walking to school. I wrote about this issue here.
If you have children who go to Lakeview, and you happen to live in a place that requires travel on Geneva Road to get to school, consider talking to the Principal or PTA President. Get involved and see if you can make a difference.
I may soon find out that plans are in place to make the situation better. But it can’t be a bad thing to voice your support of safer communities for our kids to travel in. I’ll keep you updated on my progress and what I am able to find out.
