Advocacy & Safety - Given finite amount of $$$, build sidewalks or BLs?

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Ngchen
04-15-09, 09:51 AM
I noticed recently how in the Farragut area (for you locals) how the town's requirement for sidewalk construction to accomodate pedestrians has "worked" in the sense that sidewalks do exist in large parts of town. However, the number of people seen on them seems to be miniscule. My guess is that the distances involved with the travel are typically too long for people to want to walk.

SO, (and of course I'll get some biased sampline), if there is a limited amount of money so that one cannot have both, is it wiser to spend it on sidewalks, or BLs if the goal is to reduce the number of car trips in town? Is it a function of population density (the town is not dense)?

AndrewP
04-15-09, 10:22 AM
Spend money to reduce the number of on-street parking spaces. Then there will be more room on the streets for bikes, trucks, buses to share.
Bekologist
04-15-09, 08:37 PM
on multiple laned roads, taking away a lane and/or parking - often now called a 'road diet' to create bikelanes is cheaper than constructing sidewalks.

paint is cheap.

crhilton
04-15-09, 09:30 PM
spend money to reduce the number of on-street parking spaces. Then there will be more room on the streets for bikes, trucks, buses to share.

+1