lhester

I was surveying my area with Google maps...and if all of the neighborhoods along the busy roads connected, the problem could be solved easily without a HUGE disruption in the main roads. None of our neighborhoods really connect here. You have to drive onto the main roads to get to the next neighborhood. I understand neighbors do not want extra car traffic barreling through the neighborhood, but why not connecting bike paths? This would be a cheap alternative to creating ones which potentially cut into front yards and businesses along the busy roads, furthering the Anti-bike sentiment. Why couldn't something like that work? I have walked to the grocery store before (Cutting through yards) and it took NO TIME to get there. Like less than a mile. But because nothing connects, I am forced to DRIVE or ride that seriously busy road and it's like 3.5 miles. Thoughts?

jerseybmx

print it out, propose a solution. get enough people in ur area to agree, and bring it up at ur next township meeting

Buglady

We have the same problem, with non-connecting neighbourhoods, here. The older parts of the city are fine, with connecting roads AND bike paths, and significant greenways, but the new subdivisions are designed as little car-only islands. Even though a lot of them HAVE green spaces, they don't connect outside that neighbourhood.

I got lost on my ride yesterday and ended up in suburban hell in South Calgary. I had a choice of riding along MacLeod Trail, which at that point is a 110 kph highway without shoulders, circling endlessly in the cul-de-sacs of Chaparral, or riding along a "boulevard" posted at 60 kph but being used by multiple construction vehicles at 90kph in order to get back to any road that connected to my destination. :twitch: No sidewalks, no bike paths, and no bloody curb cutouts anywhere. It really illustrated Kunstler's concept of "the geography of nowhere" for me.

corripio

We also need the planning boards to think about bikes, and for that matter, pedestrians, when approving new development.

lhester

So what do we do? Where do we start? I am willing to take a step forward if someone can point me in the right direction. Who do I contact to help me sort through the maps in an educated way and draw up a proposal? What is the job title of this person?

chewybrian 

I think you have a great idea. In Florida, we have quite a few of these:
https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/cheating
It gets the kids over the canals on the way to school, without forcing them into traffic. Of course, it works great for the bike commuter, like me, who would rather not ride in traffic.

Approaching it as a solution for the kids might be an easier sell. I think it will still be a long time before bike commuting gets the respect it deserves.

Rober

Most of my city is laid out in gridded blocks except for one part (Murray) that was developed in the 60s. There are heavily-travelled north/south streets and some that are less heavily-travelled that make good bike routes but most of them do a weird bend when they enter Murray - kind of like a black hole of linear travel, with roads that loop back on themselves, cul-de-sacs, and dead ends. I spent hours with Google Maps trying to find good way through this Alice in Wonderland maze, and thought I had found one only to get there and discover that a street Google Maps thought was a through street ended up dead ending on both sides into a creek with no bridge over it. This means that I have to bike on a horrible crowded "fast" east-west street (45th South) for a few blocks before I can get to a through street again. I just ride on the sidewalk, slowly, and hope nobody notices.

lhester

There is a section in the back of my neighborhood that backs up to Main road where the schools are (For those of you who know the Brentwood area.....Granny White Pike) You can see it.. It's RIGHT THERE!!! Like 0.2 of a mile. But instead you have to drive 3 or 4 MILES to get to that same spot from my neighborhood because there is no path. I used to be able to cut through when I was running, but it cuts through a yard, so they let the opening grow over and put 3 old lawn mowers there to block it. WHY********** If there was a path I think more kids would bike or walk to the high school and middle school and maybe even to Scales elementary if we did a Bike-bus" with other parents a few days a week. It would sure save money on the fuel the school system is complaining about. And it would knock 3 to 4.5 miles off the commute if a path were there. What were the city planners thinking when they designed these communities??

https://www.walkingschoolbus.org/

cooker

I think the problem is if it isn't designed in the first place, people fear it (OMG it will bring in ruffians!) and especially the families in the two houses on each side of the shortcut will not want their flanks exposed like that. It won't occur to them that this makes their neighbourhood more accessible and better for them too, or that cyclists regularily passing by the side of your house may deter thieves.

urban_assault

1. "Not In My Back Yard" types
2. Cost
3. "Who would want to ride a bike to the grocery store?"

Rober

Around here the cities were so eager to have development (more taxes, land sales, etc.) that they would let the developers use them like doormats. Farther south in the valley there are slurbs from the 90s and 00s packed with side-by-side McMansions that are car-dependent islands unto themselves, isolated from surrounding developments and accessible only by high-speed, 4-lane racetracks. Cities around here give lots of lip service to being "bike-friendly," but only Salt Lake City has made any effort to make this idea a reality. Sadly, most of the efforts are striped-off bike lanes on major streets with vicious, fast car traffic, and a few hard-bitten MUPs that are filled with "family" activities and unsafe for bike riding during the day.

But back to the OP: That idea would work here too. If these McMansion patches were connected by just bike/walking paths they would allow bikers to cross miles and miles of development on wide, smooth, lightly travelled roads in the slurbs themselves. Eventually all of them could be linked and one could (probably few will) travel the length of this valley and stay off the major roads almost entirely. It would be so cheap (relative to building and maintaining more MUPs), and pretty easy to do.