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New Infrastructure

Old 09-16-14, 05:47 AM
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New Infrastructure

The cycling organization I'm a member of has been pushing for new and better cycling infrastructure, and our efforts are starting to bear some fruit.

For several years now we've been urging the local authorities to place bike racks inside of the underground and rail stations where bikes can be watched and are much less likely to be stolen. On Sunday I was in an underground station in a nearby village and was delighted to see that the racks are being installed. This is a simple but effective measure that doesn't cost all that much to implement.



We've also been pushing for a pedestrian/cyclist bridge to be built over a dangerous motorway. Construction of that has finally begun, after years of demonstrations, letter writing, petitioning, and so on. I'll post a photo when the bridge is finished.

Have any of you been successful in convincing your local polilticians to take measures that make carfree living easier and safer? I'd love to hear about your experiences.
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Old 09-16-14, 06:39 AM
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I'm not a part of any local bike organizations but I do vote when needed. My small city of Lowell, MA is trying to improve its bike infrastructure by implementing more bike lanes. -- unfortunately they made them in some bad spots so people don't use them very often, or the community isn't as bike avid around here. Still, better than nothing, and more people are using bikes.

Great job on indoor bike racks. Idea is golden.
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Old 09-16-14, 02:25 PM
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Originally Posted by Panza
I'm not a part of any local bike organizations but I do vote when needed. My small city of Lowell, MA is trying to improve its bike infrastructure by implementing more bike lanes. -- unfortunately they made them in some bad spots so people don't use them very often, or the community isn't as bike avid around here. Still, better than nothing, and more people are using bikes.

Great job on indoor bike racks. Idea is golden.
The beauty of doing things through a cycling organization like ours is that we're all transportation cyclists, so we know what's needed, unlike many politicians who don't have a clue. Even if their intentions are good, they often get things wrong because they're car-centric types who never walk, cycle or use mass transit. It's hardly surprising that they often get things wrong. That's how we often end up with bike lanes that lead to nowhere, bike racks that are poorly designed, etc.

Glad to hear more folks are cycling in Lowell.
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Old 09-16-14, 06:06 PM
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I actually did something similar years ago. There was only one bike rack at the train station and I complained. Within weeks, they installed another bike rack. I guess more people complained because there are now close to 6 bike racks at that station.

I've been complaining for years to reopen one of the bridges but that won't happen. I'm glad the OP was successful.
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Old 09-16-14, 08:57 PM
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Short-term a group of us who controlled the local neighborhood association were able to get parking removed on one side of the street for four blocks so that the former door-zone bike lane is no longer in the door zone. Unfortunately, our goal of only widening the travel lanes by four inches and having the extra room used to make the bike lane on the other side of the street buffered from the remaining parking so that it would also be clear of the door zone were nixed by our cars-first traffic engineer.

Long-term, we're working on our city councilors to do away with door zone bike lanes altogether. We're also starting to lobby for them to override the level of service standards for roadways, which will allow us much more latitude in making things better for peds and cyclists even when such things make life a little worse for motorists. See the thread on level of service for what that means. https://www.bikeforums.net/living-car...g-bye-bye.html
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Old 09-19-14, 04:16 PM
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I filled out a survey, and one comment I made (had to write it out, as it wasn't on their menu) was that they needed to be able to carry more bikes on the buses. Now all the buses are getting 3-bike racks now in place of two or zero. It's better, but not enough that I feel like chancing on an empty slot from where I work, so I leave my bike on the other end of my bus commute. If I'm going to ride 50 miles home I want to plan it in advance, not be stuck with it because there wasn't room on the bus racks.
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