Cycling in the land of the car
 

Thought I'd share this article from the BBC about bike commuting here in the land of the auto. Of course we that live Stateside know that we have a long way to go, but baby steps are better than no steps at all. I hope.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11415660

The article is interesting, but the above quote is a little off, I believe. The highway system in America was designed because the dept of defense needed a good way to move troops around the country in the event of an invasion. The suburbs sprang up as a side-effect of the highway system because people did not want to live in urban centers anymore. It became easier for them to commute by car using the interstates.

Ha!

That was the excuse that was used... The reality is something else all together than what we have today. How many of you know that the Secretary of Defense that made that recommendation was previously the President of General Motors... Think there was any connection? Good old boy network in action, perhaps???

Here are some quick wiki links for you... do your own research.
Federal highway act of 1956
Charlie E Wilson, secretary of Defense during Eisenhower years
BTW there is another Charlie E Wilson... and he too was "connected."

Let's put it this way... in those days, and for much of the years before "conflict of interest" between industry and state was something of "the way things were done..."

Oh and don't just rely on the wiki links... these are just to get you started... search around, go to a library, find out for yourself. Yeah..."defense project" indeed... Next we'll be drilling for oil in the Gulf for Defense needs... oh wait... :innocent:

When touring Ireland, Wales and Scotland a few years ago the thing that was most obvious was the inclusion of bicycles as a normal part of everyday life. There was a greater respect for it as a mode of transportation as opposed to a toy or a seldom used form of recreation.

My tour was self-guided and self supported. Most of the local populace I encountered held my venture in high regard and referred to me as a tourer rather than a tourist. There's a completely different mentality in Europe. One isn't considered a flake or a loser if one decides to live cycle-centric.

It's getting better over here, but there's way more than just a long way to go. There's got to be an overhaul of the way we see how the bicycle fits into the pantheon of our existence. It's got to become the first option after walking.

Oh another one of these articles. :deadhorse:

Quite yer *****in'. :lol:

I was thinking just the opposite moments ago when walking around the vast business parks that surround the building I work in... How Autocentric life is here in America. Everything is scaled for the automobile... even the food courts... where one typically walks from your car to some small restaurant... there simply were no sidewalks or ways to easily get around the cars... there is a giant parking lot, and each place sits around this giant parking lot, but to transition from the parking lot to the individual restaurant, one has to cross the gantlet of the parking lot with all of the drivers in a hurry to get in or out. Even the little tree planted islands had nary but a curb... no respite from the auto.

After I finished my taco... I squeezed between the parked cars (some too large obviously to fit in the "small car" designated spots) and decided to take the quiet back way back to the office. Such a route really did not exist... first in part because there was no continuous sidewalk, or because where I wanted to cross (where a sidewalk led me) there was no walk signal across the 8 lane arterial road (urban freeway). I was further stymied by fact that sidewalks would just end at parking lots... there was no transition to buildings or businesses... one was apparently supposed to drive... heaven forbid you arrive on foot... and have to either walk way around to the driveways or cross the vast expanse of open grass serving as some testimony to how "green" some company is supposed to be.

In some cases it was obvious that this sidewalk situation was clearly a lack of foresight... as at some of the business locations, there was a clear path worn in their "green moat," where others had determined a proper sidewalk should have been placed. In fact, the area is filled with evidence of such "human transgression."

While the roads in the area are predominately of the 50 and 65MPH nature, there are in the surrounding undeveloped lands, loads of worn paths where cyclists have left their mark trying to escape the 4 wheeled hordes. Satellite images of the area shown on google maps are riddled with "alternative routes" that somehow have escaped the oversight of the lofty planners of the area... who for some reason feel that apparently it is cars that are somehow doing the work in these buildings, not people.

The ultimate irony is that because of this concentration of automobiles, at the close of the business day, the area positivity gridlocks as people struggle to leave... one to a car and no other way out. the sheer lack of planning for bicycles is clearly evident in the fact that one of the few ways for a cyclist to get into the area is via a freeway... This is one of the areas in CA where cyclists are permitted to use the interstate as it is simply the only road in... such is the total lack of inclusion for cyclists in America.

Los Angeles, for example, was planned specifically to encourage automobile ownership and reduce the efficacy of public transportation. This model was partially adopted by plenty of other cities--especially where land was undeveloped and cheap.

Bicyclists are held in much higher regard in Europe, but the UK, Italy and Germany are just as car-centric as the U.S., in my experience. I don't think these concepts are contradictory.

Thanks for those links. I had never heard about the affiliations of the secretary of defense before. I was also told it was due to national defense reasons, now I know the other motives behind the interstate system.
Government has not changed much!