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Title: POINT OF VIEW. GRIDLOCK 2020
Accession Number: 00491929
Record Type: Component
Availability: Find a library where document is available Abstract: Cyclists feel as if the Transportation 2020 process has passed them by. Attempts to reach consensus on a transportation policy and funding mechanism for the next century have largely ignored the bicycle as an important means of transportation and one of the solutions to the many problems that beset the current system. In emphasizing the need to improve mobility, AASHTO, the Transportation Alternatives Group, and most other relevant groups have ignored accessibility. Opportunities exist to turn cycling and walking into practical, attractive alternatives. For example, new transit systems could incorporate good bicycle access and parking provisions so that cycling can be combined with transit. Also, when new roads are built, improved, or resurfaced, extra space could be created for cyclists in the curb lane. Figures from the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association reveal that 54% of the population already live 5 or fewer miles from work. The vast majority of the nation is quite capable of riding a bicycle this distance, and most have no objective reason for not using a bicycle. Congestion, pollution, and other problems piling up on U.S. roads are there because the United States has become a slave to the automobile. And the Transportation 2020 process is not offering any alternative to the automobile. A cyclist in the U.S. today still has to look out for drainage grates that face the wrong way, wait at traffic signals that don't detect bicycles, negotiate dreadful pavement surfaces, and fight for every parking space and every inch of road space provided. Doubling of travel demand by the year 2020 is accepted as inevitable. If it is inevitable, it is because cycling, walking, transit, land-use planning, environmental concerns, and common sense are all being ignored, marginalized, or both.
Corporate Authors: Transportation Research Board 500 Fifth Street, NW Authors: Clarke, APagination: p. 12-13
Publication Date: 1990-1
Serial: TRT Terms: Identifier Terms: Subject Areas: Environment; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning
Files: TRIS, TRB
Created Date: Mar 31 1990 12:00AM
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