“Of course we have a deal. They get out of the way of our cars, we look the other way on the statue defecation.”
- George Costanza and Jerry Seinfeld
The tyranny of speed rules over nearly every road in this great nation. Florida is perhaps the tyrant’s most resolute stronghold. It’s as if gravity or latitude or the warm climate (or perhaps the convergence of the three) have funneled that power into our peninsula from all across the land. Hemmed in by the Everglades, the tyrant’s power concentrates even more as one moves into Broward and Miami-Dade counties. It then squirts out along US 1, the Overseas Highway that runs from Key Largo to Key West. The Highway is now mostly overwhelmed by the tyrant; its miles of ugly strip commercial development making it look like nearly any other four-lane highway. If it weren’t for the palms and tropically-themed signs you might think you were outside Atlanta along some stretches.
N. Roosevelt: sidepath on the left side; destinations on the right.
One-hundred and two miles down the highway you enter the Conch Republic, aka Key West. It’s the end of the road. The tyranny of speed has pushed its invading wedge westward into the island along US 1, and its commercial minions — fast-food purveyors, big box retailers… — have come in behind to claim territory. At its ironic intersection with Eisenhower Drive, it loses nearly all its power as it changes names from N. Roosevelt Boulevard to Truman Avenue and becomes a narrow, two-lane street.
This chart is from the Netherlands Interface for Cycling Expertise.
I have estimated the percentages from the chart and converted it to numbers showing percentage increase from the historic low to 1995.
For those who believe The Netherlands’ and Denmark’s high cycling numbers are due to facilities, you might consider that many of these places never dropped below 20% cycling mode share. Cycling has always been a prominent component to their traffic environment.
Take a look at what they themselves say about the effectiveness of bikeways to increase cycling:
“Since 1990, the total length of cycle paths has increased to almost 19,000 km, doubling the length in 1980.”
“Results: In 1994, the total distance cycled was 12.9 billion km, compared with 12.8 billion in 1990. The number of km traveled by car was 125 billion in 1990 and 129 billion in 1994.”
“Expansion and improvement of the infrastructure does not necessarily increase the use of bicycles.”
From “The Autumn of the Bicycle Master Plan”
1994, Dutch Ministry of Transport
And
From “The Economic Significance of Cycling”
The Netherlands Interface for Cycling Expertise
“Experiences in Amsterdam show that the increase in bicycle use in the city centre in the last 10 years is mainly due to increased parking rates.”
“The policy of reducing car traffic in city centres therefore often consists of reducing parking facilities, and this method is used to cut car use.”
“Many cities have started to reclaim space from the car in the last 10 to 20 years. … A good example of this is Copenhagen where, between 1962 and 1996, the number of parking spaces was reduced from 3,100 to 2,000…”
The existence of an extensive rail transit system is also a very important factor:
“In 1991, 44% of [transit users] went to the local train station by bicycle.”
From “The Autumn of the Bicycle Master Plan”
If you start with different ingredients for two recipes, then add the same new ingredient to both recipes, do you end up with the same results?
The common belief about European cities is that they have so many bicyclists because they have extensive (and “safe”) bikeway systems. This travelogue from 1937* shows Copenhagen streets filled with cyclists.
Granted, auto ownership in 1937 Copenhagen was rather tiny compared to present-day American cities (or for that matter present day Copenhagen). But watch how the motorists and cyclists interact. To us it looks like chaos. Traffic control appears minimal at best, yet the cyclists all seem blithley unconcerned.
It is certainly true that bike used plummeted in Denmark after World War II, and one can argue that the increase in auto use made it “necessary” to build segregated bikeways in order to increase bicycle use. My point is: look at how they all behave. Integration inspires cooperation — especially when the bicyclists are dressed just like everybody else.
Studies have shown heart patients benefit from exercise, and some have even shown it works better than surgical procedures. At a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology on Sunday, several experts said doctors should focus more on persuading their patients to exercise rather than simply doing angioplasties.
I’m not quite sure where people get those all-or-nothing attitudes when it comes to cycling. I’m continually amazed at how many people immediately start up with “Americans aren’t going to give up their cars” when bicycle transportation is brought up.
Similarly, many cyclists (and motorists who seem to revel in hanging out in cycling-related comment boards) seem to think lane control (aka “Taking the Lane,” aka “Commanding the Lane,” aka “Riding in the Middle of the Road,” aka “Impeding Traffic,” aka “Getting in the Way of the Important People in Cars”) is an all-or-nothing proposition. As though lane control proponents do nothing but ride in the middle of every lane.
Of course that’s not the case. We control the lane when it’s prudent; when keeping right will invite motorists to squeeze by dangerously close, when intersection conflicts are an issue, when pavement is bad, when we’re going as fast as other traffic, and in a variety of other situations.
I and others describe a lane that is too narrow to share as less than 14 feet wide. (By the way, it’s not just us arrogant lane control advocates who say this; FDOT does, too. See Florida Green Book, page 211.) But there are situations in which a narrower lane might be shareable; particularly when motorist speeds are low. One of the many benefits of lane control is that it slows motorists down so that they can pass safely. While many cyclists like to tout Florida’s 3-foot law (motorists are required to give at least three feet of space when passing a bicyclist), many of us are comfortable with closer passes when motorists are going only a few miles per hour faster than we are (but want more than 3 feet when speeds are high!). I’m happy with 2 feet when cars are doing 20 mph and the pavement is good.
VOA Completes Oviedo, Florida Public Works, Administration and Engineering Facility
July 8, 2009
The Orlando office of VOA Associates has completed the 5,500-sq.-ft. Public Works, Administration and Engineering Facility for the city of Oviedo, Fla., public works department, a project which has been submitted for LEED Gold certification. …
To achieve LEED Gold, the team incorporated a number of environmentally sustainable elements, such as highly reflective roofing materials, a changing room, showers and bicycle storage for 5 percent of the occupants …
Okay, maybe not you folks in the snowbelt (I live in Florida), but if you can, getting used to biking and using the bike for transportation now will help when gas prices make their inevitable climb above $4, then $5 a gallon. Better to learn a new way of doing things before you HAVE TO.
I took this little detour away from strictly practical cycling material today because James Howard Kunstler spoke in our town (Orlando) this morning. I’ve been a reader of his work for quite a few years, but his most recent book, The Long Emergency, is his most important. For those of you not familiar with the concept of Peak Oil, The Long Emergency is an excellent primer. It will explain why gas is at over $3.00 per gallon, why it will continue to climb, and why “alternative fuels” will not permit us to keep driving cars the way we currently do.
A great source of up-to-date information on this matter is The Oil Drum.
The price of gasoline just jumped ten to fifteen cents over the past couple of days. Perhaps you’re concerned climate change is human-caused and you want to be part of the solution. Maybe you’re sick of sending your hard-earned dollars to oil-exporting countries that don’t respect human rights. Maybe your waistline is getting a bit out of hand or you’re just tired of feeling tired. Or it could be that you feel like the folks in that Police song: “Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes/ Contestants in a suicidal race.”
Bicycling might not solve any of those problems, but if it helps you feel like you’re doing something positive about them…well, that’s surely a very good thing.
I hope you’ll join me every so often to learn about how you can make bicycling a bigger, better part of your life. I’ll be posting about bike selection, basic skills, safety, accessories and equipment, and neat tips and tricks to make your cycling life easier.
Have a question? Post a comment and I’ll post an answer.
And if you like what you see here, please pass it along!
