The video linked below shows the beginning of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's efforts to add 100 miles of protected bike lanes in Chicago. There are similar opportunities here, of course.
http://www.streetfilms.org/kinzie-street-the-first-of-many-protected-bike-lanes-for-chicago/#more-51645 (http://www.streetfilms.org/kinzie-street-the-first-of-many-protected-bike-lanes-for-chicago/#more-51645)
Absolutely we can. And we have the perfect funding mechanism for it in the Mobility Fee - which of course has a moratorium on it... so, we won't be getting any protected bike lanes for at least a little while longer.
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2030/2249689660_6ef9c5bec2_z.jpg)
BOGOTA COLOMBIA
Cool Doug, as you know, I fully support Jacksonville catching up with the 3rd world! Bogota, Medellin, Calli, etc... the Bikeways are amazing. I always wanted to 'import' them.
OCKLAWAHA
Why is the pedestrians right foot missing? What else is photo-shopped into this pic?
Quote from: Ralph W on December 30, 2011, 10:19:11 AM
Why is the pedestrians right foot missing? What else is photo-shopped into this pic?
Telephoto lens meets undulating terrain would seem a logical explanation.
OCKLAWAHA
A complete streets policy would also help us get more bike lanes.
Plus, we wouldn't have to wait for a moratorium to expire, and we wouldn't have to wait on new development for funding.
To be honest, by the time a complete streets policy would pass through council and be adopted by public works, the moratorium would have long expired (assuming its not extended next year).
I disagree
What's your anticipated timeline for the approval of a complete streets policy and entities like public works and FDOT to revamp their design standards to comply with it?
The policy comes first. Nashville already has one, and it seems to be working very well for them.
What's your anticipated timeline for approval of a complete streets policy at the local level?
I dunno.
I'm with lake here....getting the mobility fee moratorium lifted seems more likely to happen in the next 9 months than getting new policies adopted.
also, complete streets policies aren't a panacea...many cities/states don't know what a real complete street is...take a look at this streetfilms vid
http://www.streetfilms.org/complete-streets-its-about-more-than-just-bike-lanes/
In fact, one of the larger engineering firms here in Jax. advertises their complete streets program with a picture of a 6-lane arterial w/ bike lanes and sidewalks next to the curb....wow, so innovative!
Any policy can be ignored or misinterpreted but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have policies.
All I'm saying is that we might be able to get a complete streets policy adopted, that it would be better to have one than not to have one, and that it would take less time to get a complete streets policy than it would take to pile up funds from a mobility fee.
If the remaining concurrency funds are shifted to the mobility plan, then the plan would have around $10 million or so already. Anyway, I don't view these things as an either/or proposition. They are only two items in a laundry list of things that need to be either done or taken advantage of to create a multimodal friendly community. Plus they actual assist one another. Even if a complete streets policy was passed, you still can't implement anything without cash, which is what the fee is intended to help generate.
Quote from: tufsu1 on December 30, 2011, 02:25:21 PM
In fact, one of the larger engineering firms here in Jax. advertises their complete streets program with a picture of a 6-lane arterial w/ bike lanes and sidewalks next to the curb....wow, so innovative!
If a large local engineering firm thinks they can get clients by claiming to have complete streets expertise, then they might help with the adoption of a complete streets policy.
There's no doubt in my mind that a complete streets policy would help with the re-introduction of a mobility fee. I just don't agree with the skeptics about the prospects for this policy.
Instead of focusing on how to achieve a massive change in the way streets are and how to pay for it through additional taxes, why not find one street, a few blocks, where the cost to add a protected bike lane would involve little more than paint and plastic bollards, and ask for it. Let the government figure out the money. Look at the effort in NYC for a protected bike lane along Prospect Park, as documented on streetfilms.org and elsewhere. It wasn't always pretty (some wanted the parking spaces back) but it got done. Anyway, Happy New Year!
There is no cost associated with a complete streets policy.
The money will be spent anyway.
The policy just says that when you design the street, you have to look at all of the types of travel that might happen on that particular street.
Downtown they picked out Laura Street as a showcase for a redesign, and it didn't work out so well. Hendricks was rebuilt with bike lanes but the bike lanes on Hendricks are dangerous.
The engineers who design these streets need to have a better understanding of what the design requirements are for cyclists and pedestrians.