From the Dallas Morning News, 11.19.07:Dallas-area planners boosting bicycle commuting with new projectsA great article from Dallas, a city that presently ranks in the bottom ten for bicycle commuting. The story includes comments on health improvement, trail development, and enhanced transit access.
Urban planners are looking to enlist more mild-mannered Clark Kent-like bicycle commuters to help battle Dallas-Fort Worth's air-pollution and traffic congestion woes. They want more people to consider bicycle commuting for short distances, either directly to work or to link to mass transit. The enlistees need not be faster than a speeding bullet or more powerful than Lance Armstrong.
"We have this picture of cycling commuters as being like supermen, and that discourages other people from doing it," said P.M. Summer, transportation alternatives coordinator for the city of Dallas. "When I came into this job, our thinking was we needed to enable cyclists to make 40-mile bike trips. Now my thinking is we need to have development in place that allows a cyclist to make a one-mile bike trip. It becomes a very natural extension of walking. The idea of being able to go get on a bike and ride for 10 minutes to get to your destination, rather than a half-hour walk, is a huge incentive." (Read more.)
In my favorite television documentary program, King of the Hill--hey, it's about Texas, right?--the only characters who regularly bicycle are the youngsters Bobby and Joseph. Good luck to Dallas and my friends at the Texas Bicycle Coalition.
Image: Web capture.
Visit: Dallas-area resources for beginning cyclists, Dallas Morning News
Visit: Dallas placing new focus on bicycles as commuting alternative
Visit: Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips
I appreciate your pointing this article out. There is a guy in our Dallas office that has been very close to actually commuting by bike and this might help me convince him.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping for one more bike convert.