(Source: AFP via Yahoo)

Copenhagen, one of the world’s most bicycle-friendly cities, has begun turning its extensive network of cycle paths into bike highways in an effort to push more commuters to leave their cars at home.

Considered one of Europe’s two “bicycle capitals” along with Amsterdam, Copenhagen counts more bicycles than people and cycling is so popular that its numerous bike paths can become congested.

Two-wheeler traffic jams are especially regular on the main Noerrebrogade thoroughfare used by around 36,000 cyclists a day.

• The currently jammed bike paths will be widened up to four metres (yards) on either side of the road, which will itself will be reserved for buses only.
• The goal is to hike the percentage of suburban commuters cycling to and from the city from the 37 percent it is today to over 50 percent by 2015.
• Within the city, 55 percent of all commuters already travel by bike, according to the municipality.
• Already Copenhagen stands out among other European capitals for its cycling infrastructure, counting more than 390 kilometres (242 miles) of bike paths.
• Between 2006 and 2010, it spent 250 million kroner (33.6 million euros) in bike infrastructure and an extra 75 million kroner were allotted for 2011.
• The first two city-to-suburb bicycle highways are due to open at the end of 2011 and reach a distance of 15 kilometres from central Copenhagen, while a third, going as far as 20 kilometres from the capital’s centre, will be put into service in 2012.

Click here to read the entire story.

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• Copenhagen plans bike superhighways (grist.org)
• Copenhagen to build superhighway for bikes (americablog.com)
• How Portland Is Planning to Become the First World-class Bike City in America (alternet.org)
• Transition and solutions – Nov 28 (energybulletin.net)
• 10 Cool Bike Stories (planetsave.com)
• Copenhagen to Residents: “You’re Safer On a Bike Than On a Sofa” (treehugger.com)
• The Bay Area Versus Amsterdam: Which Cycling Mecca Is Tops? (treehugger.com)
• Experiencing Copenhagen and Denmark on Two Wheels (denmark-travel.suite101.com)
• The Bay Area Versus Amsterdam: Which Cycling Mecca Is Tops? (treehugger.com)
• Should Sidewalks and Bike Paths Have a Designated Slowpoke Lane? (treehugger.com)
• Blog – Cyclists Pedal Faster On Wednesdays, Reveals Smart Bike Data (technologyreview.com)

(Source: Bridging the Gap)

The latest edition of the United Nations Climate Change Conference CoP 16 opened its doors in Cancun, Mexico on November 29th  (duration – Nov 29th thru Dec 10) and our friends at Transport 2012 have created a compilation of side-events related to transportation issues at this conference.  Transportgooru is glad to share this with its readers (hoping some of you are already in Cancun, Mexico attending this event). Please check the Transport2012 website for an updated list:

“Bridging the Gap: Pathways for Transport in the Post 2012 Process‘ is an initiative of GTZ, TRL, UITP, ITDP and Veolia Transport created to tackle CO₂emissions from land transport and to integrate this major contributor to climate change into the international climate negotiation process. Click here to learn more about Bridging the Gap.

(source: Washington Post’s Federal Eye)

This is very disconcerting, to say the least. But I’m glad at ths ame time they are working to fix the problem.

Federal agents responsible for driving nuclear weapons and other sensitive materials sometimes got drunk and were detained by police while on the job, according to a new watchdog report.

A report released Monday by the Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General found 16 alcohol-related incidents between 2007 and 2009 involving personnel with the National Nuclear Security Administration‘s Office of Surface Transportation (OST). About 600 OST agents are responsible for safely transporting or shipping nuclear weapons and other materials across the country.

Two incidents involved extended overnight missions where OST agents parked convoy vehicles in safe harbor before checking in at nearby hotels, the report said. In separate incidents, an agent was arrested in 2007 for public intoxication while two agents were handcuffed and temporarily detained by police officers in 2009, according to the report.

Click here to read the entire story.

(Source: Good)

Click Image to Enlarge

Cities with the most frustrating traffic problems

(Source: Good)

Houston, Texas, may end up being the first American city with a great electric car charging infrastructure. NRG Energy is rolling out what is supposedly the world’s first privately funded comprehensive electric vehicle ecosystem. Here are some interesting nuggets:

• The system (or “ecosystem,” in their overwrought marketing speak), called eVgo, employs a very interesting business model. Subscribers sign a three-year contract and then pay a monthly fee, ranging from $49 to $89, for both a home charger and varying levels of access to this network of public chargers.
• NRG plans to install between 50 and 150 high-speed chargers in public places— shopping centers and the like—by the end of 2011. They’ll also be installing chargers in people’s homes.
• The high-speed chargers distributed around the city can charge a car to 80 percent  within 30 minutes.

Click here to read more.

Related articles

• NRG Installs Privately-Funded Electric Car Charging Network in Oily Houston (fastcompany.com)
• NRG Launches Nation’s First Privately Funded, Comprehensive Electric Vehicle Charging Ecosystem (eon.businesswire.com)
• NRG Energy Selects AeroVironment to Build the Nation’s First Privately-Funded Electric Vehicle Charging “Ecosystem” (eon.businesswire.com)
• Walgreens and NRG Energy Work Together to Bring Nation’s First Privately Funded, Comprehensive Electric Vehicle Infrastructure to Houston (eon.businesswire.com)
• Reliant Customers Among the First with Access to eVgo Electric Vehicle Charging Network (eon.businesswire.com)
• NRG Energy Launches Network Of Electric Car Chargers, In Houston (blogs.forbes.com)
• A Private Network for Recharging Cars (green.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Why Texas May Be a Better Electric Car State Than California (nytimes.com)
• “Unlimited Juice” Electric Vehicle Charging Plans: Good Idea or Exploitation? (allcarselectric.com)
• NRG: Nation’s First Privately Financed Vehicle Charging Network (gigaom.com)
• On the GreenBeat: Trilliant Inks Deal With British Gas, NRG Energy Launches Charging Infrastructure (nytimes.com)

(Source: Copenhagen Cycle Chic)

A Sample from Cycle Chic Calendar 2011

This incredibly awesome Cycle Chic Calendar for 2011 by the Mikael Colville-Andersen of Copenhangen Cycle Chic would make a great holiday gift for the Treehugger, biker, Transportation geeks (like me).  Oh well, I’d say go off the limb and say this: in general this is for anyone who likes beautiful things – beautiful women, beautiful city streets and beautiful bikes carrying beautiful women.  Available for purchase [and in time for Christmas] over at Lulu.com.

(Source: New York Times)

Click here for more details

ONE is wearing a couture gown, another just a pair of red underwear. One is lugging a huge bouquet of flowering rhododendrons on his shoulder, another a suckling pig. They are all riding bicycles in the middle of streets downtown, and they are all shown from behind, having passed by, headed toward some unknown destination — a party, a garden, a pig roast.

The photographs are by Bridget Fleming, 30, who moved to the Lower East Side from Australia in 2008. She is halfway through an ambitious project to capture downtown denizens riding on two wheels down each of the approximately 200 streets below 14th Street. She posts some of the photographs on a blog, Downtown From Behind, and hopes the project, which she describes as a glamorous ode to “the heartbeat of New York,” will culminate this spring with a gallery exhibition and Web site.

Image Courtesy: Downtown from Behind

Click here for more on this story and for the awesome interactive.

(Source: Gizmodo)

Image Courtesy: Gizmodo

Image Courtesy: Gizmodo

It’s an incredibly simple idea: LED lights trickle down in a virtual sand glass that countdowns how much more Red and Green there will be. When it approaches 3 seconds left, the LEDs switch to yellow and give you an exact count on what’s left.

Click here to read the entire article.

Related articles

• Innovative Sand Glass Traffic Light Uses Hourglass Design to Show How Much Time is Left (techeblog.com)
• Hourglass LED Traffic Light Design Concept (laughingsquid.com)
• Hour Glass LED Traffic Lights [Pic] (boredpanda.com)

(Source: AFP via Yahoo)

The Portuguese hosts of Friday’s NATO summit hoped to use the event to promote clean-energy and electric cars, but all eyes were on US President Barack Obama’s diesel-guzzling “Beast” instead.

As is usual when he travels, Obama’s eight-tonne armoured behemoth of a limousine was flown out to Lisbon before the US leader’s arrival, and it ferried him from the airport tarmac to his first meetings of the weekend.

Doubtless he didn’t intend the Beast’s roar to drown out his hosts’ green message, but a US presidential motorcade and its attendant escort of Secret Service SUVs do attract attention, even at the most elite gatherings.

Click here to read the entire article

Related articles

• Obama’s gas-guzzling ride anything but green (capitolhillblue.com)
• Obama’s ‘Beast’ of a limo stands out at green NATO summit (alternet.org)
• At NATO summit, Obama’s ride is talk of the town – Christian Science Monitor (news.google.com)
• Obama is right (blogs.dailymail.com)
• Obama promises renewed NATO at summit (alternet.org)
• NATO summit of the decade opens in Lisbon (topinews.com)
• Obama In Lisbon: U.S. Looking Forward To NATO Alliance ‘For The 21st Century’ (huffingtonpost.com)
• WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: Bo and ‘the Beast’ (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: Bo and ‘the Beast’ (foxnews.com)
• Obama arrives in Portugal for NATO summit (foxnews.com)

Washington, DC’s first public curbside 240V Level II Coulomb ChargePoint station is now located at the Franklin D. Reeves Center, 2000 14th Street, in northwest DC. There are two spaces available for charging vehicles on the west side of 14th Street adjacent to the Reeves Center. The installation of the ChargePoint station was done by PEPCO and Coulomb distributor NovaCharge, LLC.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty today, along with the Department of Energy Undersecretary Cathy Zoi, District Department of Transportation Director Gabe Klein and other officials unveiled the first curbside electric car charging station in the District.

Image Courtesy: DDOT (via Flickr) - Click image to access more pics from the event

“This is yet another fantastic way the District is at the forefront of providing alternative and environmentally friendly transportation options for District residents and visitors,” said Mayor Fenty. “We are excited to make this technology available and easily accessible to everybody.”

Click here to read the full story.

Related articles

• First Public Curbside ChargePoint Charging Station for Electric Vehicles Unveiled in Washington D.C. (eon.businesswire.com)