An awesome visual, courtesy of Mikael Colville-Andersen of Copenhagenize.com, that tells how our mobility models have changed over the years.. In a way it serves a testament to show how much the highway lobby has influenced our society’s transportation preferences, diminishing walking and bicycling over the generations.
A Short History of Traffic Engineering – Image Courtesy: Copenhagenize.com
(Source: Copenhagenize via Treehugger)
Image courtesy: Mikael Colville-Andersen via Copenhagenize.com
This one image says a thousand words, and many of them indicate how a society is thoughtful, accommodative, encouraging and appreciative of its citizens’ efforts to use alternative modes of transportation, even during the punishing winter weather conditions. Our beloved bike blogger, Mikael Colville-Andersen at Copenhagenize.com, writes about the snow-removal practices in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the focus is also given not only to travel lanes for cars and trucks but also for those bike lanes in the city. Copenhagen, as many of us know, has one of the highest number of bicycle commuters, who regularly use these bike lanes to get around the city. You may ask but why snow-removal for bike lanes is a priority in the winter? Here is what Mikael has to say on his blog about this:
The result? Clear channels on which the bicycle traffic can move. Prioritizing the bike lanes is, of course, a great and necessary way to encourage people to ride bicycles all through the year. On the other hand, it is also a practical necessity. If the bicycle lanes weren’t cleared, a whole lot of people on the day after a snowstorm wouldn’t ride.Tens of thousands. They would seek alternatives. Cars, perhaps, but mostly public transport. Imagine the complications of having tens of thousands of people suddenly show up at train stations and bus stops. A logistical nightmare. So keeping the bike lanes clear is an important factor in keeping Copenhagen moving.
Hope other cities, especially the ones in the US (DC/NYC) realize the importance of keeping the snow off the bike lanes. Click here to read Mikael’s blog post and a few more awesome pictures from his collection.
Awesome work by the Streetfilms crew (Clarence Eckerson).. No wonder people in Copenhagen look healthy and physically fit.. Such an infrastructure can single handedly challenge the American obesity epidemic that’s haunting many American cities (and of course, resulting in huge health care $$ savings).. At least, it is not too late to start now..
While Streetfilms was in Copenhagen for the Velo-City 2010 conference, of course we wanted to showcase its biking greatness. But we were also looking to take a different perspective then all the myriad other videos out there. Since there were an abundance of advocates, planners, and city transportation officials attending from the U.S. and Canada, we thought it’d be awesome to get their reactions to the city’s built environment and compare to bicycling conditions in their own cities.
If you’ve never seen footage of the Copenhagen people riding bikes during rush hour – get ready – it’s quite a site, as nearly 38% of all transportation trips in Copenhagen are done by bike. With plenty of safe, bicycle infrastructure (including hundreds of miles of physically separated cycletracks) its no wonder that you see all kinds of people on bikes everywhere. 55% of all riders are female, and you see kids as young as 3 or 4 riding with packs of adults.
Location:
National Capital Planning Commission
401 9th St NW, 5th Floor
Washington, DC 20004
Date: 9/30/2009 from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Hosted By: Coalition for Smarter Growth
RSVP by: September 30, 2009 at 3:00 pm
The cool factor of the bicycle has come a long way in the U.S., but nowhere is it as mainstream to bike in your suit and tie or your fashionable dress as it is in European cities like Copenhagen. Danish bike culture, often called “cycle chic”, is central to the Danes’ approach to sustainable living, and one of the key factors in their ability to remain energy independent. This supportive culture combines with supportive transportation infrastructure to make biking the mode of choice for nearly one-third of local trips in Denmark, compared to just 1% of local trips in the United States. What have the Danish done to make biking a national habit?
Join us for a lecture and discussion with Mikael Colville-Andersen with an introduction by Andy Clarke. A film-maker, speaker and writer, Mr. Colville-Andersen has actively branded Copenhagen as the leading bike city in the world. Check out his two blogs: www.copenhagencyclechic.com andwww.copenhagenize.com.
Speakers:
Mikael Colville-Andersen, Copenhagenize.com
Andy Clarke, Executive Director, League of American Bicyclists
Eric Gilliland, Executive Director, WABA
Cheryl Cort, Policy Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth
Event sponsors:
Coalition for Smarter Growth, WABA, and League of American Bicyclists
