 | What is your environmental footprint? | The Oil Drum: Local | Bogota Part 2: Transmilenio Bus Rapid Transit |  |
User login
Personnel
Classic posts
Archives
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
PONYC Archives
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
GAIA Host Collective
Last week I attended a meeting that the county had set up - they are in the process of developing a county-wide map of bikable roads, and they were looking for input from cyclists from all over the county about routes and paths that they might not know about - thus we were marking up some large maps with all of the ways that we have for getting around.
I was chatting with one of the county guys who said that there was a brief time last year where asphalt became more expensive than concrete, which surprised me. Typically concrete is more expensive, but is regarded as being more durable.
Awesome; good for you. Out of curiosity, where?
Fairfax County, VA. The county now has a full-time bicycle programs coordinator, and this map is one of his initiatives. That isn't to say that things are perfect here, but the map is partly so we can see where things are today, as this makes it easier to figure out what areas need more attention.
Arlington County is really far ahead of us - anyone who has biked here can say that. At the meeting they noted that in Arlington County, there are roads that were 4 lanes with parking on the side, and they were reducing them to 2 lanes with parking and bike lanes. Mainly as a traffic calming measure - the local residents were strongly in favor as they were tired of people speeding through the neighborhoods, and the traffic patterns were such that 4 lanes weren't really needed. Fairfax County is working on doing the same thing to similar areas.
They are also looking at other roads that are wide enough that they can simply be re-striped to accommodate bike lanes. The advantage of doing this is that it is quite inexpensive, the disadvantage is that it doesn't work everywhere. Some of these things need to wait until the roads are resurfaced.
The other thing that is interesting is that the general public needs to be behind these ideas. The outer portions of the county are still very exurb like, and many of these folks don't view bike lanes the same way we do. The areas that are closer in and adjacent to Arlington and Alexandria are the areas where bike lanes are going to be more popular.
There was one HOA that fought tooth-and-nail to prevent bike lanes on a nearby road (which makes no sense as they had bike trails also going behind their neighborhood). No idea what that was about. There as a fight some years back in Vienna VA where opponents were fearful of their neighborhoods being overrun by "perverts in spandex".
>I was chatting with one of the county guys who said that there was a brief time last year where asphalt became more expensive than concrete<
In Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty I briefly discuss how recent spikes in asphalt prices are just one example of the many unexpected price increases we're already facing as we approach peak oil (or, as some prefer, "coast through currently undulating plateau of world oil production").
Those price spikes make for an interesting case study IMO because the effects they had on local street repair and construction activities --and the repercussions for local economies-- hold some lessons for how we might respond to peak oil in general.
The discussion in the book (p 25-26) is available as an excerpt at:
http://postcarboncities.net/pcc-excerpts
Daniel Lerch