I've circulated the HB 1234 referendum petition here on the west side of Lake Herman a couple evenings this week. Three times, I've had little kids look out the door toward the driveway and wonder where my car was. When I pointed to my bike, they seemed mystified. I myself was mystified: how could kids find it so unusual that a bicycle might be not just a plaything, but a normal form of transportation?
Part of the problem is that for decades we have built our transportation system around the needs of automobiles. Here on tranquil Lake Herman, the paved roads have no distinguishable shoulder for pedestrians or cyclists. It's just assumed that any residents setting foot off their lawns will be using motorized and licensed (attention, conservatives: exclusive government control!) vehicles. In towns, residential areas are sequestered from schools and businesses. Schools are transplanted from central locations to the edge of town, and kids have to cross or follow high-traffic streets to get there. Bad urban design thus makes it difficult for kids and parents to safely integrate biking and walking into their daily routines.
Fortunately, the federal Safe Routes to School program is trying to change that. The South Dakota Department of Transportation just disbursed $930,000 in federal grants to make it easier for kids to walk and bike to school without having to become highway warriors. Brandon, Kyle, Groton, and six other South Dakota towns will get some of the following improvements:
Infrastructure projects include sign and crosswalk improvements, pedestrian countdown timers, driver feedback signs, pedestrian and bicycle connective paths, pedestrian bridges and bicycle racks.
Non-infrastructure projects include incentive programs, safety and health education, law enforcement assistance, safety campaigns, bicycle rodeo activities, bicycle physical education programs, in-street yield signs, walking school buses (a group of children walking to school with one or more adults) and bicycle trains [press release, State of South Dakota, 2012.05.30].
They'd better spend that money fast, because Congresswoman Kristi Noem and her Republican pals in Washington have been trying to kill Safe Routes to Schools and shift more money to car-oriented transportation projects... since obviously, you and I don't have enough opportunity to burn up oil.
I'm not expecting the government to lay a bike path to my door here at Lake Herman (although, if we have some extra money, I do have a plan...). But when little kids wonder why a person is riding a bike on a sunny summer evening, they clearly need more chances to get on their bikes. Safe Routes to School makes sense as kid-friendly safety policy, health policy, and energy policy. Keep it, fund it... and tell your kids to go for a bike ride today.
Check out what Tucson, one of the country's most bike friendly cities is up to.
http://www.ironwoodtreeexperience.org/greenlots-project/coronado-heights-kidscorridor/
Imagine kids having the opportunity to learn about their environment, while they are riding their bikes to and from school. It shows the connection between riding your bike and protecting the environment. It's a pretty powerful tool!
I really do get it- we needs cars in South Dakota, there are long distances that need to be covered. We also have roads that seem to need constant resurfacing. However when we are resurfacing roads in city's and towns, wouldn't if be prudent to add bike lanes, where possible, if for no other reason than for safety's sake. On a previous post on this blog about bicycling there was more than one reply that folks mentioned that they would not commute with their bikes because of safety. Yet go to any elementary or middle school in the state, during the fall and spring, and count the bikes. The adults may not want to take their chances out there on a bike but people are sending their kids out there everyday.
When I lived in SmallTownSD, I rode my bike around town and down the highway. I rarely, if ever, met another cyclist.
Mpls vies with Portland, Or, for most bike-friendly city. It really is wonderful to have bike paths, bike blvds, bike racks, bike trails connecting everywhere, etc. With all the bike traffic, cars get used to them, so it is no surprise when one encounters a bicycle on the street. It gets safer.
People will say, we don't need bike paths because no one rides around here. Duh. No one rides around here because there is no safe place to ride!! If you build it, they will come.