An Amusement & Diversion for The Genteel Cyclist. Daily.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Civil engineers do the funniest things! Colorado edition


In this morning's USA Today, we notice an interesting spin on the bike-lanes controversy. (What controversy? Some folks suggest that creating separate but equal space for bikes is like Jim Crow, and gives the car-driving public the impression that bikes are not legal on any other road surface.)

Anyway, there is a legislative movement afoot, with a name so clever that Karl Rove might have dreamed it up, if Karl Rove were a liberal angel instead of a conservative devil: It's called "Complete Streets," and its a blueprint to create city streets that are more accomodating to those of us who aren't in motorcars.


When Colorado Springs decided to make streets friendly to users other than cars, county officials howled. They threatened to withhold $3 million in transportation money if the city narrowed a street in front of county office buildings to add sidewalks and bike lanes.

The city went ahead and redesigned Tejon Street's traffic pattern under its "complete streets" program. It's part of a national trend that has dozens of state and local governments considering the needs of pedestrians, bike riders, seniors, the disabled and mass transit when they plan new roads or reconfigure existing ones.



The funny thing about this is that Tejon Street was originally built with two tracks of streetcars down the middle -- it's one of Colorado Spring's central North-South residential arteries -- so it was double-wide and multiple use to begin with, but of course paved over sometime in the 50s.

Ah yes, carbon monoxide from the tailpipe of a single-occupant automobile can be a powerful poison, and result in complete historical amnesia.

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