Bike lanes and parking


Since what happens on the streets every day is very much a part of a city's public face, I'm posting some comments on the current controversy over bike lines and parking in Appleton.

Bicycling benefits everyone. Every bicycle trip directly gives the rider health benefits from the exercise and economic benefits from not having to spend money on gas or parking. Drivers benefit because every bicycle trip means one less car on the road to cause traffic jams (a reduction in car traffic of only a few percent can make the difference between freely flowing traffic and gridlock) and to compete for road space and parking. The whole community benefits because every trip made by bicycle means one less car trip to cause air and noise pollution, get into accidents, and increase the demand for, and therefore the price of, gas. Accordingly, it's in everyone's interest for cities to support and encourage the use of bicycles whenever it's practical and reasonable to use them. That leaves a lot of room for improvement.

Some people object that bike lanes are of limited value in Appleton because of our weather.    But  the average high temperature in Appleton from the beginning of May through the first week in October is at least 60. People who don't mind bicycling when it's a little cooler can do it in average high temperatures of at least 50 from the beginning of April until the end of October.

Even granting that there will be some days in those months when rain or wind make bicycling impractical, that still leaves a sizable number of days in the year when many people will not find weather an obstacle to bicycling.

Yes, our weather can be harsh, but that's too often used as an excuse not to support innovative and progressive city planning. To put this in context, consider the following statistics, quoted from the book Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America by city planner Jeff Speck:

A) What North American city has the most linear feet of successfulretail-fronted sidewalks?

B) What developed country has the highest share of urban trips going to walking instead of driving?

C) How many months out of the year do sidewalk cafes stay open in Copenhagen?

Answers: A - Toronto; B - Sweden; C - 12.

Finally, a major issue in this controversy is the proposed removal of on street parking to accommodate bike lanes.  One strategy to address this issue that no one seems to have tried is to accept the removal of parking, but ask that residents who have to give up this convenience be compensated for it.  

One way to do this would be to implement traffic-calming measures on such streets to greatly reduce the amount and speed of motorized traffic. This would give residents a quieter and safer street, which would also mean increased property values, in return for no longer having on street parking.

Since it would also make the bicycle lanes safer for bicyclists, these are measures that could find cooperative support from both residents and bicyclists.

Appleton: Downtown Parking



Cars, whether driven are parked, are a ubiquitous feature of our public faces.  This image is meant to remind us just how ubiquitous.


The photo is one I've edited to block out in black areas of the Downtown Appleton area devoted to ramp or street parking.  It comes from applying to the Google Earth image information from the Appleton Downtown Inc. downtown parking map, from my own observation walking around, and from visual inspection of the image to see where cars are parked on the street.

It probably isn't 100% accurate, but I think it is nearly so.  In particular, I don't think I've included all the on street parking.  I'll be glad to include corrections in a revised version.

The purpose of the image is just to point out how much real estate is devoted to the temporary storage of personal automobiles -- a fact which is a sort of "elephant in the room." something screamingly obvious which no one ever wants to mention.

You can see a larger version by clicking on the image as it appears at:  in Google+: