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News clippings related to transit, mobility and quality of life
MoveNews #84 for the week of January 17, 2010
Regional
Grant to fill gap in bike path
San Diego Union Tribune, January 14, 2010
With a $130,000 design grant in hand, National City officials hope construction to fill a 2,400-foot-long gap in a bike path along Plaza Bonita Road isn't far behind.
Roundabouts part of N. Coast Highway 101 plan
San Diego Union Tribune, January 15, 2010
Encinitas leaders this week approved a plan that includes five future roundabouts and the elimination of one northbound lane to help slow traffic on North Coast Highway 101. ... The project area encompasses a two-mile stretch of North Coast Highway 101 in Leucadia. The highway is now two lanes in each direction, from A Street to La Costa Avenue. ...The alternative to the roundabouts was more signal lights. ...
The plan includes reverse-angle parking, drainage improvements, crosswalks, sidewalks, curbs, landscaping, public art, tree preservation and tree plantings. ... Officials plan to seek federal and state grants and install the improvements in phases.
San Diego Union Tribune, January 15, 2010
National
Exhaust from cars and trucks exacerbates asthma n children and may cause new cases as well as other respiratory illnesses and heart problems resulting in deaths, an independent institute that focuses on vehicle-related air pollution has concluded. A relationship was found between pollution from vehicles and impaired lung function and accelerated hardening of the arteries.
International
In a world increasing concerned with reducing global warming, people and nations are embracing trains as an alternative to cars and planes because of their reduced carbon footprint. However, cost and time remain critical factors for travelers.
Background
Every so often, I read a blog post or an article talking about the trade-off between "mobility" and making places more accessible to nonmotorists. The hidden assumption behind such statements is that "mobility" means cars going as fast as possible. So if every street is an eight-lane highway with cars going 70 miles per hour, overall social "mobility" is therefore high.
The use of the word "mobility" to describe fast traffic slants public dialogue in favor of such traffic: after all, who could be against people being mobile?
But we need not define mobility this way. According to one online dictionary I found, "mobility" means (among other things) "the movement of people in a population, as from place to place."*
In a sprawling city where most streets are designed for fast traffic, the mobility of some people (fast drivers) is undoubtedly very high. But the mobility of others is not. In such places, streets are dangerous and uncomfortable for pedestrians- which means that in fact, nondrivers cannot easily move from place to place and are thus not so mobile after all. And even the mobility of drivers is limited: they can be mobile as long as they are driving, but if they choose not to drive for some reason, their mobility disappears.
Thus, government construction of wide, automobile-oriented streets does not create mobility for all. Instead, automobile-dependent places actually eliminate mobility for nondrivers. It logically follows that mobility for all is highest in places that accommodate pedestrians, transit users, and bicyclists as well as drivers- in other words, that accessibility is mobility.
Fast Facts
BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) vehicles do not require overhead wires, eliminating one potential element of visual pollution.
Source: Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida
MoveNews #84 was edited by Carolyn Chase and published by Move San Diego, Inc. as a service to our members. You may subscribe, unsubscribe, or send article suggestions by sending an email request to: info@movesandiego.org
NOTE: if there is no link provided to an item, then there is no additional content on that item. All links were current as of the date of publication.
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