[SDCBC] Bogota vs. San Diego

[Stephan Vance]

Some of those disconnected red lines on the San Diego bike map, like the
path between Saturn Blvd and Main St. in the South Bay, are useful because
they are making connections that otherwise would be difficult for
bicyclists, but Eric is right. Like our rail transit system, we have built
bike paths mostly where it is convenient, leaving some significant gaps and
not always bothering to make the connections to the destinations that would
make the paths useful. I think that's going to change over the next 5-10
years based on work now underway on routes like the San Diego River Bike
Path and the Bayshore Bikeway. Work is about to start on a regional bike
plan too. There also is growing political interest in a connected regional
network of bikeways. The task for advocates will be to use that interest to
also increase awareness of the need for better street design (see related
discussions about Fairmont/Montezuma and just about any street named Camino
del Something or Carmel Something), and for education and awareness
campaigns.

 

If you want to see those things happen, now would be a great time to step up
and help the Bicycle Coalition with your time or money. Electrons are cheap
folks. If you didn't see the video news clips from San Francisco that I
posted recently, I'll just repeat what the executive director of the Bay
Area's regional transportation agency had to say about why so much attention
is being paid to bicycling: "They [Bay Area bike advocates] organize, they
write letters, they show up to meetings, they make phone calls, and they
make a very persuasive case."

 

Want to do more? Contact the Bicycle Coalition at 858-487-6063 or
execdir at sdcbc.org.

 

Stephan Vance

  _____  

From: sdcbc-bounces at bikesandiego.org [mailto:sdcbc-bounces at bikesandiego.org]
On Behalf Of Eric Converse
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 1:53 AM
To: SDCBC
Subject: [SDCBC] Bogota vs. San Diego

 

I've been inspired.  These recent discussions on bicycle paths have led me
to create the following blog entry:

San Diego and Bogota Columbia (a bicyle path comparison):
www.ativsolutions.com/cblog

In short, you'll notice that Bogota (serving a much larger, and poorer,
population) does a couple of things we don't do here.  Their bicycle paths
are contiguous and are routed through major population centers.  While many
of our bicycle paths, while pretty (riding next to the water mainly),are
often fragmented with huge gaps between them.  What we need are long
continuous paths (much like our freeway system) that provide a backbone for
this city's bicycle transportation network.  Needless to say we won't always
be on a bicycle path no matter how good we make the system, but we can
provide a network that links the city together and serves vastly more
people.

Can't we do at least as good as a poor city in a third world country?

Eric



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