Posted on 05/01/2010 6:41:43 AM PDT by IbJensen
(CNSNews.com) -- Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said roads should be designed “to take into account all the needs of the community” and foster “balanced transportation,” which, in turn, makes it more desirable for people to go about their business and “participate in community vitality.”
On Capitol Hill, CNSNews.com asked Rep. Blumenauer, who is a bicycle enthusiast, whether existing roads “should be revamped to kind of give more space to bicyclists that are trying to get from one place to another.”
Blumenauer said, “Road design needs to take into account all the needs of the community. I come from a place in Portland, Ore., where we have been adding bicycle lanes now for over 20 years. It’s a simple thing to do. It doesn’t cost much. It provides a sense identity and safety for people that are cycling. It’s a signal for motorists.”
The congressman further said, “We’ve been working very hard on the pedestrian connection. It isn’t something that’s necessarily safe or economically productive to just have wide, wide streets that are congested (and) that actually don’t promote people integrating into the neighborhoods.”
“We find that when you have well-designed streets and balanced transportation you can actually have more traffic,” said Blumenauer. “You don’t have the traffic-parking problems and you make it more desirable for everybody to walk, shop, and participate in community vitality.”
Rep. Blumenauer spoke with CNSNews.com at an Earth Day event (Apr. 22) at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
In a previous CNSNews.com report, the Oregon congressman explained his view of balanced transportation.
“Well, balance means that we take into account all of the multiple needs of the various transportation modes and of individuals,” Blumenauer told CNSNews.com. “This means transit, freight movement, the individual commuter who happens to be going in a single-occupant vehicle. It means bike and pedestrian. If you ignore the needs of one at the expense of another, what it ends up doing is taking away choices from people.”
“There are a number of people who, for instance, can’t afford to travel to work everyday by themselves in a single-occupant vehicle,” he said. “There are a number of people who can’t drive, who shouldn’t drive, or can’t afford to drive. It is, it’s also being able to distinguish between a variety of different people even who are, who use automobiles -- because some are long-distance commuters, some are trying to negotiate shorter trips by having transportation policies that connect streets so that they work better and give people choices.”
A transcript of the exchange between CNSNews.com and Rep. Blumenauer on Apr. 22 follows below:
CNSNews.com: “Do you think that perhaps roads should be revamped to kind of give more space to bicyclists that are trying to get from one place to another or is that -- ?”
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.): “Road design needs to take into account all the needs of the community. I come from a place in Portland, Ore., where we have been adding bicycle lanes now for over 20 years. It’s a simple thing to do. It doesn’t cost much. It provides a sense identity and safety for people that are cycling. It’s a signal to motorists. We’ve been working very hard on the pedestrian connection. It isn’t something that’s necessarily safe or economically productive to just have wide, wide streets that are congested (and) that actually don’t promote people integrating into the neighborhoods. We find that when you have well-designed streets and balanced transportation you can actually have more traffic. You don’t have the traffic-parking problems and you make it more desirable for everybody to walk, shop, and participate in community vitality.”
CNSNews.com: “So you definitely support bicycle, using a bicycle over motorized transportation?”
Rep. Blumenauer: “What I think is that everybody ought to have a choice. There are times when I drive a care at home. But I made a decision coming to Washington, D.C. that I would bring a bicycle instead of a car. For 14 years I’ve been able to do more than 90 percent of my personal transportation on one of my bikes here. I’m healthier, I’ve never been stuck in traffic. I never had to look for a parking space, and I think I’m better off for having made that decision.”
All your green communes can be built with interconnecting back yards to facilitate your preferred method of transport and recreation if you like. Look at the upside, when you're doing your neighbor you won't have your car spotted in the driveway by Google maps.
Blumenauer, do it with YOUR money!
they’re arrogant; they cut in front of you on the streets,
and then yell at you.
they run red lights with impunity.
Perhaps we could take up a collection and buy Rep. Earl Blumenauer a bright shiny new suciide clown car for his personal use.
I think flushing the crap out of Congress would do far more than rebuilding roads for idiots and ignorant people.
Blumenauer, is a typical progressive liberal; he wants everyone to adapt to his lifestyle.
Obama and his group think Zombies will be the death of this once great country.
Be Ever Vigilant!
Bike lanes: rarely has so much money been spent on something used by so few people.
“they’re arrogant; they cut in front of you on the streets,
and then yell at you. they run red lights with impunity.
nothing worse than a snotty holier-than-thou bicyclist.
After King Obama gets done with the oil companies and crap’n’tax, we’ll all be riding bicycles.
Yet another bicycle-riding “elitist”. Yea, today I’ll go get groceries on a bicycle. Grandma will ride her bike 30 miles to her doctor’s appointment tomorrow. Are these people mentally insufficient or what? Actually, he is a freak who can’t handle growing up and driving a car. Anyway...who pays for all those wasted bicycle lanes????? Car drivers with their gas tax. Get off MY roads you freak and onto the playground.
exactly!...and guess what?...people who have been forced to ride bicycles for years like the Chinese and Indians; are now buying cars as fast as they can...and who can blame them?
Then might I be so brash as to suggest ir be a community thing, planned as appropriate for the community in question, and funded by that community rather than at a Federal Level in some one-size fits all expenditure of money collected from all over where such innovations are impractical, impracticeable, or sheer folly.
Oops! Double post! Sorry!
No special accomodation for horseback riders and oxcarts?
Outrageous!
As you can see from my tag line I am a bicyclist and equally a conservative. I obey the traffic laws and am courteous to my fellow users of the road. I have had beer, bottles and other trash thrown at me just for being a bicyclist using THEIR ROAD. I have had numerous unpleasant horn honks, vehicle swerves, verbal threats and finger gestures as I have ridden legally and legitimately. I have seen stupid humans on BOTH SIDES of this issue and fault them equally for their stupidity.
That being said, may I point out some small but perhaps overlooked advantages of cycling lanes in general usage? If there is an accident, auto breakdown or other blockage on a road with cycling lanes, traffic is far more able to get through than otherwise. Additionally, roads with these bike lanes have better sight-lines and many fewer blind corners. Not every road needs or should have bike lanes but in suburban areas with large populations they can benefit.
I recognize that I am saddled with all of the bad behavior of my fellow cyclists but to my fellow FReepers posting here, do I have a right to sling the mud of your fellow bad drivers upon you?
The money being wasted on these things actually makes it more difficult for the vast majority to get around and “participate” in “community”.
By the way - pay attention to these people and the way they use the word “community”. Over time I have come to hate the word. The left seems to like it, maybe because it shares a root with their chosen political philosophy, and they banter it around a lot in a context that's not particularly inviting.
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