Recent Streetsblog TEXAS posts about Bicycling

A Hit-and-Run Driver Killed 5 People on Bikes, So the Press Lectured Cyclists

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 9, 2016 | No Comments

The five victims of hit-and-run driver Charlie Pickett. Photos: Mlive.com A hit-and-run driver killed five people on a group bike ride in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Tuesday. Four others were seriously injured in the horrifying crash, caused when a driver hit their training group — known as “the Chain Gang” — from behind. Charlie Pickett, whose Facebook page is emblazoned with [...]

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It Just Got Easier for Cities to Design Walkable, Bikeable Streets

By Angie Schmitt | May 13, 2016 | No Comments

The federal government threw out 11 rules that prevented cities from building walkable streets. Photo: NJbikeped.org We probably haven’t seen the last of engineers who insist on designing local streets like surface highways. But at least now they can’t claim their hands are tied by federal regulations. Last week, the Federal Highway Administration struck 11 of the 13 design rules for “national [...]

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How Can Cities Move More People Without Wider Streets? Hint: Not With Cars

By Angie Schmitt | May 10, 2016 | No Comments

Here’s how many people a single traffic lane can carry “with normal operations,” according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials. How can cities make more efficient use of street space, so more people can get where they want to go? This graphic from the new NACTO Transit Street Design Guide provides a great visual answer. (Hat tip to Sandy Johnston for [...]

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Room to Breathe: The Feds Just Made It Easier to Fit Bike Lanes on Streets

By Michael Andersen | May 6, 2016 | No Comments

Photo: Adam Coppola. Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities build better bike lanes to create low-stress streets. A large car is less than seven feet wide. But thanks in part to an obscure federal rule, millions of miles of traffic lanes on local streets around the country are [...]

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Why Bike Lanes With Lots of Bike Traffic Can Still Appear “Empty”

By Angie Schmitt | Apr 1, 2016 | No Comments

Wherever there is a bike lane, there is probably an angry driver complaining that it is always empty. San Francisco’s Market Street bike counter. Photo: U.S. DOT That tends to be the case even when plenty of people do use the bike lane. And there are reasons for that, writes University of Minnesota professor David Levinson. Mathematical, geometrical reasons. Like [...]

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More Evidence That Helmet Laws Don’t Work

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 10, 2015 | No Comments

Living in an area with high cycling rates is linked to lower levels of hospitalization for bicyclists. There is no similar link for helmet laws. Graph: University of British Columbia If you want to increase cycling safety in your city, drop the helmet law and focus on getting more people– particularly women — on bikes, with [...]

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