By Miranda S. Spivack - Washington Post

The County Council, after weeks of intense debate over the county's growth policy, unanimously agreed to give developers discounts to build dense developments near transit stations as long as they also construct bike paths and walkways, put shops and other amenities nearby, and use environmentally friendly construction methods.

Most suburban growth plans -- including Montgomery's, until Tuesday -- discourage development in congested areas, including those near public transit, and encourage construction in more sparsely populated communities, on the theory that new developments should arise where traffic is still tolerable.

But Montgomery's new plan takes a different tack, one that smart-growth advocates say is long overdue. With the population nearing 1 million, the Washington suburb is substantially larger than the big city to its south but is still managing growth as if everyone can hop in a car and quickly get where they want to go.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/10/AR2009111009846.html

Bike Pittsburgh has compiled the following data for 60 of the major US cities. So I'll highlight Baltimore's ranking:

• 30 - Commuting by bicycle
• 10 - Commuting by walking
•  9 - Commuting by driving alone
•  8 - Commuting by mass transit
•  6 - No car available
• 28 - Females that commute by bike (indicator of bike friendliness)

To toggle between the different modes, click on the tabs at the bottom of the chart

Bicycle Commuting Trends by Gender

You can sort by Overall, male, and female using the tabs at the bottom

If you want to compare the past few years, you can find the data here:

• 2007 City Commuting trends
• 2006 City Commuting trends

Source: http://bike-pgh.org/2009/09/2008-city-commuting-trends-are-in-how-does-pittsburgh-stack-up-nationally/

"Look, we built the interstate system. That's done. Now we're trying other things so you don't have to get in a car every time you want to go somewhere."

The interview is at: http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/gettingaround/articles/living_in_a_post_car_world.html

Sustainability Weekend: 23-25 October 2009

The Roland Park Civic League will kick of its Sustainability Initiative with three-days of community activities. The event will be one of thousands of actions orchestrated globally by the virtual organization 350.org to raise awareness about climate change (www.350.org). It will involve surrounding communities and local schools and churches. This will be the first of three Sustainability Weekends slated through July 2010.

• On Friday, 23 October, local students will walk or bike to school. Adults will find alternative ways to get to work. That week, students will prepare artwork and presentations on various sustainability issues: biodiversity, energy conservation, recycling, eco-friendly design, climate change and other themes. Students will earn community service credits for their work.

• Saturday 24 October will be a sustainability “teach-in” and work day. Southbound Roland Avenue will be cordoned off from Deepdene Road to Indian Lane from 9AM until noon. Tables and booths will be set up in front of the Roland Park Library. The RPCL will have a table where citizens can make personal sustainability pledges and sign up for various sustainability-related activities. The Office of Sustainability, local vendors and other community organizations will have displays and materials on sustainability themes. Students will display their sustainability artwork and presentations. In the afternoon students will go door-to-door to drop sustainability leaflets and schedule homeowners for visits by the Baltimore Neighborhood Energy Challenge (BNEC) Program captains. The movie “Kilowatt Ours” will be shown continuously that afternoon in the RP Library.

• On Sunday, 25 October, Roland Park will host “Sunday Streets” (cyclovia). Southbound Roland Avenue will be blocked at Northern Parkway and Cold Spring Road. All westbound lateral streets will be barricaded. The street will be reserved for pedestrians, cyclists, skaters and skateboarders from 8AM until 1PM. Students and other volunteers will be trained and deployed as safety officers. People from nearby communities will be invited to walk or ride to Roland Avenue. If successful, a larger Sunday Streets event will be organized in March 2010, connecting Roland Park, Lake Montibello and Druid Hill Park (the “Lake to Lake” pilot route).

• For more information contact the Roland Park Civic League (Marni) 410-464-2525. To volunteer, contact Sustainability Initiative co-chairs Mike McQuestion (443-912-7655) or Rita Walters (443-610-3403).

The TRB report that was mandated under the 2005 Energy Policy Act . The report, press release, and a summary are available at http://www.trb.org/Publications/Public/Blurbs/162093.aspx.
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Finally, the report underestimates the data and real-world examples showing clearly that significant reductions in vehicle miles traveled result from better designed, more walkable communities with real transportation choices. More than 200 studies have been conducted in recent years on the connection between development patterns and vehicle miles traveled, and there are examples around the country of communities that have seen reductions in VMT, greenhouse gas emissions, and oil usage due to better community design. Here’s just a sampling:

• Portland has a 20 percent lower vehicle miles traveled per capita, due to its investment in walkable, compact neighborhoods and public transportation choices. At the same time, the city saves thee equivalent of $2.6 billion annually in gasoline and time because of these measures, according to a CEOs for Cities report.
• In Georgia, the Atlantic Station redevelopment project in Atlanta has 30 percent lower driving rates compared to surrounding developments.
• A Seattle study found that households located in the most interconnected areas of the city generated less than half the VMT of households located in the least-connected areas of the region, holding true after adjusting for household size, income, and vehicle ownership.
• A study in the Bay Area of California by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission found that for people who both live and work within a half-mile of a rail or ferry stop, 42 percent commute by transit. For those who neither work nor live near these transit stations, only 4 percent commute by transit.
• The Center for Neighborhood Technology has an analysis of the CO2 levels per acre and household for 55 regions. Looking at the CO2 per household figures for each of the regions clearly shows the dramatic difference between center cities and out-lying suburbs, due to increasing amounts of auto travel: http://htaindex.cnt.org
   

http://1000friends-ct.blogspot.com/2009/09/driving-and-built-environment.html

Recommendation 1: Policies that support more compact, mixed-use development and reinforce its ability to reduce VMT, energy use, and CO2 emissions should be encouraged.

By DEBORAH ZIFF - Wisconsin State Journal

Looking down East Washington Avenue from the Capitol Square on Sunday morning, one would have observed a rare sight — bicyclists riding fearlessly in the middle of the street, nary a car in view.

Part of the usually car-clogged thoroughfare was closed to motorized traffic Sunday because of the first-ever “Ride the Drive,” an event co-sponsored by the city of Madison and Trek Bicycle Corporation to promote alternatives to driving, like biking, skating or walking.

_{(ANDY MANIS -- for the State Journal)}

“It’s an extraordinary feeling to get on your bike and ride down the middle of East Washington,” said Steve Silverberg, 52, who was riding with his 6-year-old son, Jack. “All of a sudden, it’s freer. The room is there.”

The event consisted of a car-free, six-mile loop — mostly Downtown and along John Nolen Drive — with live music, food, parades and children’s activities along the way.

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, who was instrumental in creating the event, said this was part of an effort to make Madison one of the best biking cities in the U.S. The city has been recognized as a gold-certified Bike Friendly City, but is working toward platinum, the highest designation and one held by only three cities.

Cieslewicz, who rides an orange, Trek brand commuter road bike (sometimes even to work), said a number of cities have similar events.

Event organizers estimated that thousands of people took part in the event, which occurred, to their delight, on a day with near perfect weather. Temperatures hovered in the mid-60s and blue skies were dotted with feathery clouds.

There were some walkers and runners, but the course was crowded mostly with bicycles: road bikes and hybrid, recumbent and beach cruisers, tandems, triple-tandems, trick bikes, trail-a-bikes, and some draped with streamers.

_{(ANDY MANIS -- for the State Journal)}

One of the highlights was the roughly dozen members of the Wisconsin contingent of Wheelmen, or people who ride high wheels, 1880s and '90s style bikes where the front wheel rises four feet above ground while a smaller wheel trails behind.
At times, the event took on the feel of a giant block party.

_{(ANDY MANIS -- for the State Journal)}

“You know what this reminds me of?” asked Laurie Koch, 41, of Sun Prairie, who was riding with her two children. “It reminds me of going back to being a kid.”

_{(ANDY MANIS -- for the State Journal)}

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/463892

Eco-friendly town bans cars and residents live carbon neutral (they actually get money back from the electric company as the produce more electricity then what they use.)

When New York City opened up new pedestrian zones in the heart of Midtown this summer, naysayers predicted a traffic nightmare. Nearly two months later, we're still waiting for the much-feared Carmaggedon.

In this video, Streetfilms funder Mark Gorton takes us on a tour of Broadway's car-free squares and boulevard-style blocks, where conditions have improved dramatically for pedestrians, cyclists, and, yes, delivery truck drivers. As Mark says, the counterintuitive truth is that taking away space for cars can improve traffic while making the city safer and more enjoyable for everyone on foot. There are sound theories that help explain why this happens -- concepts like traffic shrinkage and Braess's paradox which are getting more and more attention thanks to projects like this one. While traffic statistics are still being collected by NYCDOT, there's already a convincing argument that Midtown streets are functioning better than before: To understand it, just take a walk down Broadway.

http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/on-herald-squares-transformation-and-disappearing-traffic/

We believe that Reducing car use by INCREASING walking, biking, carpooling, public transit, telecommuting, and flex scheduling are very smart choices.

Maryland is still using outdated concepts in its futile attempts to build its way out of congestion. Prime example is the $3.2 billion 18 mile Inter County Connector. There is little doubt it will encourage car use and sprawl. We’ve come to accept single occupancy vehicles as a given with few genuine efforts to change that behavior. Instead, we keep accommodating increasing numbers of vehicles rather then reducing the need to use them in the first place. That’s like doing multiple heart bypasses over and over again, instead of addressing the underlying reasons and preventative solutions to our collective heart disease. Walkers, bicyclists, telecommuters and mass transit riders are the ‘good cholesterol’ that prevent those clogged highway arteries, while motorized traffic is the fat and cholesterol that causes congestion, clots, and eventually gridlock (a heart attack).

One Less Car is confident we’ve found a solution, and like all nonprofits, our task and burden is in getting people to change their behaviors towards that solution. We believe most of us share the same values of less traffic congestion, safer roads, and therefore more livable communities.

Our task is to find ways for more people to drive less, or at least drive more safely, so that walking, biking, carpooling and public transit can flourish. We all win – Drivers and transit users get to their destinations faster and safer; walkers and bicyclists feel safer and enjoy their trips more. We all save gas, money, aggravation, the environment, and even our own health. Let’s look at Maryland’s current situation (from the 2000 US Census rounded off and updated to 2005) and One Less Car draft

• We’ll ‘grade’ the state, the public, and ourselves based on these goals.
• We still need to translate these percentages into number of car trips and lives saved, traffic delays avoided (time and money saved), pollution reduced as measurable outcome of our work…..Our State has tons of data but no real goals much less accountability in meeting them…YET! We recognize that single occupancy trips vary greatly by region (in urban areas it’s as low as 60% in rural areas 85%)and will make allowances for that.
• We believe that by increasing the percentages of trips by alternatives to motor vehicles (Many Less Cars One Less Car At A Time), we will experience benefits that include better health, cleaner air, less noise, less congestion, money saved and fewer road deaths and injuries.

Goal 1: Less Cars – 2% reduction in Maryland SOV trips by 2010
How - Increase the percentage of trips by other modes
Objective 1 - Increase car and van pooling by 2%
Objective 2 – Increase the percentage of bicycle trips by 1.3%
Objective 3 – Increase the percentage of those who walk/run to their destination by 1.2%
Objective 4 - Increase the percentage of transit trips by 2%
Objective 5 - Increase the percentage of telecommuters/Flex timers/Part-timers 2%

Goal 2: Safer Streets (in support of Goal #1, Less Cars)
What’s the number one complaint to police departments statewide? — Speeding cars
What’s the number one killer of kids and young adults (ages 3-33)? —Speeding cars
What’s being done about it? Not much –some cameras here, some bumps there, not much at all —Howeve PACE CAR has the potential to empower individuals and communities with rolling traffic calming.

Goals: Percentage (%) who currently

Footnotes

Percentage (%) of those who drove alone (including margin of error) SOV Trips