Bike lanes to boost business in Mission Hills, San Diego!

I haven't posted on Walk the Wash in forever because now that the project is funded and underway, we are all waiting to see what the fabulous team at SANDAG has come up with!  We are eagerly anticipating the design solutions in the coming weeks.  As soon as we have pics, we'll post them.

In the meantime, our friend Jean sent us this great post from Treehuger on how bike lanes boost business.

Bike lanes increase business and decrease injuries to everyone using the streets.

You can read the article on how bikes boost business, but suffice it to say, that a NY study showed a whopping 49% increase in retail sales! When you consider that our city council just made the permits for outdoor sidewalk seating a lot easier and cheaper, this will really increase sales for everyone on Washington and the surrounding areas!

I wonder what would happen to businesses along India street if there was a bike lane there too?  

Surface streets like Washington are not freeway onramps.

The City Council voted Tuesday to improve bike routes all over the city.  Thanks to our Councilman, Todd Gloria, for supporting this important mode of transportation!  

This resolution will make biking safer which means more people will use bikes instead of cars.  

"With our progress on sharrows, bike corrals, bike sharing and ciclovias, we are working hard to make our city more bike-friendly."  - Todd Gloria, via facebook.

A good article on KPBS is here, and Fox has a good video summary, with a blog link.

Project Update

Members of the community give input on the Uptown Regional Bike Corridor Project.

Beth at SANDAG has uploaded a project schedule with a good summary of our portion of the regional bike project for Uptown. The next meeting is Feb 6, and it will cover design ideas and review existing conditions.

Last year we blogged about some design ideas when we toured Washington street with some of the trustees from the Mission Hills Town Council.  

In SANDAG's first meeting, staff did a great job of explaining how communities would like to bike more, but the vast majority feel unsafe on the roads.  In fact, surveys show that 60% of people are interested in riding, but are concerned and so they don't. Of course this means communities continue to have more cars on the roads, more traffic, more parking issues, worse air quality, less exercise for folks that want it, more wear and tear on infrastructure, etc. etc....  Only 1% of people have no fear when it comes to sharing the road with cars.  SANDAG showed an excellent powerpoint with the great information on bike lane designs, and explained how roads are for everyone, not just cars.

They finished the meeting by asking what are the opportunities for our community as we build out this enhancement?  And, what types of facilities be implemented in certain areas?  Check out the powerpoint for ideas, and tell us what you'd like to see in Mission Hills.

The danger of cycling next to parked cars

This is a great video that shows the danger of cycling next to parked cars, or what's known as the "door zone."




The safest lane to travel in is the bike lane, and reduces injuries by 90%.  You can read a good summary post and link to a new study here.

According to the study, the most dangerous roads are "wide streets with parked cars and no bike infrastructure".  Hey, that sounds like Washington Street!

Studies have shown....

Sandag should invest even more in bike lanes!

I-5 at Midtown.  Photo courtesy of Great Streets San Diego.  http://sdgreatstreets.org/page/3/

Great article yesterday on the judge's ruling against Sandag's regional transportation plan.  Why?  Because it really asks Sandag to re-address transportation in a more holistic sense.  We simply can't keep widening freeways as a means to addressing transport.  Widening a highway works temporarily to accommodate our cars, but within a few years as more cars use the road, we are back to square one and we've wasted money on infrastructure that isn't meeting our needs. Again.

If I worked for Sandag, I would look at all public transport options and simply increase them: more routes, increased schedules, more connectivity.  I would also add more bike lanes, and find ways to connect all public transport with biking.  If we really want to be a city of connected villages, we must integrate our public transport options into how we get around.  With Sandag's regional bike upgrade plan, they are doing a good job, but we could do even better by having more lanes, better lanes, and really promoting biking as a means of transport.

I would also reduce the daily fee to use our current public transport.  It used to be $5.00 to use any public transport for the entire day.  And this is a great option for tourists, or someone who doesn't get out much, but a friend was telling me it's now increased to $7.00.  The website still says $5.00 however.  Either way, I think this all day pass would see more traction if it was only $2-3.00.

If we have billions of dollars to widen freeways, we have billions of dollars to increase public transport, and get people out of their cars, which improves air quality, improves community, improves our health by exercising, and all which ultimately improves our lives.  San Diego simply can't lose by investing in more and better public transport.

Remember to walk San Diego and rate our streets by 10/25!

We got the following reminder to rate the streets of San Diego, especially in Uptown, where people like to walk and bike!

Hello Walk Scorecard Volunteers!  

Our deadline is approaching.  Please forward this to your friends, neighbors, and colleagues.

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Can you spare 30 minutes this weekend? WalkSanDiego is creating a walkability scorecard for every city in San Diego County. There are thousands of streets to be rated, and WE NEED YOUR HELP TO DO IT BY OCTOBER 25! But we have a very cool tool for you to use.

BestWALK is the only phone app of its kind! We developed it to help you rate how walkable your local streets are. The app is free, it works on iPhone and Android, it's available in Spanish or English, and it’s easy & fun to use. The ratings you provide will help us rank all cities in San Diego County. But we need the data by October 25 for this year's ratings.

We’re asking all our friends and supporters to download the app and rate at least 5 streets this weekend (10 if you're up for the challenge!). It will only take you five or six minutes per street. So give us 30 minutes this weekend and we'll rate your town. How will your city stack up against others? Stay tuned to find out!

For iPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bestwalk/id556722623?mt=8

For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bestwalk&hl=en

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PASS IT ON!

Robert D. Felix |  Volunteer Outreach Coordinator |  WalkSanDiego |  740 13th Street, Suite 502  |  San Diego, CA 92101

www.walksandiego.org 

Promoting Walkable Communities

Volunteer! www.walksandiego.org/get-involved/volunteer