The new Urban Velo is out and it has one of the best covers I have ever seen. On top of that it also features the "State of the Union for Biking and Walking" which is a pretty damn interesting piece.
"Historically, tracking and analyzing transportation-related statistics has been extremely auto-centric. For example, one of the metrics by which “progress”—that is, the free-flowing movement of traffic (motor vehicles)— is measured has been defined in terms of “level of service” or “LOS.” LOS is one of the key measurements used by local, state, and federal agencies to determine and prioritize new and retrofit transportation projects, and largely precludes bicycling and walking. There is in fact a “bicycle level of service,” or “BLOS,” that attempts to describe the subjective safety and comfort that a bicyclist may feel on a particular road, but it is almost never used as an indicator or funding mechanism for new or improved facilities. While this is just one small facet of how the current transportation system and associated funding strategies work, it is a great example of how bicyclists and pedestrians have been ignored with respect to the system as a whole."
Wisconsin made it in the upper half of the country ranking #17, just edging out our friendly(albeit backwards) neighbors to the west Minnesota who ranked #18. Milwaukee also made it on the list as the 16th best city in the country for biking.
It's definitely worth a look and you can read the whole issue for free online here!
There is also some pretty interesting info up right now about the crackdown on San Franciscos Critical Mass as well as this gem...
GOOGLE MAPS NOW HAS A BIKE OPTION!
Whenever looking for directions you can now select pedestrian, bicycle, or public transportation as options. This is pretty damn cool for people who don't know how to get around without a car. Granted it is probably not the most accurate, but it's a start. NOTE: I just played around with this a little bit dunning routes from my house to the UWEC campus and it is pretty flawed in some of it's time estimates, but it is still pretty fun.
The big question however is what effect will this have on alleycats...
This entire post is courtesy of Urban Velo and Andy
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