Why drive when you can bike? Biking offers a number of health benefits including increased physical activity and lessened environmental impact from automobile emissions. Having proper bike facilities, such as marked bike lanes and bike parking, encourage biking and is safer for all users of the road. Some communities are investing in bike sharing programs that are proven to save transportation dollars as well as offer an environmentally friendly, healthy transportation option. The best bike sharing programs offer competitive rates and are easily accessible. Others communities are looking into new types of bike lanes to expand their network. Bike lanes are the safest way for bikers to travel, on the road and in the same direction as traffic, the only exception being young children who belong on the sidewalk.
Biking in Hawaii
Image courtesy of http://www.justjared.com
Just as every city has a Master Plan for development, it is important to combine other plans including a parks and recreation plan, transportation plan, and non-motorized transportation plan. If a city has a plan in place it is easier to see which direction the city is headed, allowing for more funding opportunities to make projects a reality. As these types of plans will affect everyone in the community, public input is a valuable step in the process. Another specific type of plan the communities are beginning to include are bike plans.
The State of Hawaii enacted a Bike Plan in 2003. Citizen participation was key to development of the plan, by holding public input meetings, workshops, and surveys. Important stakeholders, such as bike groups, schools, and other community action groups, were invited to give specific input for the plan. The plan deals with issues such as bike facilities, public education on bicycling, construction of new bike lanes, bike maps, connectivity and more. A bike plan is a great way for a city to evaluate needs of bikers and make plans for the future. In cities where traffic congestion is an issue, offering an alternate safe biking routes may help to ease congestion.
If we spend more money building more roads the only outcome will be more traffic, so why not spend the money to create biking infrastructure which can reduce traffic and make all of our lives easier.
Plan for the Public 