Other Cities are slowing traffic down and putting streets on "road diets", also putting in bike infrastructure.It is to our benefit that Fort Wayne has done some of this as well. This is a great article because it gets you all thinking about roads, the way that they are built and what the purpose is. Is the purpose to move cars and trucks as fast as possible? In many cases that is true. If you have a concern about your ability to bike on the streets then I suggest that you contact your councilperson and let them know what is important to you.
Traffic planners still putting speed above safety
By Daniel Shoer Roth
dshoer@elnuevoherald.com
In recent years, the priority of transportation planners and engineers who design South Florida's roads and freeways has been to move as much motorized traffic as rapidly as possible, be it on a major highway or on a street running through a city's downtown area, even on residential neighborhoods. That explains why in every corner of Miami Dade County, roads are under repair or expansion -- and crushing everyone's patience. It's yet another way of keeping us hostages to our cars.
But a heated brawl between state transportation officials and residents on Brickell Avenue, the spine of Miami's densest pedestrian district, could serve as a sketch for urban planners to stop the thoughtless acceleration of road development.
The residents' wish is not to make Brickell a strictly pedestrian boulevard, since traffic is essential to move and promote economic development. Their goal is to have the road integrate elements for everyone traveling along it, considering the needs not only of motor vehicles, but also of pedestrians, disabled people, cyclists and transit passengers, as has been done in other big cities where planning policies are sensitive to the community.
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