Dutch Infrastructure Design Influences US Transportation Planners
Bikes Belong - People for Bikes
We have experienced plenty of tragedy this year in New Hampshire on our roads. In the 1970's tragedy in the Netherlands caused people to insist on safer infrastructure. We shouldn't need tragedy to compel us to make such improvements.
We have the intention of the Comprehensive Transportation Policy in Concord, NH which is providing incremental change and improvement for transportation cycling. This gives me hope but safe infrastructure could really use a transformation. More people can adopt active transportation if they feel safe doing so. Cycling as transportation is smart - the Dutch have figured this out. Could we?
The video below covers a lot of ground to demonstrates the possibility of cycling as transportation. Enjoy it and consider cycling as more than sport and recreation.
The man at the end of the film is not Concord's Matt Walsh, Director of Redevelopment, Downtown Services and Special Projects, but their voices are similar, I think. At first glance I thought they could be related. It is Bruno Maier, Vice President, Bikes Belong Foundation, now known as People For Bikes.
It would be inspiring to hear our city administration really embrace what Complete Streets is all about as the transportation planners in the following video do. Concord could really be a compelling place and we could springboard our legacy as a transportation hub that the Abbot-Downing Coaches and Boston-Maine Railroad provided in the 19th and 20th Century.
Instead of relying exclusively on AASHTO guidelines we need 21st century solutions such as provided by National Association of Transportation Officials (NACTO) infrastructure street guide and bicycle guide for our city.
From the Netherlands to America