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++ Natural England's Marian Spain describes the massive £13bn Lower Thames Crossing plan as an “exciting opportunity to build in nature from the start … and leave the environment in a better state than we found it”… yes seriously!
Marian conveniently overlooks the fact that colossal motorway schemes sever habitats, increase noise & light pollution, feed toxic PM run-off into water, soil and air, and add to the roadkill tally of this already nature-depleted isle. New roads also induce new traffic demand, and increase car-dependent urban sprawl – but hey, somebody's making a killing no?
++ Meanwhile a failure to acknowledge the elephant in the room, has led to production of an ‘Ultrasound repeller’ – that “could keep hedgehogs off roads' in urban areas (as motor vehicles kill up to 1 in 3 of these much loved little beasties).
How about a high-pitched device that keeps car-users from rat-running, speeding, texting, idling, or simply making an inappropriate transport choice?
++ Thankfully there are people intent on tackle the issue; Helen Godwin, the Mayor of the West of England’s Transport Vision seeks to create an integrated network across the city region “by investing in buses, rail, mass public transport, active travel, streets and places – building existing foundation projects, before stepping up a gear to get the West moving.”
++ Further west Transport for Wales outlines its own vision for a joined-up network of trains, buses, walking, wheeling and cycling, and formally endorsed by the UK Government.
Half a billion pounds will see seven new stations built across Wales, with combined walking, wheeling and cycling facilities.
“Quietly and unobtrusively, Wales has become the transport example that much of the rest of Britain should follow.” says writer, podcaster and broadcaster Christian Wolmar, in this Better Transport blog.
++ Heading northwards we hear that “Glasgow is just like Amsterdam”; Cycling Scotland's latest traffic survey finds that people on bicycles outnumber car users at rush hour on the busy Victoria Road road; this success being part of a broader record-breaking picture as the nation's cycle-routes record their highest cycling modal shares yet.
++ It's over 50 years since the M8 was carved through the city of Glasgow, ripping up communities in its wake: but could a future without it be on the cards? The @ReplacetheM8 campaigners think so…
++ … Furthermore, CircleLineBelfast @CircleLineBT , is watching with interest as “Glasgow now debates the future of the M8 through the city centre. Belfast should be asking similar questions about the Westlink. Urban motorways carved through communities in the 60s/70s. Different era. Different priorities. Covering over sections of the Westlink could reconnect neighbourhoods, create green space & unlock development.”
++ Westwards again … while cyclo-phobics push “mandatory hi-vis for cyclists” in Ireland, new figures show bike trips are up 50% in two years in Dublin. Active travel journeys in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford resulted in 660,000 fewer daily car journeys!
++ Continuing westward, we are excited to see favourite US transport advocate Andy Boenau, in a newly created role as Richmond’s director of transportation!
Andy gets why so many US cities were designed to move cars as quickly as possible, but he is aiming for a city “built for people of all ages and abilities”.
++ Whilst the good people in office at Richmond in 2017 set the ambitious goal of ending road deaths and serious injuries, through Vision Zero, the Trump administration by contrast, made a bid to halt New York City’s first-in-the-nation congestion toll.
Thankfully though, this has been blocked in court by a federal judge in a 149-page ruling stating that the US DoT lacked the authority to unilaterally rescind approval of the $9 toll.
++ In complete contrast again to the Trump adminstration comes a 2023 video by Mohammad Nazarpoor, #PCCAMS student & @BYCS_org & Bicycle Mayor of Teheran:
“The bike is great! The bike makes us happy!”. Iranian women reclaim their capital’s car-dominated streets.
++ While susan abulhawa | سوزان ابو الهوى @susanabulhawa in a post of a cycling trip across Iran dares us to “peel away [- – – – -] propaganda and brainwashing, because what you will find in Iran is beauty, gentleness, and simple humanity—raw, kind, rooted, and unifying.”
++ In October 1973, the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) implemented an oil embargo against Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US.
The crisis was a key – but not sole – factor, in how Amsterdam became the bicycle capital of the world.
++ Who better to sum up the evolution of the Dutch appoach, but Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife:
“The best bike plan starts with a better car plan.
Dutch cities don’t just graft bike lanes onto busy streets.
They practice “ontvlechten”; structurally untangling cycling and driving by limiting car speed and access.
Fewer conflicts. Calmer streets. Networks that actually work.”
++ The last word this month is from the American civil rights leader, Susan B Anthony, who wrote in 1896:
“I think [the bicycle] has done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world.
I rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a bike.
It gives her a feeling of self-reliance and independence the moment she takes her seat; and away she goes, the picture of untrammelled womanhood.”
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