Designing and Funding a Bicycle Revolution in our Cities

The Los Angeles Department of Transport said “for the bike to catch on we need a revolution in our (bicycle) infrastructure”. This is true, but infrastructure – of any type – is expensive. Governments, contractors and financiers around the world are increasingly ‘cash strapped’. Not only do we need a revolution in the type of bicycle infrastructure we design and build but also in the way we fund and finance infrastructure projects.

A revolution in thinking about the way we design bicycle infrastructure

After being awarded the 2008 AITPM Janet Brash Memorial Scholarship, I was able to facilitate focus groups with those often underrepresented as cyclists; women, children and seniors. In addition to this, visiting 24 of the world’s ‘cycling cities’ allowed me to develop a revolutionary concept for bicycle infrastructure; ‘Cycling Super Highways’ – a network of 7.7 metre wide dedicated cycle paths completely separated from parked/moving vehicles which are wide enough, safe enough, and practical enough for everyone to use, regardless of age or ability (you can download the full study here).

[continue reading at This Big City]