(Another post for discussion as the Austin City Council races gear up. We will regularly mix in candidate posts on the front page if they engage our community like we've seen this last week. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
My vision of the future of Austin is one where there is more traffic on the sidewalks and less traffic on the streets. And on the streets, the traffic will comprise more bicycles and motorbikes and fewer cars and trucks. All of this will be tied together by rail and bus transit. In short, we will shape a transportation system based on shoeleather, bicycles, motorbikes, and public transit.
If the city is an organism, then it's transportation system is both the circulatory system and the skeleton.
Today we have an inefficient, costly, and unhealthy transit system. At many hours of the day, in many places, it grinds to a standstill as too many cars and trucks jam the streets and highways. Frustrated drivers sit idle, engines running, clocks ticking, with thoughts of jobs or families waiting for them. Around them a toxic cloud of exhaust forms, rolling across the surrounding cityscape and rising into the hazy sky. We can do better.
Focus transit on the human being
We can have an efficient, thrifty, and even pleasant transit system. The first step is to put the human being at the focus of transit. Walking is our natural and independent way to travel. And it's healthy.
People will walk if it's convenient, safe, and enjoyable. We must change our development patterns so that people can live, work, shop, and play all within a short walk. Where that is not possible, there must be convenient transit within a short walk. We must make walking safe and enjoyable by providing wide clear sidewalks (get the utility poles out!) and shade trees and a comfortable buffer against car traffic. Naturally, all this will be accessible to the disabled.
Bicycling is our most efficient form of wheeled travel. It's non-polluting and carbon-free. And it's good exercise. We can make Austin a genuine bicycle town by completing our network of bike lanes, building connecting bridges, and expanding bicycle parking facilities and requirements. In addition, we should speed up the maintenance of our streets to make them safer for bicyclists.
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