A Car Street Undesired

While in Copenhagen for climate talks in December, U.S. officials got a taste of Danish-style bicycle planning. Some of them liked what they saw, but translating that infrastructure here in the States is no easy task.

1 minute read

January 20, 2010, 6:00 AM PST

By Nate Berg


This post from Miller-McCune looks at the prospects and challenges of recasting American street infrastructure as a multi-modal platform.

"'Unfortunately, the existing built environment isn't helping us,' California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols said, 'and it makes it much more difficult and expensive to meet those goals.'

This isn't just a matter of engineering lithium-ion electric car batteries, but re-engineering whole communities. If you live in certain urban areas, you may have seen a prototype: the trendy mixed-use development arisen out of an abandoned industrial complex complete with condos, restaurants and metro access

Advocates of "transit-oriented development" stress, though, that they're not just talking about Starbucks on the ground floor and yuppies up above."

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 in Miller-McCune

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