Bikeable and Walkable, But Room to Improve

Seattle has been named one of the nation's safest p[laces to walk or bike. But some question whether that success will translate into any further improvements in bike and pedestrian infrastructure spending.

1 minute read

May 26, 2011, 6:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg


The city, and the state of Washington as a whole, have much room for improvement, according to this article.

"Still, it's a little soon to get too cocky. Washington State's biking infrastructure scored a big, fat "D"-meaning that the facilities people actually need to get around by bike in the state are sorely lacking. And the score doesn't take into account things like the percentage of people who actually choose to bike, so that a state like Maine, where just 0.3 percent of commuters get to work by bike, ranks just behind Washington, where twice as many commuters do so.

Moreover, 1.2 deaths per 100,000 is still nearly 400 deaths in the past decade-far more than we should consider acceptable collateral damage of living in an auto-oriented society."

Wednesday, May 25, 2011 in Publicola

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