When one hears the word ‘suburb’, great tracts of land with single family homes in an isolated area, with a car dependent population springs to mind. While not all suburbs fit this description it is fair to say the ‘suburban’ image many of us have exists for a reason. Why do I mention this? While I am away from Eagle Rock for this school semester I have been living in the Bay Area. In Point Richmond there’s a new suburban development that is built around a large regional bike and pedestrian path The Bay Trail, contrary to suburbs many of us are familiar with.
In the video below I ride most of the Bay Trail portion through this suburban development. While there are improvements that could be made to the path in the video like: maintaining the path, provide the path priority at intersections (and not all the unnecessary stop signs), create better crossings (perhaps raised crossings). I feel like the concept of a shared bike/ped path through a suburban development raises interesting points to think about like– should we designed new developments to provide bicycle infrastructure? Should we reconfigure designs for sidewalks so that they can be shared between cyclists and pedestrians without conflict? If bicycle paths that resemble what is observed in the video were provided on city streets would conditions be safer for cyclists? (Obviously design at intersections determines how safe the cycle path will be).
Any thoughts on what is in the video? Any place in Eagle Rock or LA where you would like to see this? We know how to make the infrastructure to provide safe facilities for cyclists as is evident in the video, lets make more!
Nice video. Reminds me of bicycle paths in holland, a dedicated path between towns and all that green on the side. Of course, in the winter you could skate between towns on the ubiquitous moats. That was in 1954, I assume it is even better today.
If they had paths like that in SilverLake *flatlands*, I’d definitely be bicycling again. What SilverLake needs for it’s *hills* are ski-tow like funiculars. From sunset up michaeltorena to the top would be a perfect trial. It’s all downhill from there. Even pedestrians reluctant to walk uphill (or take the stairs!) could benefit from such funiculars and start using the public transportation on sunset.
Thanks Parabanger! that’s awesome you’ve been to Holland! the funicular idea would probably be successful, build community… or if funding is lacking we could import what they did in Norway.
Glad I’ve been able to keep you interested
Just a few comments about the suburban trail and its’ form and function in the community. There are a couple red flags regarding infrastructure. The first is the divider poles at every intersection which seem redundant since there is a striped marker on the path. What would happen if I hit a pole? The second point is the function of the trail. Does it continue towards a business district and do the residents use it to make errands and commute to school and work. Where I live in Minneapolis there is both suburban and urban infrastructure. We could stop building anytime; there is such a thing as overbuilding. The difference though between sunny California and Minnesota is riders use the infrastructure in Minnesota only six months and it takes a beating so there is more maintenance. I appreciated reading and seeing your post and will continue to come back.
domotion2011,
The path isn’t perfect, my biggest issue is that the roots from the trees are creating bumps which are unlikely to be fixed in a timely manner. And does this path go anywhere? Well the neighborhood it’s filmed in is very isolated, mostly surrounded by industrial activity, and ocean. If I were to continue filming I would have been slowed by the growing incline, after reaching the peak the path continues for a little bit before dumping you on disjointed bike infrastructure and eventually zero infrastructure in a location of no interest to daily activity– the industrial area.
If I had filmed the opposite direction, there would be a brief gap, then a park trail which could take you to downtown Point Richmond which is very dense, calm and arguably needs no bike infrastructure beyond bike parking. The park trail to get to the downtown is very nice but not as direct as the car’s path. Once in downtown there is elementary school, grocery shop, cafes, restaurants, bank, parks, churches, pub, and a few other places.
It is still a very car dependent community but the path is a nice concept. I’m glad I’ll hold your interest, I know I’ll be checking your blog too.