"I Know Engineers...They Love to Change Things"

English: A diagram of a diverging diamond interchange, showing how the traffic flows. Apparently, the Dept. of Transportation in the state of Missouri had too much money this year and hired some kids to do the drawings. If people would simply pay attention to their driving, instead of treating their vehicle like a phone booth/restaurant, ridiculous designs like this wouldn't be part of today's roads Svenska: En bild på en divergernade diamantkorsning som visar hur tafiken rör sig. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For those too young to remember the quote from the title of this entry, it is from Star Trek: The Motion Picture and from Dr. McCoy and I thought it was perfect for this entry.

I came across the video below on the Portland Transport site and thought it was something that had to be shared. The Utah Department of Transportation installed one of these intersections at 2100 South Expressway and Bangerter Highway in West Valley.

The diagram on the right gives you the basics of what these types of intersections are supposed to do. I have to say the first time I approached the one on Bangerter Highway it was really confusing especially since it was dark and snowing at the time.

There was also several drivers almost taken out at the intersection by a semi that seemed to be even more confused that the average driver over how to drive this thing.

While the one in the video has "token" pedestrian and cycling access the Utah one does not but then again Bangerter and the 2100 South Expressway is not designed for pedestrians.



Besides this diverging diamond intersection, UDOT has also been busy turning traffic lanes on 5400 South into reversible lanes. In addition they also did a continuous flow intersection treatment at Redwood and 5400 South that I will discuss in the future.

Related articles

• Could These Crazy Intersections Make Us Safer?

Perils for Pedestrians Video

Since I was in Portland last month for Railvolution, I thought this Perils for Pedestrian video was appropriate since it covers the Portland area.

Portland Day 5

The day at railvolution started off with the Community Streetcar Coalition meeting. The big news coming out this meeting was that Utah will receive a $26 million tiger II grant for construction of the Sugarhouse Trolley. So not only will we have four TRAX lines and another commuter rail line opening by 2015, we should have our first modern streetcar in the next couple of years.

In addition $200 million in new start money will be freed up with the cancellation of the ARC tunnel project that would link New Jersey and New York. The tunnel has been very controversial with even rail advocates on opposing sides of the issues.

I went to several outstanding sessions including the Impacts of Streetcars on Neighborhoods and Development, Biketopia which had some great information on how biking can effect development, Partnerships and Streetcars plus Blogging for rail.

Finally the head of the American Public Transit Association gave a speech on the status of transit today.

Using Redevelopment and Bus Improvements in a Corridor

Image by Steven Vance via Flickr
One of the problems we face here in Utah is the lack of regional planning. While we do have the Wasatch Front Regional Council and MAG, they concentrate primarily on highways and the cities still do their own planning. Of course the likely hood of having an effect regional planning organization in Utah is nil considering the political bent of many in the region.

However, I decided to do a what if scenerio. What if we could take a bus route, look at all aspects of that bus route including land use and direct land use and transit planning to improve the route and the neighborhoods it travels through.

Here is the criteria I used to decide which route to focus on:

1. Had to be a frequent service route to provide enough service to be attractive to choice riders.

2. To create better dynamics, the route had to connect with as many other frequent service routes as possible (which eliminated routes such as 35 MAX/35).

3. The route had to have either vacant land or an area in decline in order to optimize the redevelopment opportunities to create transit friendly development.

I decided to focus on the 209 for these reasons:

1. Yes it is a frequent service line

2. The route not only has a large number of connects in downtown but it also connects with many frequent service lines along its route including TRAX, 21, 33, 39 and 45.

3. The area between 2100 South and 4500 south has areas that are in decline and and have opportunities for redevelopment into more pedestrian, transit, and bike friendly neighborhoods.

So lets start off with the basics and look at the route itself.

The route travels from downtown to the Fashion Place West TRAX station via South Temple, 900 East and Winchester.

As I have mentioned many times before, it makes more since to improve bus routes such as the 209 than to do Badly Repackaged Transit which is not just like rail except cheaper which it is not.

Signal Prioritization would be a good step to improve performance but like planning with each jurisdiction having control over their traffic lights, it makes doing it difficult. While the MTA in Los Angeles has been successful with signal prioritization in the city of LA, there is many small cities that Metro Rapid lines pass through that have not implemented them slowing the routes done.

Next up would be to consolidate bus stops that are located too close together and design the remaining bus stops to take advantage of low floor buses by making the curbs equal to the stop on the buses. This along with doing away with the fare free zone allowing buses to board from the front door in both directions will allow the bus to make the trip faster.

A longer term goal would be to change the south end of the line. Instead of traveling on Winchester, the buses should continue south along 900 East. The current portion along Winchester should be replaced by an extension of route 62 from the Fashion Place West TRAX station to the Cottonwood Corporate center and on to the park n' ride lot on Wasatch. This would be a long range goal that is not going happen in the near term.

The 209 should be split into two routes the 208 and the 209 with the 208 traveling 900 East/700 East to 8000 South to State Street to 7720 South and over to the Midvale Center TRAX station. The 209 would turn southeast along South Union and Creek Road like the old 44 then continue on to 3500 South and Bengal Blvd. The only issue would be the snobby NIMBY's along the eastern side of Creek Road would probably oppose having a bus in their neighborhood. Of course these ideas are years away as we have to build ridership on the existing system to make them economically feasible.

The last bus related improvement along the route would be to add bus stop shelters at major stops along the route. However, they need to be designed to fit into the neighborhood and not be the standard ugly glass and metal shelters many transit systems use.

The next step would be redevelopment of several areas along the route that will increase density in important spots which will also increase ridership not only for the 209 but the other frequent service lines that cross the 209.

First up is the intersection of 400 South and 900 East where the University Line TRAX station is located. All four corners of this intersection could be redeveloped with community stores and housing above. The housing could be tailored to the older students at the U or to downtown workers.

Next up would be the Sugarhouse area. Right now the corners at 2100 South are dominated by auto designed stores especially the new Kroger store on the southeast corner (yes I know it says Smith's, but Smith's largely exists in name only it is a Kroger store). There is plenty of possibilities to create a pedestrian, and bike friendly corridor from 2100 South down to I-80 where the new recreational trail will go through. This should be part of the Sugarhouse plan that includes the streetcar connections once it is built.

The intersections of 3300 South, 3900 South and 4500 South are also ripe for redevelopment that should include transit, pedestrian and bike friendly uses that include apartments, homes, and neighborhood retail. The neighborhoods between the intersections would largely remain untouched and still have better bus service.

The biggest obstacle in this part of the corridor would be the Kroger store at 4500 South and 900 East since Kroger has shown to be very anti-pedestrian friendly. They want to the store this way or the highway and are willing to blackmail with the threat of leaving the area to get their way. To top it all off, the center is owned by the Boyer Group which has not shown any friendliness to transit friendly designs.

By making improvements to the bus route and redeveloping under performing real estate you will not only create a better bus line, you will improving the community and building a better base for ridership on UTA lines. You will also create more vibrant community that will be a discouragement to the gangs that seem to be taking over that section of the community.

Observations from Paris from Jarret at Human Transit

Image by thorinside via Flickr

Jarrett from the Human Transit Blog has an interesting post about the city of Paris.

paris: the street is ours!

Jarrett points out many streets in Paris not only have dedicated bus lanes that can be used by bicycles but also have dedicated bike lanes.

However, while the lanes would be great would they last here in the United States in our auto dominated society? Chances all the answer is no.

Jarrett points out that many times the lane appears empty despite it carrying more people than the general purpose lane. However, auto drivers will see a lane that is not congested like their lane so their sense of entitlement will click in and say they should be entitled to use that lane because it is not being used enough.

We have see this here in Utah with the HOV lanes. Many drivers say they are entitled to use the HOV lanes and make every excuse in the book why they should. Eventually the lanes will be opened to other traffic during off peak before gradually being degraded during rush hour.

This is one of the fears with dedicated bus lanes for BRT such as those on 3500 South and what is planned in Orem/Provo. In Los Angeles the El Monte busway opened as a dedicated busway but now is open to car pools and is just as congested and sometimes more congested than the regular lanes. Because of the mistaken belief that the lanes were not carrying enough traffic now the lanes are actually carrying less because they are congested.

It would be wonderful to see this design on streets such as State and 200 South that would allow faster movement of buses and safer movement of bicycles. Yet, it will take a major change of attitude before it becomes workable here in the United States.

Lessons from Copenhagen on Bicycling.

Here is an article from Streetsblog San Francisco about the lessons that can be learned from a recent conference that was held in Copenhagen. In the city of Copenhagen 37% of the trips to work and school are made by bicycle.

Lessons from Copenhagen for Bicycling in the Bay Area

Pedestrian Friendly??

During the elections last year, Holladay City Councilperson Pat Pignanelli promoted that she had made walking and cycling easier in the area by getting a sidewalk put in near a park and also said that bicycle lanes were making it safer for kids to get to school on Spring Lane.

So is the area more pedestrian friendly now? Or is it more propaganda for a politician trying to get elected but is doing little make the community less pedestrian hostile?

I decided to take a walk with the area and take some pictures of the good, bad and very ugly when it comes to pedestrian friendly in the Holladay area.

We will actually start this journey in Murray at 900 East and the Van Winkle Superspeedway for bad drivers, I mean Van Winkle Expressway. This first photo is looking east across 900 East. As a pedestrian not only are you faced with trying to cross a wide street but you face doing it in a non-existent crosswalk and deal with drivers turning right who rarely look for pedestrians.

In addition the Beehive Academy is just to the left out of the picture so there is a large number of children who have to navigate this area.



Next we start our walk down Murray-Holladay Road which looks very attractive with a nice grassy area and trees between the pedestrian and the speeding vehicles. While the speed limit is 35 mph down the section of Murray-Holladay from Van Winkle to 1300 East, many drivers travel far beyond that speed.

As you can see we are approaching a problem in the sidewalk.


In front of an office building, there is a jog in the sidewalk. While this may be no problem for many people, for anyone who has a disability especially those that are in wheelchairs, this creates a hazard they have to navigate.


Getting closer to 1300 East we continue to have a barrier between the pedestrian the street although the sidewalk is narrow and so is the barrier. In addition you have several homes that have large walls put up that create another feeling of unfriendliness for the pedestrian.


As you can see from the next photo after you cross 1300 East the barrier disappears and you are right next to speeding traffic. As can be seen from the photo Murray Holladay can be a very busy road and this photo was taken during a quiet part of the day.


Now we enter the area where Pat Pignanelli proudly proclaimed that she put in a sidewalk so it is more pedestrian friendly. First you encounter this hill with speeding vehicles including trucks and buses to your left and this slope to your right. During winter it would easy to slip and fall down the hill and if you needed to make a quick move you would have no choice but to dive down the rocky slope.

As you get closer to a park, the road flattens out but then you have this wall that creates another barrier and despite the presence of the sidewalk, there is nothing between you and speeding cars and trucks. Of course when I took these photos it had to be one of the most quiet times I have ever seen on Murray-Holladay Road, but you can get an impression on how bad the situation could be with more traffic.


Once again you have another spot where the pedestrian is forced to alter course.

Here is another shot that shows that you may put in a sidewalk but it does not make it pedestrian friendly.

Now we turn off of Murray-Holladay Road and on to 1665 East that becomes Kings Row Driver.

At the corner of 1665 East and Murray Holladay sits a popular park. However, apparently not popular enough to put in a sidewalk.


Now as it becomes Kings Row, the road is more pedestrian friendly but don't let the speed bumps fool you. They are not there to make things better for pedestrians but to slow down people who would speed through the neighborhood at high speed because it goes all the way to 1300 East.


If fact here is the intersection of Kings Row and 1645 East. As you can see there is speed bumps but no crosswalks to make the area more pedestrian friendly.


Now here is a view looking down Fieldcrest Lane. While the sidewalks are a little too narrow, a pedestrian feels more at ease down this street since cars are going slower and there is real sidewalks and medians between the sidewalk and the automobile lanes. However, you only go a couple of blocks and all sidewalks disappear.


The next photo shows what happens when you are not careful when planting trees. If a developer is just trying to build n' burn they will quickly plant trees and move on. If the trees are not buried far enough in the ground the roots will spread out and damage the sidewalk making it unsafe for pedestrians and eventually the trees are cut down to stop the damage.

Further west on Kings Row there is more speed bumps but you also have the ball field for St. Vincent De Paul Catholic School. Here there is a cross walk with a speed bump. Hopefully this slows down the drivers so that the children are in less danger than they would other wise be.


However, just up the road at 1300 East you have an extremely dangerous intersection. Despite the school being right behind me in the photo, there is no crosswalks marked at this intersection. Many times I have seen people almost hit because people making left and right turns onto Kings Row from 1300 East will not look for pedestrians.

In addition Kings Row has a slight summit then comes down to 1300 East. People often get passed the last speed bump (show above) then speed toward 1300 East and will often go partially into the intersection before they stop.



Here is a car making a right turn onto Kings Row. While these people did, often times drivers will not look for pedestrians and will nearly hit people trying to cross the road.

Next down at 1300 East and Spring Lane we have another problem intersection. While this one has had a light for about 5 years now, people turning off of 1300 East have this wall to the right and will often not slow down to check for pedestrians are in the crosswalk or trying to cross. In addition right turning drivers have to worry about something rear ending them because people are too impatient to wait for a car to make the right turn onto Spring Lane.


Finally we have Spring Lane itself. Here we have another one of those "feel good" projects that do little to increase pedestrian (and in this case) bike safety. What was the parking lanes along Spring Lanes have been stripped as bicycle lanes.

However while not present in the photo, there is often cars parked in the lanes which requires bicycles to go into traffic. In addition there many parts of Spring Lane have no sidewalks so both pedestrians and bicycles are forced into traffic.


As can be seen from these photos, just because you put down some concrete for a sidewalk does not make an area pedestrian friendly. Our communities need to be more pedestrian and bicycle friendly in order to make them more livable. In addition it is hard to get people to try transit when they have to risk their lives just getting to the bus stop.

It is not the responsibility of the transit system to make it easier to get to the bus stop but the city or jurisdiction. They need to ensure that transit riders can get to the bus stop and ride. This will not only benefit transit but the city as well.

UTA Press Release-Bike Bonanza

Image via Wikipedia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Gerry Carpenter, 801-859-6095

Date: May 10, 2010 Press Release





UTA to Celebrate 15th Annual Bike Bonanza





May is Utah Bike Month and UTA is celebrating with its 15th Annual Bike Bonanza on Friday, May 14. The free event will run from 4 to 8 p.m. at Gallivan Plaza, 239 South Main St., Salt Lake City.



“Bike Bonanza is a great way to promote bikes as alternative transportation,” UTA General Manager Mike Allegra said. “UTA wants to encourage people to bike, carpool, or ride public transit instead of driving their own car. It saves money and helps to reduce our impact on the environment.”



Bike Bonanza is an annual opportunity for bicycling enthusiasts, commuters and casual riders to come together and learn more about the latest trends in biking. The event is free to attend and features entertainment, food and giveaways.



Entertainment includes:

A bicycle trials shows at 4 p.m., 4:50 p.m. and 5:40 p.m.
A cycle style fashion show at 6:30 p.m.
Prize raffle at 7:15 p.m.


Prizes and giveaways include:

Free helmets for the first 75 kids to attend
Two new bikes from Specialized
A cargo bike from Madsen Cycles
Bike gear and accessories
Free pizza, drinks, Clif Bars and Creamies


Bike Bonanza will also feature bike mechanics offering tune-ups and the event will offer free valet bike parking.



“This is the time of year to get the bike ready for summer,” Allegra said. “We hope you will join us for this year’s Bike Bonanza.”



Other Bike Month activities:



May 18 – Salt Lake City and County Mayors’ Bike to Work Day, 7:30 a.m. at Liberty Park, 700 East 900 South
May 18 – Provo City and UTA Bike to Work Day, 7:30 a.m. at Historic County Courthouse, west lawn
May 19 – Orem City and UTA Bike to Work Day, 7:30 a.m. at City Center Park, across from Orem City offices
May 21 – Ogden Mayor Bike to Work Day, 7:30 a.m. at A1 parking lot near the Social Science bldg at WSU
May 21 – National Bike to Work Day


For more information, go to www.rideuta.com.

Articles

Image by stevevance via Flickr

Here are some articles that have been published over the last couple of weeks.

A transit system named Desire

West Valley condemns land for light-rail access

Stakeholders Launch Master Plan for Seven Wasatch Front Canyons

UTA gets stimulus money for Mid-Jordan line

West Valley seeks to condemn land for TRAX

UTA issues, sells $306 million in bonds

UTA to host Bike Bonanza on Friday

UTA board approves sale of $306M in bonds

Salt Lake County opposes changes in paratransit rates, services

FrontRunner ridership sags with economy, fuel cost

Blog Entries of Note...

Image via Wikipedia

From Streetsblog San Francisco:

SF School District Encourages Students to Bike

School district officials are putting in new bicycle racks and plus giving students a brush up on bicycle safety.

San Francisco Should Take Cues from New York and Just Try It!

New York is turning a section of busy Broadway at Times Square into a pedestrian area.

From the California High Speed Rail Blog:

Grade Separations Done Right

In California the NIMBY's are coming out of the woodwork because of the High Speed Rail Project. One is picturing the elevated line looking like an ugly freeway through the area.

Tight Squeeze At Transbay Terminal?

Like so many projects, the new Transbay Terminal in San Francisco could be at capacity very quickly and may not have the provisions to expand.

From Transit Miami:

Action Alert: Miami-Dade’s Million Dollar Bicycle Infrastructure Push

Miami may get improved bicycling infrastructure.

From the Overhead Wire Blog:

Preserving Affordable Housing Near Transit

Looking at some ways to insure that there is affordable housing near transit.

Connecting the Dots

Issues with the Fremont to San Jose BART extension

From the Cap'n Transit Blog:

Feds relax restrictions for light rail

Maybe the Obama administration will bring some sanity back to the FRA.

Bicycle Center Open House

Image via Wikipedia

Sorry about the late notice on this one since it is tonight...

UTA & Partners Reaching Out To Bicycle Community

Open House the Next Step for Bringing Bicycle Transit Center to SLC

What: UTA is hosting an open house to discuss the Bicycle Transit Center Planning Project.

When: Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Where: Salt Lake City and County Building, 451 State Street, room 335

Who: Utah Transit Authority, Salt Lake City, Utah Department of Transportation, and the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee

Info: The open house will present preliminary recommendations and concept drawings for a future Bicycle Transit Center and seek input from the public.

The open house immediately follows the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting.

For more information, visit www.rideuta.com.

###

Perils for Pedestrian Video

I haven't posted one of these in a couple of months so here is one covering events happening in Maryland including pedestrian facilities on new bridges. There is also a section talking about the proposed Purple line in the Washington DC Area.

Perils for Pedestrian Video

Here is another perils for Pedestrian Video.

This video covers the complete streets legislation that has been blogged about over the last few months. The video also features the city of Davis, California which was the first to reach platinum level with the League of America Bicyclists.

More Articles...

Image via WikipediaUTA gets rainy-day fund for lean times

UTA needs to have reserves set aside for the bad times. There is going to be times when tax revenues fall and there is a need for the money.

Project to widen 114th South is set to begin next month

Bicycle transit center for commuters in works

Blog Entries of Note...

Image by Amber Rhea via FlickrFrom the Mobilizing the Region Blog:

Where the Sidewalk Continues…

In September 2006, NJ Gov. Jon Corzine launched a five-year, $74 million statewide pedestrian safety initiative that included money for several NJDOT pedestrian safety programs, traffic calming infrastructure, “traffic-stat” technology, and increased inter-agency coordination. Two years in, the results are visible around the state.

This is what we need in Utah, a program to improve pedestrian safety.

From the Xing Columbus Blog:

62 New Bike Racks Installed in Past Three Months

Columbus, Ohio has installed a large number of bike racks around their city recently. One of the problems many bicyclist face is the lack of facilities to park their bikes. The next time you are out see how often you see bike racks available.

From the Overhead Wire Blog comes:

Pushy SF1

Another great entry from the Overhead Wire about so called free market and new urbanism.

From Streetsblog LA:

Metro Making Room for Bikes on Their Trains

Metro in Los Angeles actually banned bicycles during rush hour periods but is now reversing itself and doing the same thing as UTA: removing seats from trains to give more room for bicycles.

Transportation for America Launches Legislative Campaign

Campaign to improve transit and rail infrastructure.

From the Steve Munro Blog:

Diesels, Not Hybrids, At Least For Now

Back when UTA implemented the fuel surcharge people scream why doesn't UTA buy more Hybrid buses (UTA currently has three in the fleet). In Toronto, they have decided to order more diesel buses because the batteries are only lasting a quarter of the time they were supposed to.

From the Orphan Road Blog:

Parking Ruins Everything

Some interesting information about a couple of different boroughs in New York.

Blog Entries of Note...

Image via WikipediaFrom the Bike Utah Valley Blog comes important information:

Mountainland Transportation Planning Meeting

It is important to get out and have your voices heard. The people with the extreme political bent are always out there trying to say they represent the majority so it is important that the average person is present to let the bureaucrats know what is truly needed.

From the California High Speed Rail Blog:

Quantifying Prop 1A's Economic Stimulus

California has proposition 1A on the ballot that would support construction of a high speed rail line from San Francisco to Southern California. The blog talks about a study that shows the benefits the system would bring.

From the Track Twenty-Nine Blog:

Transit 101

We are lucky here in Salt Lake that the University of Utah was progressive when it comes to transportation planning. Too many Universities are still living in the 50's and don't want their students to have easy access to transit. It would be interesting to see the correlation between who the universities get donations from and their anti-transit attitude.

From the Overhead Wire Comes:

San Francisco May Do Fees Right

San Fransisco is looking toward rewarding developers who locate near transit when it comes to impact fees.

Transportation Secretary Short List

While I am trying to stay out of the Presidential election, this posting shows the possible candidates for Transportation Secretary in each administration. Notice that the one side favors highway lobbyist. What do you really think their transportation priorities will be?

From Streetsblog Los Angeles:

“Best of Streetfilms:” San Francisco Giants’ Bike Valet Parking

Valet parking for bicycles?

Governor Signs Complete Streets Legislation

I mentioned this legislation before. Amazing the Governor in California actually signed this considering how he is steeling transit funding to support highways.

From the RT Rider (Sacramento) comes:

"Park District" funding for transit

John from the RT Rider looks toward some creative financing ideas for transit. As I have mentioned in the last couple of days the biggest problem we currently have is that our transit funding is tied to a very volatile form of taxation. John has one way we could deal with the situation.

From the N-Judah Chronicles out of San Francisco:

A Modest Proposal For Purchasing MUNI Passes and Tickets...

MUNI in San Francisco is looking toward putting ticket machines in select places throughout the city in order to make it easier to board trains and buses. The author has the idea that these type of machines should be used to sell passes also.

How about putting ticketing machines at busy bus stops around along the Wasatch Front and make it possible to sell monthly passes out of them? On top of that, how about creating a tourist pass like I used in Miami that gives multiple days of riding for a low price to encourage visitors to use transit.

From the Cap'n Transit Rides Again Blog:

Why we need the bailout plan - NOT!

The blog talks about comments from Senator Reid that we needed the bailout to sell more cars and be able to put people in debt for those cars.

From the Baltimore Innerspace Blog Comes:

Owings Mills

A wonderful posting on how to make a transit station work better. Just look at the development of the new hospital complex and how unfriendly it is toward the transit station that is right across the street. Instead of building a complex that would complement the station IHC built a complex in spite of the transit connection.

Articles from the last couple of days...

UTA Holds Public Meeting on Proposed Bike Center

UTA plans on building bike center

Economy delays FrontRunner

Once again shows that transit being dependent on a volatile tax leads to problems when the economy is in the toilet.

Report outlines growth challenges

Broadway in New York gets makeover...

For a look at what is happening in New York to help make things easier and more convinient for bicycles and pedestrians, take a look at this article from Streetsblog:

Eyes on the Street: A Walk Down Broadway Boulevard

Bicycle Parking in Portland

From Streetfilms comes this video about innovative bike parking in Portland. If you listen to the anti-transit types you would think that Portland is the worst place in world and that no one would want to live there considering how bad it is.

However, Portland is alive and people do want to live there. In fact that is part of the problem is so many want to live there that it creates higher housing cost due to demand.

Perils for Pedestrain video

Image via WikipediaHere is another Perils for Pedestrian Video.

First they talk to the head of the Rails To Trails Conservation. While the Rails to Trails sounded like a good idea at one point, the whole point of railbanking was to make the rights of way available to the railroads when they needed them. However, the organization and the trail users have fought every attempt to put rails back down even if a trail was also included. This includes the fight against the badly needed Purple line in Washington DC, the restoration of rail freight service on a line in Washington State, and the NIMBY attitude in Draper.

Another one of the interviews really caught my eye. It is a guy here in Salt Lake City that got rid of his car and uses his bike primarily and public transportation. Unlike many bicycle advocates that blame everything on the automobile (there is plenty of blame there) , this guy admits that bicyclist create problems by not obeying traffic laws. You also never hear this from the die hard bicycles advocates so it is a nice change.