Alexandria Flooding - Is there a Plan?

[Anonymous]

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Not wetlands, not some overgrown stream, not an infill housing site that won’t appreciable add to runoff in the area (and is the city’s responsibility and interest anyway). And certainly not the other stupid priorities of the city, from a bike lane no one uses (and I’m an avid cyclist), to hitting a useless racial equality officer.

People who describe themselves as "avid cyclists" generally do oppose bike infrastructure. It's a weird phenomenon.

DP

I ride daily and I’m 100% opposed to bike lanes.

Seconded. Or third. Most urban planning or transportation BS would be solved if people actually used what they preech. You don’t use a particular bike lane? Why is that? Oh you don’t ride at all. Then why are we catering to you? You just said you won’t use it either way.

I don't drive on most streets, so why did we build them?

I do agree that if engineers had to actually bike on the unconnected, unsafe "bike lanes" they build, they would stop building them that way. People who aren't John Forester will use bike lanes that are safe and comfortable; people won't use bike lanes that are dangerous and don't connect anywhere.

Because essential goods are carried by vehicle, not bike. Same with essential services. When was the last time you saw firemen arrive on scene on 10 speeds?

It's possible to carry both goods and services by bike. Also, there's no reason we can't have good bike infrastructure and infrastructure for fire trucks. What mostly interferes with fire trucks arriving on the scene of a fire is: cars. I don't know why you're turning this thread into a hate-on-bike-infrastructure thread.

NP. Totally true. Just yesterday I had a guy on a bike deliver my new dishwasher. My MIL had a piano dropped off last Tuesday and my coworker had 15 sheets of drywall delivered by skateboard last week!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

NP. Totally true. Just yesterday I had a guy on a bike deliver my new dishwasher. My MIL had a piano dropped off last Tuesday and my coworker had 15 sheets of drywall delivered by skateboard last week!

These things actually happen by bike, in some places. The Internet is full of pictures of it that you can google.

But even if they didn't, what would be your point? That we can't have good bike infrastructure because sometimes people have to deliver pianos by truck?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NP. Totally true. Just yesterday I had a guy on a bike deliver my new dishwasher. My MIL had a piano dropped off last Tuesday and my coworker had 15 sheets of drywall delivered by skateboard last week!

These things actually happen by bike, in some places. The Internet is full of pictures of it that you can google.

But even if they didn't, what would be your point? That we can't have good bike infrastructure because sometimes people have to deliver pianos by truck?

"Some places" are basically India and Bangladesh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Not wetlands, not some overgrown stream, not an infill housing site that won’t appreciable add to runoff in the area (and is the city’s responsibility and interest anyway). And certainly not the other stupid priorities of the city, from a bike lane no one uses (and I’m an avid cyclist), to hitting a useless racial equality officer.

People who describe themselves as "avid cyclists" generally do oppose bike infrastructure. It's a weird phenomenon.

DP

I ride daily and I’m 100% opposed to bike lanes.

Well, there you go. You're an "avid cyclist."

In contrast, people who are NOT avid cyclists generally support efforts to make it more convenient and comfortable for all kinds of people to go places by bike.

There is zero evidence that induced demand for cycling is a real phenomenon. What we have right now are cohort effects. There was a large generational population of people in their 20s who maybe cycled at university and perhaps continued cycling as they moved to cities for their first jobs. Now that this cohort is approaching early middle age (35+) and forming households, interest in cycling will decline. In 10 years the political winds will shift to meet demand of middle aged parents and a lot of these bike lanes will be ripped up to ease congestion.

"Induced demand" is fundamental to how transportation infrastructure works. People switch preferences based on what is most available, affordable, and accessible. That's why you can't cut service and raise fares to fix metro budget issues - demand vanishes as it compares worse to driving. That's also why widening highways doesn't make traffic better long term.

Also, as a 35 year old I'm cracking up at the idea that transportation policy is based on my generation's preferences, because literally nothing else in local or national politics is. I biked to work up until age 35, enjoying Del Ray's fantastic bike connections to DC, and picking a kid up from day care by bike...and then i moved out because I can't afford a home in Del Ray. Policy is not made around young renters.

[Anonymous]

The downtown flooding is nbd, although they keep building condos on wetlands which will only make it worse. The real issue is the smell, which I think is due to the combined water and sanitation sewers, and which they’ve been charging fees to fix for about 20 years now and have done nothing to fix it. The government there is remarkably dysfunctional except at finding ways to tax residents. Tons of money go to the police. It’s a weird place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NP. Totally true. Just yesterday I had a guy on a bike deliver my new dishwasher. My MIL had a piano dropped off last Tuesday and my coworker had 15 sheets of drywall delivered by skateboard last week!

These things actually happen by bike, in some places. The Internet is full of pictures of it that you can google.

But even if they didn't, what would be your point? That we can't have good bike infrastructure because sometimes people have to deliver pianos by truck?

"Some places" are basically India and Bangladesh.

Even if this were true (which it isn't), it would still demonstrate that it's possible to deliver dishwashers, pianos, and drywall by bike.

[Anonymous]

Pretty sure Biden is switching the beast to a ten speed and the rest of his detail will be on mopeds.