That is a great idea and one that I have thought about as well. I firmly believe that if the bicycle infrastructure were put in place, people would use it. Maybe not the first or second year, but it would be a generational shift.

It would be more environmentally friendly if that was a 15-seer unit. And – I thought your heat was fine because it’s a “dry” heat!

So far, biking a couple of miles a day has been ok -and I’m glad I bought a relatively inexpensive bike for starters. Assuming I keep doing this, my next one will be better – did you know that bikes now come with disc brakes???

Yesterday I parked at a central location (near a coffee shop) and rode to a morning appointment. On the way back, I saw a client/friend and their kids – the older riding his bike with training wheels – and talked to them for a few minutes.

Had I not been on my bike, I likely would have been relegated to waving – the 5 minute connection was valuable.

Sara – All it’s going to take is for us (the taxpayers) to continue to express our desire for these things – consistently, vocally and convincingly – for a couple of years perhaps.

Particularly now that VDOT has announced just how little money they have. I wonder if we could sell a gas tax now if the state/locality would guarantee its dedication to bike/pedestrian paths …. I also wonder how the Town Hall with David Toscano went last night.

We are working to provide many more trails in the near future. My position is a new one dedicated to that, and we are getting a lot of budget money for it. Within 2 years, there will be much more on the grounds, I am still in paperwork mode right now.

For more info, see http://www.charlottesville.org/trails, which has a map, our plan, and link to Albemarle County’s plan.

I am also working with a non-profit on plans for a trail to Crozet, but that is moving a little more slowly. We hope to have some sort of announcement this year, but still need to talk
to some landowners.

And I also recently saw this from the Charlottesville Tomorrow blog:

Dan Mahon said the linear park would be able to serve as both a recreational trail as well as a way for people to commute on bikes to the City. He pointed out that the draft Places29 Master Plan shows an uninterrupted pedestrian trail all the way up to Hollymead, as well as connections to the Rivanna Trail. Gensic said he was still working on the funding to connect a new bike trail for the Route 250 bypass to the Meadowcreek Parkway trail.

I love the trails found out in Boulder, CO (and Denver too) that go for miles. I also spent 5 years in Rochester, NY along the Erie Canal which is paved for much of it’s length across the whole state. I think this area has the potential to become like Boulder, with “more bikes than people” and I’d Love that!