One of the primary assumptions of the so-called "Smart Growth" movement has long been that smart growth, combined with expenditures on mass transit (especially transit such as light rail or streetcar that encourage "choice" riders who might otherwise drive) save everyone time and money and protect the environment. The latest statistics from the Texas Transportation Institute show this to be the case. This diary will briefly describe Oregon’s land use system as it applies to Smart Growth and our investments in public transportation, along with their impacts.
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Australian Cyclists Save Millions in Health Care
A recent report entitled Cycling: Getting Australia Moving indicates that by improving their health, cyclists saved about $227.2 million Australian per year.
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Other economic benefits of cycling include a reduction in congestion which saves about $63.9 million AUD and $9.3 million saved by limiting greenhouse gas production and other “externalities.”
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Smart Growth lecture series coming to Living on Earth radio
For a few years now, EPA and the Smart Growth Network have been sponsoring a regular series of terrific lectures on smart growth and related issues here in Washington, D.C. at the National Building Museum. They’ve had well-known authors, innovators and special guests from all over the country come to talk about different aspects of the built environment and how we grow. They’ve been recording the lectures and making audio available after the lecture, but it’s about to get much more accessible.
From an email we got this week:
NEW FEATURE: Smart Growth Speaker Series Goes National
Through a partnership between US EPA, National Building Museum, and Public Radio International’s “Living on Earth”, many of our Smart Growth Speakers can now be heard on your favorite local public radio station. Beginning on July 10, 2009, Living on Earth will feature an interview and program with our most recent Smart Growth Speaker, Sophie Lambert, Director of LEED-ND for the US Green Building Council. Check your local radio schedule for program times, or listen online at www.loe.org.
If you do happen to be here in DC, don’t miss the next Smart Growth Speaker Series in DC tomorrow (Friday), July 17. Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk will be discusssing retrofitting the suburbs. More information at www.smartgrowth.org/audio
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Bob Moore Memorial Moonlight Madness Bikeride – July 30th @ 8pm
Date: Thursday, July 30, 2009
Time: 8:00pm – 10:00pm
Location: HI-Baltimroe
Street: 17 West Mulberry Street
City/Town: Baltimore, MD
Description
Take a night-time bike tour of Baltimore City on a safe, well lit, mostly flat route of about 20 miles. Get an intimate view of the city after dark. Skyline, neighborhoods and waterfront as well as sights ranging from illuminated classical buildings and monuments to the neon of "The Block", from churches, museums, and City Hall to the enormous "Wizard of Boh".
Ride Start: in front of the HI-Baltimore at the corner of Cathedral and Mulberry Streets (17 West Mulberry Street)
See map of ride here: https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Midnight-Madness-Baltimore
Meet in front of the Hostel @ 8pm.
Ride kicks off @ 8:30pm.
Ride is casual speed: 10-12mph. length: 20miles. You should have a properly functioning bike, be wearing a helmet, and have safety lights on front and back.
***This ride is NOT being sponsored by HI-Baltimore or the Potomac Area Council. We are passing this along for your information. You ride at your own risk.
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Americans fatter than ever, CDC says
WASHINGTON – Americans are getting heavier than ever, with more than 26 percent of the population now fully obese, the US government said yesterday.
Despite warnings that the population must stop layering on the fat and frightening statistics that show two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, the weight trend continues, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
“The proportion of US adults who are obese increased to 26.1 percent in 2008 compared to 25.6 percent in 2007,’’ the CDC said in a statement.
“If this trend continues we will likely see increases in healthcare costs for obesity-related diseases,’’ said the CDC’s Liping Pan, who headed the study.
“Obesity is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes,’’ the CDC’s Dr. William Dietz said in a statement. “As obesity increases among all age groups, we are seeing chronic diseases in much younger adults.’’
“For example, we now see young adults who suffer from heart disease risk factors and other conditions such as type 2 diabetes that were unheard of in the past.’’
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Ad wars, who is paying their way?
New full-train MAX ad asks: Should cyclists pay road tax?
New question: ‘Should motorists pay a medical tax?’
[Baltimore Spokes: Maryland’s cost of car cashes comes to $9 Billion total with Baltimore City having the highest cost per capita in the state. Car crashes cost on average ~$90,000 per crash.]
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Drivers asked to test alternative to fuel tax
[Baltimore Spokes: Note how are cars paying for roads is the tax system is "irrevocably broken"?]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Researchers are looking for 1,500 drivers in six cities, including Albuquerque, to test an on-board computer system that taxes motorists based on miles driven rather than fuel taxes paid at the pump.
That mileage-based tax is being considered by the University of Iowa Public Policy Center in a $16.5 million study for the U.S. Department of Transportation to determine whether it’s a viable option for paying for surface transportation, including roads and railroads, in the future.
The gas tax over the long term "is irrevocably broken and something is going to have to be done," said Jon Kuhl, a University of Iowa professor of electrical and computer engineering and principle investigator on the study.
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Public Transit Loses to Polluters in Climate Bill Subsidies
As Senate lawmakers launch new efforts to curb the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, some key members have joined local transportation officials and environmentalists to ask a seemingly relevant question: Where’s the commitment to public transit?
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“Transportation accounts for nearly one-third of our emissions, and yet it does not appear to be on Congress’s radar screen as one third of the solution,” Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee’s subpanel on transportation, said during a hearing on the topic Tuesday. A failure to provide more funding for clean transit, Menendez added, would represent a failure to tackle climate change adequately.
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Michael Replogle, founder of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, told lawmakers Tuesday that, even as cars have become more efficient and fuels cleaner in recent decades, greenhouse gas emissions related to transportation have grown steadily over the same span.
“Our current policy framework guiding the development of surface transportation infrastructure in the U.S. is not designed to take into account [greenhouse gas] emissions,” Replogle said.
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Ignoring mass transit solutions, according to many experts, is an oversight that could vastly limit the emission-reducing capabilities of whatever proposal eventually comes out of Boxer’s committee.
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Crash costs per mile of roadway – MD in top ten worst
…Still, without an alternative to driving in highly developed areas, simply repairing roads isn’t enough.
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