Generational change now vs. Waiting generations for change
Local leaders across the country know the types of street designs that reduce the number of severe crashes, but they keep delaying changes because they’re waiting.
Waiting for
...local money
...a big federal grant
...a full reconstruction project
...the perfect, permanent solution.
But while Americans wait, people keep getting hurt.
There’s a better way, and it doesn’t require rebuilding a single road.
A road diet (or street reorganizing) repurposes space that already exists. Cities can create protected bike lanes, pedestrian refuges, and calmer traffic conditions without major reconstruction.
It's a proven technique to improve safety and increase mobility options.
In the case of creating protected bike lanes, the choice cities face is whether to act now with quick-build methods to establish a safe network across dozens or even hundreds of blocks, or wait decades for funding to deliver premium concrete infrastructure on just a handful of blocks.
This isn’t an argument against quality. Bike lanes protected by concrete or landscaped islands are excellent. But a gold-standard lane on one street does nothing for the person trying to bike safely ten blocks away.
Coverage matters, and quick-build methods make coverage possible right now, within a single generation.
Capture the territory first, and harden it over time.