Main Street, between 1st street and 2nd street. Sidewalks are closed on both sides of the street in the dead center nucleus of Louisville.

"[Thomas] Jefferson, believing that the taming of the horse had resulted in the degeracy of the human body, urged the young to walk for exercise."

from: Undaunted Courage by Stephen E Ambrose        

[editor's note: I bet Jefferson would be quite saddened by today's state of affairs]

or
Why The Internet Is Great

311 is a good service, I use it often.

SeeClickFix.com is now my preferred portal to 311. Why? Because it allows me to interact with other users besides the government, and hold them to a higher standard than a civil servant would. For example, here's a driver that is complaining that the school zone on Southern Parkway is (gasp) half a mile long. Slowing down to 25mph from 35mph will cost him or her ... wait for it ... 20.6 seconds! So they filed a complaint with SeeClickFix that the school zone was too big, and that it should be contracted.

No one from government is going to tell this motorist they're assuming a car-centric vision of roads. But with SeeClickFix I don't need them to. I can do it myself. Here is my reply:

Yes, children do walk a half mile to school. It takes a staggering 10 minutes for them to do so. So slow down and give em' a break, because they don't have a perfect grasp of traffic law yet. Remember, you are a licensed driver, trained and responsible for the 2-ton piece of metal that you send hurtling through space at high velocity. Your responsibility is to drive carefully and anticipate errors on the part of other road users, especially our most vulnerable.

And I prefer SeeClickFix for other reasons as well. It lets you upload pictures and video, which are worth 1000 words. Also, there's less shenanigans where you have to fill out your blood type, date of birth, etc. It's short and to the point. Hooray!

Clifton sidewalk - photo Dave Morse

Complete, Clear, Safe and Accessible

Clifton Community Council Quarterly Meeting
March 25, 2010 at 7:00 PM
Clifton Center, 2117 Payne Street, at Clifton Ave.

Presented by the CCC Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Committee. Contact: Cassandra Culin kyspring@bells??th.net, 895-5727

• Improved Bike/Ped bridge for the Ohio River!

• Freight Rail Improvents in Appalachia!

Everyone's favorite stimulus program, the TIGER grants, have been released today. The grant process was very competitive, with $60 billion of requests for a scant $1.5 billion of funding. The great thing about TIGER is that the money is not pidgeon holed for a single mode of travel (e.g. roads), but rather competitive based on benefit/cost analysis across all modes. So you see freight rail projects competing with highway projects competing with sidewalk improvement projects.

Update: No, its not the Big 4 ... added fresh info on the Big 4 below the fold...

Well, another Car Free Happy Hour has come and gone. Whit presented on the upcoming Bike!Bike! Southeast conference, and Zach and company presented on the Louisville Student Cycling Society. Here are some random photos from the event!

Cleveland residents demand a bridge refurbishment include bike/ped facilities. Amazing how they shoe-horned the cantankerous language of transportation into such smooth verses.