Renewable Revolution

Liz Dwyer, TakePart | January 5, 2016 1:18 pm

To reduce air pollution and traffic congestion, cities around the world are booting cars off roads and encouraging people to bike to work or school. It’s a great suggestion—until terrified bikers find themselves riding on a street with only a stripe painted on the pavement to separate them from cars and trucks. Showing up to work a sweaty mess after cycling a long distance on a hodgepodge of inconvenient, congested side roads doesn’t have much appeal either.

Germany, the country that invented the modern highway for motor vehicles, is taking on the challenge of keeping bikers safe and enabling them to easily commute long distances. It opened a three-mile-long leg of the Radschnellweg, a new autobahn for bikes, just before the New Year.

Instead of forcing riders to avoid swerving vehicles on a busy street, the Radschnellweg is a dedicated multi-lane highway for two-wheeled transport. The bike lanes are about 13 feet wide, are lit at night, and, like a road for cars, will be plowed during winter to remove snow.

Martin Toennes, a representative of the regional development group RVR, said nearly 2 million people live within about one mile of the road, The Local reported. A study from RVR found that the bike highway could result in 50,000 fewer cars per day on roads in the region. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the exhaust pipe of one passenger vehicle pumps about 4.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, so the reduction in Germany could make a significant dent in greenhouse gas emissions.

The thoroughfare, which primarily runs along decommissioned train tracks, is supposed to expand to 62 miles in length and connect 10 cities and four universities throughout the Ruhr district in northwest Germany.

The expansion isn’t without its problems. In Germany, building and maintaining bike routes has traditionally been the domain of local governments. That means that figuring out who will cough up the nearly $200 million needed to fund the expansion of the highway has become a political hot potato. 

For this first section of the bike autobahn, the EU picked up half the tab. The German government and the RVR split the other half. “Without [state] support, the project would have no chance,” Toennes said. As a result, some politicians have floated the idea of paying for the roadway with something motor vehicle drivers are all too familiar with: billboard advertising. 

http://ecowatch.com/2016/01/05/germany-superhighway-bike/

Agelbert NOTE: Bike superhighways to help us get off of fossil fuel poisons is an excellent idea.  If they can do it in Germany, we should do it in Vermont. We have bike lanes but that is peanuts compared to the Bike Superhighway concept.

For the fossil fuel worshippers who will be quick to point out that bike lanes and bike superhighways will require ASPHALT (i.e. require fossil fuels to make and maintain), that is BALONEY.

You DO NOT have to make these roads from fossil fuel based materials BECAUSE bicycle wheel distributed load pressure on the surfaces DOES NOT require the engineering involved in asphalt (or concrete - another road material requiring a lot of energy to produce) for roads.

And YEAH, bikes can carry and haul a LOT MORE than just people. There are all weather bikes and there are hauler bikes.

And, of course, there's the electric boost bikes that have excellent range because bicycle weight is nothing compared to a truck or a car's weight.   

How You Can Use Cargo Bikes 

Cargo bikes are built to carry a bunch more than your typical bike. Stronger frames intended for heavy hauling mean you can load them to the hilt knowing they are up to the task. Keeping the load low means that you maintain a reasonable center of gravity and the dynamics of the bike stay bike like. This makes a cargo bike great to ride, despite the burden of heavy items.

Cargo bikes are up to a variety of tasks and can make your life easier and more enjoyable, whether you’re in need of a logistical solution or a more fun way to fetch groceries.

Fill bike with stuff. Ride bike with gusto. Enjoy. 

http://www.peoplescargo.com/