HIGHWAYS FOR CYCLISTS

Cycling behind my nephew in Telluride today

 A friend sent me this great story from the New York Times on Copenhagen's new "superhighways" for cyclists. The first of these 26 highways opened in April to provide commuters with dedicated, contiguous routes into the city. The cyclists' highways include special amenities such as bike pump stations. And this is in a city where already half of the population travels by bike to work and school. From the story (and also see this great video):

"Picture 11 miles of smoothly paved bike path meandering through the countryside. Largely uninterrupted by roads or intersections, it passes fields, backyards, chirping birds, a lake, some ducks and, at every mile, an air pump. For some Danes, this is the morning commute. . . . Danish statistics show that every 6 miles biked instead of driven saves 3 1/2 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions and 9 cents in health care costs. But many cite happiness among the chief benefits of bicycle commuting."

Telluride cycling path

I have to agree with the connection between cycling and happiness. My extended family is currently visiting Telluride, Colorado, where today we discovered our own "superhighway" for cyclists. Lovely!

Imagine: What would it be like to have a network of 26 dedicated cycling paths connecting different parts of your city to downtown? In Austin, the Lance Armstrong bikeway (which connects a section of East Austin with downtown and Mopac) is one step in the right direction, but we have such a long way to go as a city. The Copenhagen model is inspirational.