I saw a cute, affordable house for sale. It's a house I drive by often. While it is cute, it is in a terrible location. In fact, friends of my family, lost a son in a car accident due to the traffic patterns in that area. Too many homes are situated in places that are held hostage by awful traffic patterns. We can definitely improve life, by improving traffic patterns for walkers, cars, bikers, and public transportation.
Sidewalks
One awesome aspect of desireable neighborhoods in populated places is the fact that there are big, wide sidewalks everywhere. A relative lives in a beautiful town like this--wherever you go, you see these big wide sidewalks that have plenty of safe room for walkers, strollers, kids' bikes, dogs, and more. Sidewalks are an amazingly positive addition to any community because they foster safety, healthy activity, and community interaction. A move to increase sidewalks will build safer, happier communities.
Bike Trails
Lots of people love to ride bikes. Bikes are a healthy, Earth-friendly means of transportation. Yet, too often, roadways are unsafe for bike riding. Why? We need an infrastructure of awesome bike trails everywhere in the United States. Recently, my community added a fabulous bike trail--people use it to ride their bikes, push strollers, rollerblade, walk, run, and even ride a horse now and then. It is a community hotspot--a place to gather and engage in healthy activity. Someone left sidewalk chalk nearby, and people have been using the chalk to write and draw happy, positive messages on the bike trail. We need more safe, accessible bike trails everywhere.
Public Transportation
Public transportation is awesome, but too often it is neglected, underfunded, and insufficient. Good public transportation helps people get to work, shop, meet up with one another, and enjoy a variety of landscapes. Good public transportation is also Earth-friendly. We need to increase public transportation--it is a positive investment in good, clean living.
Traffic Patterns
Too often neighborhoods are challenged by busy streets. It's possible to re-route streets, make one-way streets, and even put in speed bumps to slow the traffic down and make it less. Every community should think first about quality of living before speedy access to work as they reconsider the traffic patterns in those communities.
I saw a good cartoon recently that clearly illustrated the investment we've made for cars versus people--it's time to take the land back for the people and good living first, and think of cars as a secondary focus. We can do better in this area.