Atlanta's Bureau of Planning has been seeking public input on the city's first transportation plan. I attended a workshop at City Hall East this evening and got to see some of the ideas they're talking about.

I was encourage by a few things:

• One of the guys I spoke with had worked in Portland.
  
• A willingness to entertain ideas that other cities have found helpful (sharrows and bike boulevards for example).
  
• Increased designation of routes through the city (they have a good feel for what makes a good route).
  
• Good understanding of the needs of both experienced cyclists and inexperienced cyclists.
  
• A candidate list of roads that could go on a diet (take away lanes to turn over to cycling and pedestrian facilities).
  

The plan looks as far out as 2030, by which time Atlanta expects to add another 300,000 residents (city proper, not metro). They expect density to increase and understand that a shift to non-automobile modes of transportation will be critical.

I'm quite encouraged by what I saw and heard at this workshop.

The workshops are winding down, but Atlanta cyclists can still participate. There is still time to complete the online survey.

What Makes a Good Cycling Route?

If you've been reading this blog recently (thank you for visiting), you'll know I've been working on a Safety Quiz. The "It Depends" answer I got from an 11-year-old has sent ripples across the quiet pond of my thinking. How do experienced cyclists best summarize their criteria for choosing a good route is the latest quiz question.

In earlier questions, I was looking for fun, thought-provoking answers, and silliness factored into a lot of these answers. Here, I'm interested to know what other cyclists value when choosing one route over another.

Just to seed the idea garden, I've got an ironic story to share.

Last Spring, I had inadvertently posted about one of the divides between cars and cyclists that seems to be in need of repair. The post was about a Tree that Babe Ruth put a baseball in, but I came across the tree during a search for bicycle access to the 650 Ponce shopping center.

In the early 90's, before the shopping center was developed as it stands today, there were multiple ways to get in and out of the parking lot. This was particularly attractive to me because I could cross from my house in Virginia-Highland over to Midtown without having to use either Monroe/10th Street or even busier Ponce de Leon. When plans for the development included a Borders, Staples, Home Depot, and other large stores, the neighborhood asked that traffic be forced to use Ponce de Leon alone. It is now impossible to get to these stores by foot or bicycle without approaching along Ponce. Out of a fear of excessive automobile traffic, the automobile traffic is encouraged.

Even more irony: the BeltLine -- Atlanta's planned pedestrian and transit corridor -- runs directly behind the shopping center and crosses my former cut-through. We'll see if the blocked entrance is opened back up.

So, when thinking about good routes and why it's hard to find those that go where we want, just remember we can sometimes be our own worst enemy.

Let me know what makes a good route for you.

Would Cyclists like an audience with City Transportation Planners?

This isn't getting the buzz that I thought it might. The City of Atlanta's Bureau of Planning is developing a transportation plan, it started last fall, and the local cycling forums appear to have been quiet about it.

With the popularity of cycling on the rise in Atlanta, this is our opportunity to influence Atlanta's transportation planning.

There are a couple of ways cyclists in Atlanta can exercise their citizenship muscles:

1. Fill out an on-line survey telling the planners you use your bike, prefer walkable communities, and want to see public investment in accommodating a life-style that is less car-oriented. In only a few moments, you can help tip the scales in favor of cycling.
   
2. Attend open workshops that run for a week per neighborhood from 10AM to 8PM. For most intown residents, the meetings will occur at City Hall East during the week of March 24-27 (Mon - Thu).
   

We often lament that government isn't doing anything for the cyclist, but if we don't tell government what we want, how will it know? Government works best when its citizens are involved. I'm inviting you to 1) fill out the survey and 2) join me one evening to go down and talk with the planners at City Hall East.

We can even ride our bikes over there.