Friday, April 10, 2009

Midtown Bike Path ribbon-cutting

From Randy of the Coasters Bike Club comes this post (complete with KAKE video) about Wednesday's Midtown Bike Path ribbon-cutting. It looks like a decent crowd was there--good to see. It was also gratifying to hear Sharon Fearey's observation in the video that this path fulfills the very real need of giving kids in the near-downtown area a safe path to walk or bike on to get either to the schools the paths pass or to Riverside Park. In other words: bike infrastructure has benefits beyond the obvious that are as valuable (if not more so) than the obvious.

Thanks for sending me the link, Randy.

3 comments:

Jaclyn Marie said...

Wichita is the THIRD-WORST US city for cyclists?! That's depressing.
My husband and I are preparing to make the move from Lawrence, where I've thoroughly enjoyed the biker-friendly streets.

John B. said...

Jaclyn,
Thanks for the comment, and welcome in advance to Wichita.
The number refers to U. S. Census data regarding the percentage of commuters who bicycle to work. You'll also find, though, a lack of on-street infrastructure for cyclists--which, I'd argue, contributes to that low percentage. We do have a decent system of off-street bike paths for people on the east side and in the central section of the city. The hope of this humble blog is that we can make more visible the fact that lots of people in town would like to see (and use) some on-street lanes, and that that fact, in combination with some forward-thinking people on the city council, might change things for the better.

Anonymous said...

You both might be interested in these survey results...
http://www.wampoks.org/