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Reviews by Robert C. Thornett

On Biking and Greenway Trail Planning Bicycling: A Green Mode Robert Thornett The bicycle as a mode of transportation has been at the center of now-widespread discussion of ways of transitioning to sustainability. Several studies have concluded that a shift in local trips from motorized to non-motorized modes, such as walking and biking, is necessary (Whitelegg, 1993; Pucher, 1997). As Marcia Lowe (1989) put it, the bicycle seems to be the perfect vehicle for the small planet. Robert Thornett Given its potential positive contribution to sustainable transport, it is ironic that non-recreational bicycling in the United States has faced so many obstacles and is relatively uncommon. The bicycle is de facto a marginal mode in a motorized modern society. Through such fora as street-clogging Mass Rides staged by the grassroots political action group Critical Mass (“We’re not blocking traffic. We ARE traffic!”), bikers have articulated their issues, from the hazards of accidents and breathing pollution that come with sharing roadways with cars to a lack of trail connectivity to major destinations. Moreover, the “green” planning movement and skyrocketing gas prices have intensified the attention on bicycling. As a result, cities around the world have adopted bike-friendly urban, landscape, and transportation planning design concepts such as auto-free “greenways,” 1 “rails-to-trails” routes, on-street bike lanes, etc. These trends promise increasing connectivity and safer, more aesthetically-pleasing routes for bikers. Robert Thornett Accessing Trails, Destinations, and Other People The planning of greenway trails includes logistical concerns about access. First, who will have access to the routes? Considering that extended trails have the potential to offer transportation to a) poorer demographic groups who lack the money for cars and b) drivers seeking an alternative during a fuel crisis, this issue takes on acute significance. Put differently, barriers to motorized transport heighten the implications of locating trails carries heightened implications for social and economic equity. Robert Thornett Second, to what destinations will travelers have access? Greenway trails are often planned with the intention of more than just recreational use; planners have to consider commuter and consumer connectivity to major employment centers and activity clusters. (VDOT Bikeway Final Report, 2003). Robert Thornett Further, trails offer another kind of access, viz. access to other people. No longer enclosed in their cars, those who travel over trails have the potential for unplanned face-to-face interactions with others. The critical need for face-to-face interaction in a mass society has been posited many times over by social scientists from Tocqueville, a student of American democracy (1831) to Jane Jacobs, a student of urban environments (1961). To complicate matters, some studies have indicated that, in some cases, greenways have become barriers between neighborhoods of differing racial and or socioeconomic groups, the “green wall” hypothesis (Solecki and Welch, 1995). In this “green wall” scenario, the green space is not used much by anyone and instead acts as a sort of fence between groups. Hence the question of access to others on trails opens an infinitely complex dimension, much of which is surely beyond the control of planners but which nonetheless must be considered. The planning of greenway trails holds dimensions that intersect with some of the most pressing issues of our time: a) economic/social inequity b) environmental protection, c) the fuel shortage, and d) the problem of face-to-face social interaction.