The city of Cleveland was built around a network of streetcars and neighborhood business districts. A refocusing of local transportation policy on bicycle centric infrastructure and human scale economics would provide ALL Clevelanders with a point of pride that would greatly raise our collective self esteem.

Freeway engineers designing in the last century resisted putting ped/bike paths on the Reid Highway bridge in Perth and the Captain Cook freeway bridge in Brisbane

Further, the highway act requires that the planning for any bridge include provision for non-motorized travel, unless there is adequate analysis that demonstrates overwhelming reason why it cannot be done.

Apparently ODOT Sect Jolene Molitoris believes that Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness can only be accomplished in a motor vehicle at 55 MPH. One cannot walk or bike to pursue happiness.

Federal Highway Administration should closely review this bridge’s planning, environmental and engineering justification and determine if the bicycle and pedestrian paths have been omitted in violation of federal law. If so, the bridge would be ineligible for federal funding. This bridge is neither too long nor too far from users nor closely paralleled by an adequate crossing. There will be users and there is no viable alternative.

It’s interesting that the Constitution’s first amendment was to ensure the Freedom of Speech. Much is properly made of our right to speak our mind, but of what value is speech if we cannot freely travel under our own power to express ourselves. There is nothing explicit in the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of travel on our public highways by foot or bike. The founding fathers had good example of the King cutting off free speech, but every road was open foot and horse travel in the 18th and 19th centuries. Only in the last 75 years has right of non-motorized travel been taken away from the public – supposedly in the name of safety. Highways were then designed to be unsafe for cycling and walking – for our own good.

It’s time we get back to basics and find our right to travel freely on our public roads, by non-motorized modes if desired.

So did the Go Betweens from Brisbane name themselves after that bridge? It’d be awesome if it were the other way around.

I can’t tell you how much this ODOT failure to think ahead and beyond the lazy standard pardigm saddens me. Oh wait, I just did. As a former Clevelander, I’m ashamed. I bet if LeBron James guaranteed he’d stay in Cleveland if they multi-moded that bridge, they’d find a way to do it.

Adam