Non Motorized Infrastructure

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To: The City Council of City X
From: Karissa Moffett, Florida State University Student
Date: September 16, 2014
RE: Accommodating Non-Motorized Infrastructure Into City X

Executive Summary
Many of us would not want our kids and grandchildren playing in the road with motorized vehicles. On the other hand, what if they were to play in a separated non-motorized road with bicycles and pedestrians? What if they were riding a bike themselves? Considering these questions, a child biking in a separated road with other bikers does not sound dangerous compared to a child biking in the road with cars (Pucher & Buechler 235-255). In the United States, cities with more non-motorized infrastructure tend to encourage more use of non-motorized vehicles (Pucher & Buechler 108, Dill & Handy 2010).

Non-motorized infrastructure is defined as active transportation that includes walking and bicycling and “small-wheeled transport” (skateboards, scooters, and roller blades) as well as wheelchairs (TDM Encyclopedia 2014). In this memo, I will refer to non-motorized infrastructure in regards to bicycling and walking as a single entity that is protected and …show more content…

Research by the Department of Transportation (DOT) concludes that building a local road could cost anywhere from $5 million to $15 million per mile (ARTBA 2014) and those sums do not include the cost of maintenance, which is $101 billion annually (Face the Facts 2012). On the other end of the spectrum, building non-motorized roads costs anywhere from $5,000 to $60,000 per mile, and because bikes and people do not weigh as much as cars maintenance is lower (though the maintenance cost of non-motorized roads is undetermined) (Blue 2013). Deciding not to build a mile of city road can buy a premier non-motorized road with a flourishing local economy that is cost efficient and effective (Bush

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