Transportation Choices: Walking and Biking
The Center for Transportation Studies ( CTS ) at the University of Minnesota is a model for how a university research and policy center can engage productively with government and the private center to serve important public purposes. Transportation has many facets and connections with other parts of life, but one key aspect is our dependence -- many would say over-dependence -- on cars and other motorized transportation.
Hence the interest in the topic of the 2006 James L. Oberstar Forum on Transportation Policy and Technology, held April 9-10, 2006. (Oberstar, serving his 16th term as the representative from Minnesota's 8th Congressional District, is the senior Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and a long-time vigorous advocate of sensible transportation policies.)
The topic of the Forum was "Transportation Choices: Walking and Biking". The abstract of the report on the Forum, recently published by the CTS and available online, summarizes these choices in the appropriate broad societal context:
"The 2006 Oberstar Forum explored the value of integrating non-motorized transportation into communities. SAFETEA-LU (the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users) has provided substantial federal funding to advance and evaluate walking and biking systems. The forum considered several key aspects of investing in these modes, including:
• the integration of the design of non-motorized facilities into the community and transportation network
• the value of increased accessibility on economic activity, livability, and community identity
• recreation and health benefits, and safety concerns
• the role of local, state, and federal government, and the impacts of geography and culture
The featured speaker of this year’s forum was Berthold Tillmann, the mayor of Münster, Germany. Münster looks like the medieval village it once was but features a highly effective transportation network to allow quick and easy access to work, shopping, entertainment, and schools. Münster boasts of a daily mode share of bicycling approaching 40 percent, and recently received a global “Most Livable Community” award."