In this episode, we are joined by Jim Wick, Lead Organizer with MOVEATX an advocacy organization dedicated to helping create a new mobility future for Austin, TX and the issues we discuss are most certainly relevant to many other cities in North America.

From the MOVEATX website:

“We all know that Austin has a mobility crisis, but by implementing some of the least costly and easiest to engineer infrastructure improvements, we can have a big impact on the ability for Austinites to choose different modes of transportation. We can make a safer mobility future for everyone, whether they are traveling on foot, bike, scooter, bus, train, or in a car.”

“MoveATX is a coalition of community leaders, advocates, activists, and organizations that want to see a better mobility future for Austin and all of its residents. We believe that providing more mobility choices, more safety, and more multi-modal infrastructure will result in reduced congestion, fewer accidents, and a more equitable city. There’s peace on the road when everyone has a piece of the road.”

This episode of the Active Towns Podcast addresses the complicated mobility topics and challenges that many cities across North America can relate to.

The actual recording of the episode occurred in the days just prior to the major outbreak of cases in the United States associated with the COVID19 global pandemic.

Helpful Links:

City of Austin Active Transportation & Street Design Division

Austin’s Bike Network Progress

Car Centric Induced Demand

Cycling and Happiness

Parking: The High Cost of Free Parking

Why Change is so Hard

Austin’s Shoal Creek Blvd Protected Mobility Lane: Video

Wide Streets and Speeding: Strong Towns

City of Austin 2016 Mobility Bond

How Amsterdam Transformed Itself into the City We Now Know

The Dutch Transit Cycle Connection

Austin’s Bold Transit Future Plan

How We’ve Subsidized Car Dependency: Strong Towns

City of Austin’s Urban Trail Program

Fietsstraat (cyclestreet) from Wikipedia

“A fietsstraat (cyclestreet) where bicycles are the main form of transport and cars are considered “guests".

A fietsstraat (cyclestreet) is a road where bicycles are considered to be the primary and preferred form of transport and where cars and other motorised vehicles are allowed "as guests". There are four different types of fietsstraat but they are all required to have a speed limit of 30 km/h or less and are usually coloured in the same red asphalt as bike paths.[36]
Fietsstraat streets exist mostly in residential areas where low-traffic roads exist anyway. A fietsstraat was in most cases originally a road that had low-traffic volumes beforehand and was therefore easily converted. They are an important type of infrastructure which makes Dutch towns and cities safer for cyclists. They can also be used for route separation to enable cyclists to avoid busier roads and have direct routes into and through towns.”

PeopleForBikes Foundation

Austin 2019 Dutch Study Tour Video

The Benefits of Cycling Infrastructure to Drivers

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Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

UP! by Marshall Usinger  via AudioBlocks.com

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

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Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite ...