BIKE: 590 KLBJ update again

[Mike Dahmus]

I spoke this morning on the morning show two times for about two minutes 
each - answered a few questions from the hosts; and then had to get to 
work. I only caught a couple of callers; one was ludicrously wrong (and the 
hosts corrected him) and the other was generally supportive of bikes; I'm 
sure there were other callers more like the former but I didn't get to hear 
them.

I do know that Ed at least read the email I sent them; since he referenced 
Shoal Creek Blvd and Speedway (the streets I told him in the email he 
should drive on to see more cyclists in the morning and afternoon).

Mark asked fairly straight factual questions as he usually does; Ed made a 
comment about 360 and 2222 being dangerous for cyclists; I countered by 
saying 360 is fairly safe but agreed about the no-shoulder part of 2222. 
Sam stepped in and threw the most hostile question of the discussion (not 
that bad for him) talking about last year's legislative effort to ban 
cyclists from some rural roads - I quickly pointed out the lack of 
alternative routes in that part of the area and he didn't say anything else 
(of course, I don't know what he said after I got off the phone while I was 
taking the dog out).

The points I made were fairly limited:

1. It's not "15% of everything" - it's "15% of this one thing" and I 
pointed to the current TIP which lays this out in almost painful detail - 
2004 figures show something like 580 million for roadway projects and 4 
million for bike/ped.
2. I listed some reasons for bike facilities which make more sense to 
motorists (mentioning the fact that the bike lanes on Speedway help cars 
maintain 30 mph rather than being stuck going 10, for instance)
3. I briefly mentioned that a lot of road funding comes from property and 
sales taxes; and that no significant amount of state gasoline tax goes to 
any street without a TXDOT shield on it

Points I didn't get to:

1. Why you don't "see" cyclists - you've driving on Mopac; they're riding 
on Shoal Creek, for instance
2. What type of projects the 15% actually goes for (barrier removal and 
building sidewalks on frontage roads were what I was going to talk about)

If anybody else heard the show, I'd love to hear your comments.

Regards,

---
Mike Dahmus
mdahmus  
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