We may have the greenest neighbourhood in the world, the greenest building bylaw in North America, the greenest aspirations anywhere – but Portland has just approved a $600-million cycling infrastructure program.
That is not a misprint. That is a 6 with eight 0’s. Albeit over 20 years, with still undetermined sources for all those zeros. But it gives a sense of the possible.
Here’s the back-story on the politics.
Great news from Portland, it gives Vancouver something to shoot for. The twenty year time frame is too long though. Sydney is building 200km of separated bike lanes over just 3 years for around $76 million. It is great to see this type of a sense of urgency to build a functional network so people can cycle from anywhere to anywhere without worrying if there is a good bicycle route. Until a network is complete, the benefits from the money spent on routes is not maximized. There is little point in spreading it out over 20 years.
South East Queensland has a cycling infrastructure budget of $556 million committed out to 2026. A portion of this is in grants to local governments on a 50/50 basis which adds a further $141 million. On top of this the Queensland Government has committed $153 million for 2 pedestrian and cycle bridges in the Brisbane CBD one of which was opened recently. Pedestrian are also in the mix albeit down the track a bit with $170 million committed from 2019 – 2026.
http://www.dip.qld.gov.au/seqipp
http://www.dip.qld.gov.au/resources/plan/SEQIPP/seqipp-partb-transport.pdf
These amounts do not include ped and cycle infrastructure embedded in major state road projects. That’s covered by a cycling policy –
http://www.mainroads.qld.gov.au/Driving-in-Queensland/Road-users/Cyclists.aspx
I wish we would stop saying we have the “greenest neighbourhood in the world.” There is no evidence to support this.
Take for example Vauban, Freiburg, Germany…
Vauban is completely car-free. SE FC is not…. See More
Vauban has 100 units that meet Passivhaus standards. SE FC has zero (Passivhaus is a much higer standard than LEED).
All units in Vauban meet the low energy standard of 65 kWh/m2. SE FC ?? (but probably not that low).
Vauban has municipal composting of food waste. SE FC – not yet.
Vauban has an organic food coop. SE FC – you might find some in Urban Fare.
Vauban has a working urban farm. SE FC has planned for a “demonstration” community garden.
Vauban has an efficient district heating system using bio-fuels. SE FC also has a highly efficient district heating system but still uses some natural gas (probably a higher ghg footprint).
Vanuban has onsite electrical generation (co-gen plants and photovoltaics). SE FC has none.
@ Richard….
If you think about it though, Portland’s total is 90 million every three years. Granted, that’s not including inflation, but it’ll probably turnout to be around the same… supposing they spread the money out relatively evenly.
@David
I don’t think Portland has figured out how to fund their plan yet. Meanwhile, Sydney is rapidly implementing theirs. It is one thing to come up with a $600 million plan, it is another to actually get it on the ground.