Comments on: ACHD Peddles Bike Survey

By: J Smith

J Smith — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 22:52:29 +0000

A bicyclist who destroyed a mirror would likely end up in the hospital. Was this car one of the many cars that is found parked with wheels up on the sidewalk?

By: Easterner

Easterner — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 22:43:23 +0000

Jack, if I were to WALK up to someone’s car and smashed their mirror, would you be promoting the question of “pedestrian insurance”?

Not that I would, or ever have done that… that wasn’t me Mayor! 😉

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 00:14:18 +0000

Several cities in Europe paint a yellow stripe down the middle of the sidewalk; pedestrians on the inside, bikes on the outside. Bikes are limited in speed and observe pedestrian rules. Would this work in Boise.
A person that I know had a mirror on his car destroyed by a speeding bike. Bike insurance?

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 17:04:43 +0000

Businesses downtown pay huge impact fees to ACHD and deserve some ACHD funds downtown, even with a proportionate lack of residents.

Growth critics scream impact fees are not enough and general tax budgets subsidize businesses…

Talk with businesses and understand the higher rate of property tax, the impact fees, and higher utility rate categories, and they will tell you they are subsidizing residents and such gov’t fees are a major barrier to development.

Since both parties (developers versus growthaphobes) feel equally screwed, maybe there is some harmony and balance with the current system!

By: erico49

erico49 — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 13:34:23 +0000

Flyhead.. for the same reason they won’t ticket red light runners. A tv news report asked that question several months ago (2 I think). And the answer boiled down to “It’s hard.” Of course, as you pointed out, the intersection blocking effort downtown wasn’t easy. But it’s DOWNTOWN. And that’s all that seems to matter.

By: You Are Nuts!

You Are Nuts! — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 06:28:42 +0000

You have got to be out of your mind to be riding a bicycle on an arterial street. I can’t think of a more dangerous activity. (Perhaps base-jumping?) It’s probably a disqualifier on the life insurance policy.

By: flyhead

flyhead — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 05:17:30 +0000

I ride a bike about 8 miles every day and most of the time I feel like drivers in cars are paying attention to what is around them. However, there are enough people with their cell phones glued to their ears or trying to send a text message that give me the shivers for my safety as well as others around them.

I can’t understand why police aren’t nailing these dolts for inattentive driving. If enough tickets get handed out perhaps it would be a safer world for all of us. The legislature is loathe to enact an outright ban on cell phones while driving, so it translates to these cretins it must be OK to aim two tons or more of steel and rubber at all the cars, pedestrians and bikes in their immediate space.

I observed the BPD handing out ticket for blocking intersections, why can’t they do the same for cell phone users who aren’t paying attention?

By: Steve Rinehart

Steve Rinehart — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 04:51:28 +0000

The Jefferson bike path plan was endorsed by the city and ACHD two or three years ago, after extensive public process. Even the mayor said he liked it. It was only later that pressure groups intervened to ask the city to take another look at the Main / Idaho bike lanes, which led to the pilot project with bike lanes down busy streets marked off with plastic pylons and the resulting traffic chaos.
Jefferson was a workable plan; still is, in my view.

By: J Smith

J Smith — Sat, 05 Mar 2016 04:44:48 +0000

Mr Goldthorpe, ACHD President – “…As to the claim made by J Smith, that was incredibly entertaining.”

I know that having the average “politician type” be honest in public about a controversial topic is very unlikely, that is why i said you folks likely wouldn’t admit on record to preparing for the end of the personal automobile.

I was at a meeting with Ada County Commission President Carol McKee several years ago. About ten people were present, one was a good friend of mine. I pointedly asked McKee, “so, you guys are aware of the Peak Oil situation?” She said, “Yes, we are very aware of it and are planning for a transition from cars, to bikes and buses.”

The last politician type that stood up to me publicly on this issue changed his tune once everyone else left the room. He told me, while crying, that he was terrified of the peak oil situation and was sure he was going to die, because he was too old to deal with it.

You can certainly take the 5th when asked about the peak oil situation, but don’t deny it publicly, it isn’t a smart move. If you don’t understand the issue, you have no business wielding any power over our transportation system.

If you honestly are uninformed, please do your constituents a huge favor and spend a few minutes on the web page below for a very concise explanation of the situation. For further reading, there are hundreds of good books on the subject. One of the first, and still the best, is The Party’s Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Society. (2003). Richard Heinberg

Peak Oil Primer
http://www.resilience.org/primer

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 05 Mar 2016 03:39:34 +0000

Over the past 10 years there has been a group of us that have been doing traffic studies in the Depot Bench area. Almost all of the studies have been done with the help of ACHD. We even purchased a speed gun to measure traffic speed in several areas.

Part of several of the studies have included counting bikes.

I noted Matt’s comments on bikes. I will tell you that not one of our studies that included Latah and Emerald (as cut through from Capital Blvd) showed anything close to the bike traffic indicated in the rational for removing two lanes of traffic.

In fact one substantial finding is that Emerald carries 35% more traffic just due to cut through from Capital Blvd via Crescent Rim.

While Matt may be a bit low on a count of 2 our data does not support anything near the bike trips used to justify closing two lanes on Emerald.