Delaware 2013 Bicycle Friendly State “Report Card”
Between May of 1997 and March of 2008 (over 10 years), Delaware’s unemployment rate was between 3 and 4%. But for the last four years, unemployment has stubbornly...
We know what we want. And it all comes back to the “Bike and Pedestrian Improvements” program authorization for the Delaware Department of Transportation. We...
by Melissa Nann Burke The News Journal February 15, 2013 Relatively few Delaware workers commute by bike, but they might reconsider when cyclists are whizzing...
For the next 4 days (until December 9), you can join (or renew your membership in) Bike Delaware for only $25.
“Resilience” is the capacity of a system to recover from perturbation, disturbance, stress or catastrophe.
“Resilience” is different from strength. A bodybuilder may be strong. But if he is vulnerable to being laid low by a snapped ligament or a compromised immune system, he is not “resilient”.
Delaware’s transportation system is like a body builder. For the last 80 years, we have spent billions and billions of dollars bulking up on our highways and roads, which now strangle our communities in impassable rivers of asphalt and hurtling steel. We have made it unsafe and impractical for the overwhelming majority of Delawareans to get where they need to go on a daily basis without owning a personal motor vehicle.
On a macro level, what happens to this bulked-up system if fuel prices rise catastrophically? Delaware has no control over the price of motor vehicle fuel. How could we respond quickly if a large-scale war in the Middle East, for example, were to suddenly interrupt petroleum supplies on the world market and send the price of fuel skyrocketing? The answer is: we couldn’t.
Our system is also brittle without any global disruption of the oil market. A rise in unemployment can be (and is) equally catastrophic. With the requirement of personal vehicle ownership making transportation the second largest household expense (still smaller than housing but larger than health care), the loss of a job often throws a family into the impossible position of choosing between the cost of ownership and maintenance of one or more motor vehicles and other even more important needs, including medical care and education.
The essential pre-requisite of a more resilient transportation system in Delaware is transportation choice. We need to provide safe and practical transportation mode options, and we can. By joining with other cyclists, you are funding an organized, unified and powerful voice for bicycling in Delaware. We have shown how powerful – how irresistible, in fact – we are when we are unified, organized and focused. If you want more of that – and want a resilient, multi-modal transportation system in Delaware – please help by renewing your membership in Bike Delaware, or by becoming a member of Bike Delaware for the first time, today.
Recent Articles
“When I first saw the headline, I figured either LAB had gone crazy or else I had.” – recent comment by Bike Delaware reader Just a few...
The City of Wilmington, Bike Wilmington and its supporters/sponsors are proud to hold the third annual Bike-to-Work Day (May 17th). Bike-to-Work Day is a National...
Cross-posted from Systemic Failure Each year there are tens of thousands of fatalities on the nation’s highways. A disproportionate [number] of those...
On May 15, 2013 at 7:00 PM, the northern Delaware 10 mile Ride of Silence will begin at the Ed Oliver Golf Club in Wilmington. Cyclists will take to the roads...
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