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I read an article by staff writer Heather Ignatin in this morning’s OC Register reminding Orange County readers that today marks the first day of Bike to Work Week. She actually quotes a guy who bikes to work from Diamond Bar to Disneyland on a regular basis. That’s a 46 mile round trip. Is he nuts? He clearly doesn’t wear a business suit and high heeled shoes. I’m also fairly certain he’s sporting a nice “helmet-head” hairdo by the time he gets to work. And what about safety? Have you seen seen how people drive during commuter hours?
In a separate article today, Ignatin reports “Today the Orange County Transportation Authority will unveil a laundry list of ideas that it hopes will address gridlock from the 55 Freeway south to San Clemente. The $1.2 million study encompasses freeways and streets, along with mass transit.” She quotes Tammy Warren, the OCTA’s Outreach Project Manager as saying, “There’s lots of challenges out there.” You think?
I find it interesting that these articles follow so closely on the heels of the recent press coverage on the troubled forecast for 241 Toll Road completion. Yes people. We have a traffic problem. But will another 1.2 million dollar study produce any results? Have studies done on behalf of the TCA produced a connected 241 Toll Road? Will OCTA’s laundry list, that they “hope will address gridlock,” be anything more than a restating of ideas that have already been bounced around for the past two decades?
Ignatin writes “the region’s wide meandering streets and high household income encourage people to use their cars rather than take the bus.” While that may be true in a small number of cases, most residents in Rancho Santa Margarita and The Canyons don’t use the bus because it’s pathetically inconvenient. You can’t get from Point A to Point B without going a considerable distance out of your way and it takes 2-3 times as long to get there. Not a chance I’m going to sign up for that.
I have no real solutions for solving South Orange County’s traffic problems other than my opinion that the 241 Toll Road should be completed immediately. In the meantime, until the powers that be can find a way to take action, I choose to stay off the freeways as much as possible.
For those RSM residents interested in participating in Bike to Work Week, Bike Metro provides a means for you to map out your commute using existing bike lanes. You can pledge your participation at the Orange County’s Bike to Work Week. Participants are asked to pledge that they’ll ride their bike to work at least once during the week.
Photo: Bicycle Messenger By: Thomas Hawk
Technorati Tags: 241 Toll Road, bike lanes, bike riding, commuting, orange county, orange county register, rancho santa margarita, residents, rsm, south orange county, traffic, transportationPopularity: 38% [?]
9 responses so far ↓
1 Morgan // May 15, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Kelly -
I agree! Trying to bike from Ladera Ranch to anywhere is asking for a quick trip to Mission Hospital! Trying to bike down Antonio, Crown Valley or Oso Parkway is tantamount to taking your life in to your own hands.
While I think there are major problems with South OC traffic, another study is not what we need. We need either more mass transit with realistic routes and schedules or more lanes.
2 Mary Pope-Handy // May 16, 2007 at 6:19 am
Kelly I don’t know your area too well, but the same thing is true in Silicon Valley generally. There are some folks who live along the light rail lines in San Jose and work along them too, but for many of the population here, the train, light rail, and busses just don’t work out. My kids are in parochial high schools in downtown San Jose - which is 10 miles away - and we looked very, very hard at the public transit alternatives. Using them, instead of driving, nearly tripled the travel time for us. It’s just not feasible. I would love to remove the auto dependency but until there are more bus routes I guess it’s just not going to happen.
Great post!!
3 Shaun McLane // May 17, 2007 at 7:26 am
Glad to see this is happening in other places. We have these articles pop up from time to time in Orlando, with the same feelings from the residents. Our mass transit system is pathetic. The proposed solutions are making the busiest interstate a two-story road (not gonna happen), and a lightrail train system. Thing is, this lightrail is planned from the airport to Disney. Great! Will be perfect for tourists, but will do nothing the traffic problem.
4 Real Estate Blog - Carnival of Project Blogger week #2 Winners // May 21, 2007 at 7:36 pm
5 Sandra Williams // May 21, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Kelly, I’m with you. Can you imagine taking your life in your hands on Southern California roads? Plus “helmet hair”—no chance!
6 Galen // May 23, 2007 at 9:47 am
I wish I lived in your area so I could get insights like this!
7 Carnival of Project Blogger » Blog Archive » Carnival Of Project Blogger, Week #2 // May 26, 2007 at 6:51 pm
[…] Bike to Work WeekBy: Kelly […]
8 Ant // May 9, 2008 at 2:10 am
Most people who cycle to work keep their clothes at work and have a two minute shower when they get there. Not a big deal. Would you rather ride your dirty SUV for the same distance? I guess so, but I say bring on higher gas prices…
9 Bike to Work week in San Jose - Dogpile Web Search // May 12, 2008 at 12:33 am
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