Let's take a short break from food and food systems today to talk about bikes. Why bikes, here in Seattle bike-to-work month has just come to a close. Thousands of Seattlites put on their helmets and pedaled to work. This is the 3rd year I've actively logged miles and participated in this event. The first time was probably 5 years ago and boy have things improved in those 5 short years.  I loved seeing all the progress Seattle has made making biking a safe activity! I don't claim it is perfect but it is a lot better. I also think we are getting to a critical mass of bikers. I no longer feel like the odd ball biker that drivers are not used to seeing but rather I'm one of 10 bikes at each intersection. In mass numbers we are more visible and car drivers are getting more used to looking for a biker. I know I feel that way as a car driver.

The advancements in Seattle biking infrastructure hasn't been without cost. The 10-year bike master plan has a price tag of $240-million. While that sounds like a big price tag it really if you spread that over 10 years it is about $24-million a year. The SDOT average yearly roads and infrastructure total budget is around $374 a year. Another way to say this is that only 6% of our yearly budget goes to building and expanding our infrastructure for bike transportation in Seattle. Keeping up the road and the system, we currently use to get around the city is expensive and as the infrastructure continues to age and wear out. It will only continue to cost more!

Many educated people have researched and proven that investing in bike infrastructure is well worth the investment.



Here is a short list of the community savings cities can capitalize on when investments on made on bike infrastructure.

Individuals and families reduce their monthly expenditures on gas
Individuals and families increase their activities levels improving overall health
City save on reduced costs of road maintenance
Retail business near bike lines have increased sales
Car commuter spend less time in traffic saving both time and money spent on gas

This is a short list but adds up to millions of yearly savings easily paying back the initial 10 year investment. Check out these resources of folks who have blogged about and done some of the research around putting numbers to these claims. It's not speculation anymore!


Here are a few blogs that spell out nicely the cost and benefits of investing in bicycle infrastructure as well as a report recent report done by League of American Bicyclist.

http://issuu.com/bikeleague/docs/economic_benefits_bicycle_infrastructure_report

http://www.seattlemag.com/article/10-year-bicycle-master-plan-1

http://bikeportland.org/2008/04/30/magazine-editor-blames-bike-lanes-for-portland-fatalities-7388
http://bikeportland.org/2012/10/25/money-talks-the-economic-impact-of-livable-streets-79306
http://dc.streetsblog.org/2012/05/01/fhwa-small-investments-in-bikeped-infrastructure-can-pay-off-in-a-big-way/

And this is a book that I would love to check out: Bikenomics: How Bicycling Can Save The Economy. http://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/3664/

Lastly to just bring this all back to food the more we rely on human powered transportation the more we get to eat, the more money we have to spend on good food, and the more we can choose to support a healthy regional food system. bam!