Nikolas Schreiber Professor Lauren Hornberger English 110 July 26th, 2013 Writing Assignment #4: Classical Argument

Essay

Peddling a Better Tomorrow

While moving around campus, have you ever wished for a more efficient method of travel? Perhaps you have seen students around campus trying to find the same, many settling on the use of a bicycle. Bicycles have been around since the late 19th century, providing an easy, cheap, and fast method of transportation at a local level. However, they do rely on roads and pathways to move around; often these roads are built for pedestrian or vehicle transport. Given the health and energy issues in the United States, campuses and cities around the country have opted to establish an infrastructure for bicycles to promote its use and encourage the healthy, green, and congestion free in a safe environment. At the University of Delaware, this is the case; however, too often these roads find themselves to be clogged up with traffic from cars or people on foot, either negating the benefits of such transport or creating a danger. Therefore, given the lack of a cyclist infrastructure on campus, should the University of Delaware work with the city of Newark to develop dedicated lanes for bicycles both on campus and on the roads? Such programs have already been developed in cities as large as New York City (Abramson) or college campuses like Princeton (Aronson). In my opinion, the University of

Delaware should develop the bicycle infrastructure on campus to prevent unnecessary strain on the class commute, prevent potential injuries, and promote going green/health and fitness.

The current situation at the University of Delaware is that most students take the bus or walk. This is due to the fact that the infrastructure is just not appropriate for the use of a bicycle. However, a significant number of students do currently use the bicycle around campus, but it is mostly met with mixed results due to the lack of these dedicated routes. The lack of infrastructure has created a clash of bicycles on both the sidewalks and the roads. From personal experience, I used to ride a bike but after numerous close calls with vehicles I stopped taking my bike. The congestion caused by an insufficient level of infrastructure has already led to several injuries or accidents. Although there are no citable records of incidents on campus, during the semester at least once a week I have personally seen these problems arise. In order to solve these issues, one of the best answers would to utilize a bicycle program. The key part of a bicycle program on the University of Delaware campus would be the implementation; it would involve workshops about bicycles around campus, dedicated centers to help keep bikes in proper condition, information passed around, and most importantly, dedicated cyclist lanes that are either drawn or added onto the existing pathways.

A main focus of this push toward making the cycling experience more relevant is to help clear congestion on the pathways and ease the commute to classes. Helping to establish lanes and paths specific to bicycles would improve congestion by allowing an open lane to travel in. This would lead to the pedestrians and those travelling by bus or car to feel more at ease given

that bicycles have a dedicated lane and do not weave between vehicles or people. People would not have to move out of the way to make room for bicycles, nor would the cyclist have to dismount the bicycle to make their way through the crowds. With tens of thousands of people on campus, it is important that the university recognize that congestion and travel on campus during the school year have become viable issues. The establishment of this bicycle infrastructure could help to alleviate the congestion because it offers an alternative to walking or riding the bus while at the same time reducing the infringement on those means of transportation. To understand the effectiveness, one can look where a bicycle infrastructure is already making an impact.

New York City, one of the largest cities in the world and known for its congestion, has implemented a bike share program in addition to the infrastructure upgrades throughout Manhattan. This involves bicycles that can be shared via specific hubs in the city as well as lanes dedicated for cyclist use (Abramson). In fact, bicyclist are quite integrated into the city as, the first bike path in America opened in Brooklyn in 1894 and now over 200,000 New Yorkers are biking our streets every day (Bicycling in New York City: Know the Facts) .While traffic is still a little hectic in the city, New York has made it safer overall for pedestrians and vehicles while bicycle travel has become more practical. This is because in such a crowded city, the infrastructure improvements have made it one of the fastest means of transportation, even being used instead of using the subway, (Abramson). This is without even considering cars due to the heavy traffic or walking due to the distance in the city. As a direct impact on helping reduce traffic for pedestrians, Bike lanes can also reduce bicycling on the sidewalk, which

decreased more than 80 percent following the installation of the Ninth Avenue, Grand Street, Columbus Avenue and Prospect Park West protected bike lanes (Bicycling in New York City: Know the Facts) . Certainly the advantages of a bicycle program have become apparent over the years in New York City against congestion by evidence of its popularity. When the overall effectiveness was examined by city official, it was found, The old expression, if you build it, they will come, could not be more true than it is on the streets of New York City. Since 2006, the City of New York has laid down more than 250 miles of bikes lanes (just over four percent of the city's 6,000 miles of streets) and New Yorkers are flocking to use the lanes as fast as they're opened (Bicycling in New York City: Know the Facts). If a city such as New York is able to deal with the issue and still manage a solution in that busy environment, then the University of Delaware should have a decent ability to meet the same challenge. Even more important to consider is this evidence that such a program can be effective.

Another point that is important to the establishment of a program is the safety involved. Often, a bad infrastructure is what may lead to an injury or accidents (Roberts). These incidents can be tied to the bad behavior of a cyclist who is trying to utilize the purpose, the speed, or their bicycle. When trying to swerve or weave around traffic, cars or pedestrians might come in conflict with the rider, having to jump out of the way or also swerve to avoid contact. Therefore, this is connected bad infrastructure because the cyclist has nowhere else to go (Alter). On the other hand, carless drivers could infringe on the travel of a bicycle, due to limited space or poor visibility. These same issues can be seen from personal experience, on all three sides of transport. In a car I have had to break suddenly to avoid colliding with a cyclist

who sped through a red light; as a cyclist I have had to swerve and break to avoid a car making a right turn on red; and as a pedestrian I have had to jump back from a crosswalk as a cyclist has sped through. The safety of bicycle travel has been a hot topic amongst communities that have seen the popular usage of bicycles grow. This is because it would be detrimental to not address a means of transportation that could lead to an injury. The University of Delaware should be no different, as it should consider the impact of currently not having a proper infrastructure.

The issue of safety is not going away, and as there are now more people than ever on campus with the increasing enrollment, this is a growing potential danger. A Toronto Study finds that, in comparison to a road with no bike infrastructure and parked cars, the establishment of a bicycle lane reduces the chance of injury to 54% (Teschke). With again citing New York City as an example, streets bike lanes have about 40 percent fewer crashes ending in death or serious injury, and that's for all street users: drivers and pedestrians included. For example, after a parking-protected bike lane was installed on Manhattan's Ninth Avenue, all traffic-related injuries dropped 50 percent. Injuries to pedestrians dropped 29 percent and injuries to cyclists dropped 57 percent (Bicycling in New York City: Know the Facts). The university does not want a lawsuit or to see any of its students hurt and the establishment of a bicycle program would help as the current situation seems like an accident waiting to happen. At the end of the day, I would hope that the University would like to see that all of the students, faculty, and residents make it home in good health. As displayed in studies, the addition of a bicycle infrastructure is a vital step to improving the safety on campus.

Beyond the immediate benefit of expedited travel, the use of a bicycle provides for not only a healthier lifestyle, but also a greener environment. For the average person weighing about 155 pounds, moderate bicycling for an hour a day, the about the time one might spend traveling between classes, would burn over five hundred calories (Cycling - Calories Burned Bike Riding). This would make an important difference in the health of the community, especially if compared to riding the bus between classes. In addition, when the buses are not in use due to alternate means of travel, fuel and emissions would be reduced to help the environment. Similar thoughts have arisen in the New York City and Princeton communities which have established programs to help meet the goals of health and sustainability. In New York, Officials affiliated with these programs attribute the popularity to a wide range of factors, from economic to environmental. In addition to promoting sustainability and a healthy lifestyle (Abramson). Princeton University, encourages students, faculty and staff to bicycle as a convenient and sustainable mode of travel, and even received the honor of being listed as one of the top Bicycle Friendly Universities by the League of American Bicyclist (Aronson). These are just two of many examples of how the successes of bicycle programs, in both cities and towns, have promoted health and environmental causes. Because of these very reasons, The bikes have struck a chord in other cities as well, and many cities are looking to establish programs of their own (Abramson).

With a university dedicated to green energy and fitness amongst the community, this goes hand in hand with the message here at the University of Delaware. According to their own

mission to build a sustainable campus, By incorporating sustainability into its own operations, the University develops the infrastructure and financial base to ensure the University of Delaware continues to propel and sustain a path to prominence (A Sustainable University of Delaware). A way to build this path and infrastructure is through a development of the bicycle program, replacing fossil fueled vehicles around campus with two wheeled human powered ones. Additionally, this program would connect to another university platform, the Healthy Hens which promote[s] lifestyle change with regard to improving student exercise, nutrition, and sleep (Healthy Hens). In the promotion of bicycle use, students and faculty can live healthier lives through that improvement in exercise. Overall, the effect that a bicycle program might have on the University of Delaware community could nicely compliment the initiatives that are already in place with regards meeting the goals on sustainability and health.

However, there are some points which might prevent the establishment of such a program. For instance, the cost of implementing such a program might be too high, as the building of roads or paths might not have available budgets. Also to consider is potentially lost revenue from displaced cars where paid parking might have been removed. There have already been some initial pushes for the program here on campus; even with the little impact we have seen, the cost have been high. A UDaily article explains this when an administrator stated, We have spent $10 million on bicycle riding improvements, although it was also noted that, we think this is an important investment, (Rhodes). Even should a program be implemented, it would have no guarantee that it would be utilized and could be a sunk cost.

Additional issues to consider of such a program might be that the usage of bicycles becomes increased to the point where again the infrastructure cannot support it, or becomes even an addition danger due to the number of riders. Or one could even question if the town has the room to support such an infrastructure to begin with from a logistical aspect. One might question what room or where could these bike paths go, and what might come of the street parking. All of these are important issues to contemplate when figuring about a bicycle program.

In order to combat these issues, an analysis could be done to show why the cost would not only be cost efficient, but also provide other benefits in the long run. Better health, less danger, no potential lawsuits, and less use of fuel used for buses might actually be better for the monetary side in the end effect. In both New York City and Princeton the programs have been considered a success, so with already established models, one could base the program with a higher reliability of success. The establishment of workshops, laws, classes, and service stations would all help to provide education for riders and promote safety throughout the active bicycle community should therefore prove to be an issue with the increased number of bicycle users. Space and location of these dedicated bicycle lanes could still prove to be an issue, but it might be necessary to concede room to these routes so as to ensure the safety and well-being of the cyclist. Furthermore, the proliferation of gains with regards to the initiatives of sustainability and good health at the university might be well worth the compromise. So while the issues are important points to acknowledge, one should be able to overcome them with proper planning.

One can now see why the University of Delaware should develop the bicycle infrastructure on campus; it could prevent unnecessary strain on the class commute, avoid potential injuries, and promote going green/health and fitness. An open lane to travel in, for both the pedestrian and the cyclist, would greatly help to alleviate the congestion on campus, especially with the increasing class sizes. While it may be impossible to avert all injuries, the university could look to cut almost fifty percent of incidents through the establishment of an infrastructure. And with initiatives such as Healthy Hens and Sustainability closely linked to the university message, a bicycle program is almost tailor-made for the University of Delaware. Congestion, injury, no health benefits, and not helping the environment can all be avoided by having a bicycle plan on campus. With the ability of looking at other established programs and using it to implement the best possible program, risk can be mitigated and it can provide a good model for success. This is a chance to improve the community, campus, and make a lasting impact on the environment as well. The future in biking is quite promising, and the solution can be as easy using your own two feet.

Works Cited

Abramson, Alana. "Bike Sharing's Latest Success Is in NYC's Jammed Streets." ABC News. ABC News Network, 08 July 2013. Web. 09 July 2013.

Alter, Lloyd. "Bad Infrastructure Design Leads to Bad Behavior on Bikes." TreeHugger. 04 July 2013. Web. 09 July 2013.

Aronson, Emily. "Princeton University - Biking Princeton: The Campus on Two Wheels." Princeton University- Office of Communications, 08 July 2013. Web. 09 July 2013.

"A Sustainable University of Delaware." A Sustainable University of Delaware. University of Delaware, 2013. Web. 24 July 2013.

"Bicycling in New York City: Know the Facts." Bicycling in New York City: Know the Facts | Transportation Alternatives. Transportation Alternatives, 2013. Web. 24 July 2013.

Cleary, D.E. "City cycling." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. May 2013: 1669. Academic OneFile. Web. 21 July 2013

"Cycling - Calories Burned Bike Riding." Cycling - Calories Burned Bike Riding. NutriStrategy, 2013. Web. 24 July 2013.

"Healthy HENS." Healthy HENS. University of Delaware, 2013. Web. 24 July 2013.

Rhodes, Jerry. "UD, Newark Host Bicycle Commuters during Special Event at Trabant."UDaily. University of Delaware, 16 May 2013. Web. 20 July 2013.

Roberts, Derek J., et al. "Severe street and mountain bicycling injuries in adults: a comparison of the incidence, risk factors and injury patterns over 14 years." Canadian Journal of Surgery 56.3 (2013): E32+. Academic OneFile. Web. 21 July 2013.

Schepers, J.P., and E. Heinen. "How does a modal shift from short car trips to cycling affect road safety?" Accident Analysis and Prevention 50 (2013): 1118+. Academic OneFile. Web. 21 July 2013.

Teschke, Kay, et al. "Route infrastructure and the risk of injuries to bicyclists: a case-crossover study." The American Journal of Public Health 102.12 (2012): 2336+. Academic OneFile. Web. 24 July 2013.