Mayoral Candidate Nathan Fletcher to Release Details of Bike Plan this Wednesday. How can a Bike Plan Help San Diego

Mayoral Candidate Nathan Fletcher to Release Details of Bike Plan
When: March 7, 2012 at 10:30 AM
Where: Tecolote Shores (#13 on the map)

Mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher plans on releasing the long awaited bike plan policy this Wednesday. The press release will be held at 10:30 AM near the popular bike training ground off of Fiesta Island.

The keys issues that the next mayor of San Diego will have to deal will revolve around reducing San Diego’s unemployment rate, dealing with the ongoing pension fiasco, and deciding how much public funds ought to be spent on large scale projects such as the expansion of the convention center, relocating the Chargers stadium downtown, and fixing our horrible road infrastructure. The question is, how will a comprehensive bike plan from the Mayor’s office address those key issues?

One of the industries that was hit hardest by the recession was the construction industry. The construction industry can benefit tremendously should the next mayor choose to focus on creating more protected bicycle infrastructure and focus on increasing the number of San Diegans who would love to choose the bicycle as their mode of transportation in getting around a city that should be the world’s best city for bicycling. This is an option denied to the vast majority of the city’s residents today. Giving that option to residents will also benefit our construction industry. A study that came out last fall concluded that bike/pedestrian projects created 46% more jobs than road-only projects. This was the first national study to compare job creation of bicycling and walking infrastructure with other roadway construction projects.

Using actual bid price and cost data, the study compares 58 projects in 11 cities and finds that bike projects create 46 percent more jobs than road projects without bike or pedestrian components.

And bicycle infrastructure is something that the city’s residents want, and repeatedly keep asking for. In a survey administered by the City of San Diego to determine the type of bicycle facility that residents most wanted and desired, 73.4% of the survey respondents preferred off-street paved bike paths – in other words the residents preferred protected and well designed paved bike paths.

While the city has been busying itself by painting sharrows all over the city, the vast majority of reasonable individuals will never be convinced that bicycling in traffic is a sane decision. Residents who feel unwelcome to ride on our city’s streets will instead be forced to drive and contribute to the region’s worsening air quality and thus play a part in our growing public health problems.

Bicycling is also good for the economy. At a national level,

the national bicycling industry contributes an estimated $133 billion a year to the U.S. economy. It supports nearly 1.1 million jobs and generates $17.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes. Another $46.9 billion is spent on meals, transportation, lodging, gifts and entertainment during bike trips and tours.

For a city that relies on tourism as a significant source of revenue, it is a no-brainer to attract the world to experience what should be world class bicycle facilities. Instead tourists are forced to either drive or are relegated to the few facilities along the San Diego river or Mission Beach.

Portland is today one of the nation’s most bicycle friendly cities. Yet, the amount of money invested to build the city’s entire 300+ mile bike network cost as much as one mile of urban freeway. The less obvious conclusion is that the more people ride, the less often will our current road infrastructure issues arise. Such a minimal investment will also free up enough funds so that the city can deal with other issues such as ensuring that the city can fulfill their pension obligations to the public servants who served the City of San Diego.

So a comprehensive bike plan can play a very significant role in easing many of San Diego’s current economic woes. Later this week, I will post a review of Fletcher’s bike plan as well as my thoughts on his commitment to making sure San Diego becomes a bicycling mecca.