Tunnel Vision: Cycle Tracks Will Abound in Utopia

Addicts can't stop using, even when their addiction costs them everything they have and hurts themselves and those around them. That the Reason Foundation's proposal for toll-road tunnels is even being considered is ample evidence that our city's auto-addicted governmental leadership and transportation planners have developed tunnel-vision regarding transportation. If it don't involve more cars, buses and roads they can't see it. How about a network of giant exhaust pipes for a city already choking on car fumes and traffic? "Reason" has clearly taken the last train out of town.

State Transportation Board Chairman Mike Evans is launching a “What’s The Big Idea?” campaign to facilitate dialogue on “big ideas” that could better address Georgia’s transportation infrastructure needs.

“We’re looking for ‘big ideas’ that could transform transportation in Georgia for the next 50 years,” Evans said, as he solicits input that would “put all options on the table.”

O.K. If we're willing to consider all options and we're open to talking tunnels I'll be happy to put an idea on the table. It's a concept that's being taken seriously in Canada, recently ranking third place in an alternative transportation solutions contest.

Toronto Architect Chris Hardwicke, a man after H.G. Well's heart, proposes "a high speed, all season, pollution free, ultra-quite transit system that makes people healthier. Using an infrastructure of elevated cycle tracks, velo-city creates a network across the City. "

"The elevated bikeways are enclosed in tubes to provide protection for all season cycling. The bikeway tubes are separated by direction of travel to create a dynamic air circulation loop that creates a natural tail-wind for cyclists. The reduction in air resistance increases the efficiency of cycling by about 90% allowing for speeds up to 25 miles per hour. Velo-City promotes exercise as an urban lifestyle."

This is a idea that has been proposed for several years by Bicycle Transportation Systems of Colorado. Visit their website for a thorough explanation of the concept.

We're going to have to do some seriously creative visioning if we are to truly solve the transportation crisis Atlanta is facing. We can't rely on the same thinking that got us into the mess to get us out, to paraphrase Albert Einstein. That's why I think the Reason Foundation's Tunnel-Vision should be dismissed as the nightmare it is. Instead, Bike Tunnels are a viable vision of the future, if reason will prevail.