Friday, June 5, 2009

The Missoula Independent Online - Lane change

State switches gears on Missoula’s bike infrastructure

By: Jesse Froehling Posted: 06/04/2009

Photo by Chad HarderWith new buy-in from the state’s Department of Transportation, local streets like this stretch of Higgins Avenue could have new bike lanes as early as this summer.Doug Moeller never intended to set a precedent. But when the district administrator for the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) recently announced that he’d take bike lanes into consideration with future Missoula projects, local officials had to do a double-take. Simply put, that had never happened before.


The Missoula Independent Online - Lane change

Cycling experts create innovative on-street bicycle network in New York City | rabble.ca

Cycling experts create innovative on-street bicycle network in New York City | rabble.ca

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The Old Streetlamp of the Past Gets Updated for a Green Future - WSJ.com

The Old Streetlamp of the Past Gets Updated for a Green Future - WSJ.com: "

By REBECCA SMITH

Streetlights were the first big users of electricity. Now, they are being re-engineered to improve efficiency, but at a cost that today's municipalities might have a tough time covering.
San Jose, Calif., in the heart of Silicon Valley, is testing a concept called 'adaptive lighting,' in which streets can be made brighter, darker or even be illuminated with flashing strobes upon command.
By summer, the city will have installed 125 streetlamps using LED technology, in one of the biggest urban tests of the science so far in the U.S. The city hopes to cut down on energy use, and, hopefully, lower its utility costs, by tapping LED lighting's greater flexibility.
The test in San Jose coincides with a broad push by federal and state agencies to modernize the nation's lighting infrastructure. Many homes and businesses have replaced incandescent bulbs with more efficient compact fluorescent lights. Now cities, faced with tighter budgets, are looking for ways to cut street-lighting costs and to reduce emissions from power plants."