Exploring the Dutch-inspired cycle network of Mueller with a new Austin resident (on-bike interview)

Рет қаралды 1,116

5 ай бұрын

Come along for the ride as Joshua Funches, and I ride in one of Austin's most bike-friendly communities, the Mueller development, which used to be the city's airport.
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Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I’m a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.
Since 2010, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."
The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.
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Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2024

Пікірлер: 29

@rtumkur 5 ай бұрын

Very encouraged to see this!

@ActiveTowns 5 ай бұрын

Thanks so much for watching! Glad you enjoyed it. Cheers! John

@colleenharrison2942 5 ай бұрын

The Mueller housing area and streets are great.

@ActiveTowns 5 ай бұрын

They are certainly an improvement over the status quo here in North America over the past 80 years. Not perfect by any stretch, but better than most neighborhoods here in Austin.

@SOUTHALLAlanTMobilityScooter 5 ай бұрын

Thanks!

@ActiveTowns 5 ай бұрын

You are quite welcome! And thank you for your generosity. Cheers! John

@Arjay404 5 ай бұрын

At first I was going to post about my disappointments with some aspects of this (typical Dutch complaining.), like the missing intersection protection at the start, sharp angle drop off at one of the drains, preference for sidewalk level bikepath instead of road level, but as I continued to watch the video I was actually really impressed with what I saw.. I love the wide separation between the bikes and the cars, I really don't like the thin curb size separation that is often used because I find them to be somewhat of a hazard if you as a biker need to quickly put your foot down, they can be obstacles in allowing you to plant your foot flat, but these wide ones were great and even better because they were filled with grass and trees. This neighborhood reminded me a lot of Carmel, Indiana. And any time your city/neighborhood reminds people of a place like that I think you are doing great, ......now if we could only put in a bunch of roundabouts.

@ActiveTowns 5 ай бұрын

Hehe, 😂 Glad you stuck with it. This community is by no means perfect from a Dutch street design perspective, but it represents a good example for other new North American communities to learn and gain some inspiration from. Oh, and they do have at least one prominent roundabout in the community... and I think it might be getting a redesign soon. I'll have to look into that. Cheers! John

@dimrrider9133 5 ай бұрын

Great and great point John walking on the bikepath will kill you in the Netherlands 😄

@ActiveTowns 5 ай бұрын

😂

@vincenttayelrand 5 ай бұрын

Wonderful you finally get some of "our" biking infrastructure. Now could we get some of your fair weather back? It is simply nasty in the low countries right now.

@ActiveTowns 5 ай бұрын

Hehe, 😂 Yeah, I hear y'all have had a really rough patch of dreary weather. I really lucked out when I was in Delft for 3 weeks in 2022... I only have a handful of rainout days. Hang in there. I'll produce a few more sunny videos to help warm ya up. Cheers! John

@the_real_Wieniet 5 ай бұрын

Good to see asphalt red for bike lanes. But a long way to go

@ActiveTowns 5 ай бұрын

Yeah, I love it when they use the terracotta-colored concrete... they haven't figured out how to use the pigment in asphalt in small enough batches to be cost-effective yet, but as you point out, it is a start, and yes, still a long way to go. Thanks for tuning in and commenting. I really appreciate it, and I hope you are enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John

@the_real_Wieniet 5 ай бұрын

@@ActiveTowns Just ask the Netherlands . How they do it.

@ActiveTowns 5 ай бұрын

@@the_real_WienietYeah, they (the Dutch experts) have given the city guidance. The problem is not really technical... I'll just leave it at that. 😉

@dimrrider9133 5 ай бұрын

@@the_real_Wieniet it will be a very long story allgoes back to the 7ties and John already knows that but its a start :) And this is the result ;p kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mLN6lLCqkpanmHU.html

@JustClaude13 5 ай бұрын

I read an article where Austin described their "all ages and abilities" program. Apparently it's now an official policy. That's a lot better than slapping down another sharrow and saying, "We're bike friendly now."

@ActiveTowns 5 ай бұрын

Yes. Precisely. Again, the city has a long way to go, but the network is starting to take shape and importantly, more and more people now have legitimate mobility mode options. Thanks for watching, Claude. Cheers! John

@xBris 5 ай бұрын

Those streets are way too wide for the kind of housing. It shouldn't take half a minute for a pedestrian to cross a low- to mid-density residential-only street.

@ActiveTowns 5 ай бұрын

Yes, totally agree. And yet, this development has some of the narrowest lanes and streets in the entire city. We have a significant problem with overly broad roadways in North America. One day, I'll produce a video all about the drama around street width in this community and how they had to fight to make them narrower than the "standard." Thanks for watching and for this contribution to the conversation. Cheers! John

@ethant9113 3 ай бұрын

I noticed the round utilities covers on the bike path. Does this help with the servicing, and any issue of blocking the path during works?

@ActiveTowns 3 ай бұрын

I suppose it does. I've never experienced a blockage. Thanks so much for watching. I hope you are enjoying the Channel. Cheers! John

@_Wobblier 5 ай бұрын

I can’t believe this exists in the United States!

@ActiveTowns 5 ай бұрын

Hehe, I know. Given how bad or non-existent most cycle infrastructure is here, Mueller can be a shock to the system. To see and learn more about the origins of this development, you might enjoy this video I produced a couple of years ago: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/h7F-lb2Knr7VcZs.html Thanks so much for watching. Cheers! John

@ryn2844 5 ай бұрын

Given how ridiculously wide those streets are, if it was really Dutch-inspired, you could have fit two more parallel streets and rows of housing in the same space. Like wow, in the Netherlands, these dimensions would be considered a long square, or a park. The amount of space you have over there is insane. There's essentially zero traffic calming, just wide straight asphalt roads. There shouldn't be straight wide asphalt roads in residential neighborhoods. Those are for through-traffic. They encourage fast driving.

@ActiveTowns 5 ай бұрын

Yep! I hear ya. And as I commented earlier, this community has some of the narrowest roadways in the City and had to fight to narrow the lanes as much as they did. It is a massive part of the problem that North America has with speeding and serious crashes. Thanks so much for tuning in and commenting. We're at least 50-60 years behind The Netherlands when it comes to safer street designs. Cheers! John

@ryn2844 5 ай бұрын

@@ActiveTowns This is considered narrow?! Speechless.

@ActiveTowns 5 ай бұрын

@@ryn2844 Yeah, it's rather insane. Again, I'll do a much more concentrated video focussing on the lane width and street width battles in the future. Thanks for tuning in. Cheers! John