“Plant trees the shade of which you’ll never enjoy” thinking —
The Eastern Connector and Downtown Crozet redevelopment — These are the two moments/projects that will shape and define the future of Crozet. We as a “town” and County have an opportunity to shape how people get around Crozet, how we interact with our neighbors, how we shop, how we do everything.
Building a bridge that connects 250 to 240 without providing protected bike lanes (paint is neither protection nor infrastructure) and functional sidewalks will be a failure to seize the opportunity.
Imagine, if you will, if the Eastern Connector bridge became a sign of Crozet’s future. Protected bike lanes for the entirety of Eastern Avenue, grade-separated sidewalks, a thoughtful way to show that Crozet is looking to the future, building things for our kids’ kids rather than for ourselves.
More housing – dense housing – that bring more people to Crozet, which will bring more business, more retail, more vibrancy. (the arguments about “it used to be better!” fall flat — we are all immigrants from somewhere)
We say we care about our neighbors, we say we care about climate, we say we care about our kids and their mental and physical health. The Eastern Connector bridge is the opportunity to demonstrate what we say we value.
People will walk or ride bicycles if the route is accessible and they feel safe. Kids want autonomy. Parents (say) they want their kids to have autonomy. Give the kids the space and the infrastructure do live.
And make the Park Ridge/Eastern Connector intersection a roundabout.
Or nah, just build the bridge for cars and for the giant SUVs that idle when picking the kids up at school and practice, because walking or riding a bike for 1.5-2 miles is an impossible task because … why?
Two of these photos are from Portland, Oregon.
More reading
- Why your street is big enough to land an airplane
- Cyclists Break Far Fewer Road Rules Than Motorists, Finds New Video Study
- Bikes are good for brains – The compelling mental health benefits of riding a bicycle
- The RealCrozetVA facebook post
- How Paris became a 15-minute city
- A Guide to Building Protected Bike Lanes That Work for Pedestrians
All these years and you really think that a bridge will reshape Crozet? Crozet was created by people you do not understand and this bridge will only move it farther away from what it once was. Crozet was unlike anywhere else in this world so all your comparisons do not apply. There are plenty of other places on earth that you can design your utopia. Why ruin ours???
I think this is one of the few ways to shape the future of Crozet, to change and influence how humans get around, to become parts of the community they say they value, by encouraging their kids to walk and ride on a human scale rather than getting in cars for everything.
And yeah, I know the pro-car/anti-growth people oppose all the things, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong. 🙂
The bridge is going to be built; why not make it the best one possible?
You do not want to understand. There are plenty of reasons for people to not want a walking utopia. Walking on a human scale? Animals can and do walk. It was the humans that evolved…
There is no question that promoting walking and bicycle riding is better for the environment, better for the health of people who take advantage of the ability to walk or ride bicycles and there is also a strong possibility that it helps to keep Crozet like it is. Fewer cars means less noise, less pollution, less congestion and more opportunity to meet and interact with neighbors. Aren’t these things what made Crozet a wonderful place to live? Looking after the safety of bicyclists is long overdue as is the ability to walk places safely.