In the Bay Area, the 511 BikeQuest Website provides a map of all bikeways in the region. In Southern California, a Website allows a bicycle rider to find the easiest, or most challenging, route for any bike trip. The site asks for origin and destination, as well as riding skill level and comfort factors such as dealing with traffic, then generates a customized route complete with map. It also contains a calculator which allows riders to calculate how much pollution the trip would have created if taken by car instead of bicycle. The site was funded with a grant from a Southern California Air Quality Management District committee.
For more information: http://www.511.org; http://www.bikemetro.com
Backing into diagonal parking could be easier and safer, according to Alan Strachan, a Santa Rosa developer, who has persuaded the city to consider a test of a concept he found on the campus of the University of Tucson. Planners say that the idea is also used in Seattle and a number of other cities.
Under the back-in plan, diagonal parking spaces are angled away from on-coming traffic. Drivers pass a space and then back into it, a technique not too different from parallel parking but with fewer turns of the wheel. Drivers pulling out of the space find it easier to see oncoming traffic, particularly if they are parked beside a larger vehicle. If diagonal parking replaces parallel parking on a wide street, it can add spaces and create a traffic-calming effect. Santa Rosa is scheduled to review plans for a pilot project later this summer.
For more information: Gene Benton, City Traffic Engineer, Santa Rosa, 707-543-3010
Looking at new cars? The EPA Green Vehicle Guide rates vehicles by both fuel economy and emissions. The guide shows that not all vehicles with good fuel economy are good for the air; diesel vehicles are cheaper to drive but emit more soot and oxides of nitrogen, a smog precursor. However, better fuel economy does mean less carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. The Green Vehicle Guide is online at http://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles.