World Future Society states in Sustainable Urban Mobility in 2020 that, “Dedicated bicycle traffic lanes are a key element of bicycling infrastructure… Cities and towns throughout the United States are creating designated bike lanes on streets and highways. Downtown Washington, D.C., now has 50 miles of designated bike lanes, including lengths of Pennsylvania Avenue, and the city plans to expand the network to 80 miles. Chicago and Portland, Oregon, also have extensive networks of bicycle lanes and plan major expansions.”
Today in the US, bicycle trails have been created on abandoned railroad rights-of-way or on rights-of-way shared with intra-city freight rail or intra-urban light-rail transport. There are more than 1,600 rail trails extending 30,000 km, with another 15,000 km planned, compared with only 200 in the mid-eighties. Much of the rail trail mileage is in urban areas, where most Americans live.
According to the World Future Society, “the US railroad network shrank from its peak size of 270,000 miles in 1916 to about 140,000 miles currently as a result of substitution of trucks for rail freight transportation, as well as railway consolidations and mergers. These industry shifts left thousands of miles of railroad rights-of-way unused. “Because the parcels of land included in these rights-of-way would be difficult to reassemble if they ever were needed for rail transport again, Congress passed the Rails-to-Trails Act in 1983, which gave the federal government authority to regulate disposition of these rights-of-way and save them for trail use by ‘rail-banking’ them. Railroads have been willing to turn over the rights-of-way for trail use because they are relieved of the associated property taxes and maintenance costs, and because they could still reclaim the rights-of-way for transport later, if necessary.”
Here in T&T squatters have taken over most of the 173 km of the abandoned public transport railway reserves have illegally occupied squatters, never to be recovered. Twenty-five kilometres of this railway was converted to the Priority Bus Route (PBR), completed in the late 1980’s, and the incoherent siting of the Chaguanas Police Station in the early 1970’s.
The total length of the former sugar estates railway, excluding loading spurs and passing tracks and trackage inside the factories was approximately 24 km. Much of their reserves were converted to secondary roadways.
There is need for the development of environmentally friendly national transport. Substituting walking and nonmotorized for automobile use can provide substantial pollution alleviation. The Active
Transportation for America study concluded that short trips of 5 km or less make up half of all trips taken in the United States; shifting these short trips to biking and walking could reduce CO2 emissions by at least 12 million and up to 92 million tonnes a year.
That study also pointed out two important secondary environmental benefits of active transportation. First, people will use fuel-efficient public transportation more and drive less if they are able to walk or bike to the train station or bus stop. Second, the more that active transportation substitutes for motorized transportation, the less congestion there will be on the highways. Fuel savings and emission reductions will follow.
The UK Department for Transport report, “The Future of Transport a network for 2030”, presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Transport in July 2004 stated, “Our aim for the next 20 to 30 years is to increase walking and cycling. We want to make it a more convenient, attractive, and realistic choice for many more short journeys, especially those to work and school. Because being active is especially important for children, we want to train them to walk and cycle in safety and confidence. This will: help to reduce car use and help to tackle social inclusion, making towns and cities safer and more pleasant places to live; help to reduce congestion and improve air quality; and increase levels of physical activity and improve public health. Moderate physical activity such as walking and cycling helps reduce obesity, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes.”
In Europe, Sweden hopes to have bicycle travel constitute 15% of all travel. And the European Union adopted a goal of eliminating 6% of all emissions from cars by means of bicycle trips.
We can start with the introduction of dynamic auto restricted zones. It could begin with an investigation of Car-Free Sundays and Car-Free public holidays for a Central Business Districts (CDBs). Examples could include Port of Spain, Arima, Chaguanas, and Point Fortin. It would require an interest in alternative transportation modes, such as walking, bicycling and public transport. Other issues would include, impact on commercial and residential activities in the CDB, routes and travel mechanisms, operations plans, and coordination with the City and Borough
Corporation, etc.