Submitted by Matt Picio on Thu, 01/10/2008 - 8:51pm.
Streets were built for horses, not cars. And they were paved for bikes. Cars used pre-existing infrastructure in most cases (freeways are an exception, but neither bikes nor horses are allowed on freeways in Portland).
Sure, let's get cyclists to pay for roads - let's also get motorists to pay for their auto emissions, water pollution from leaked fluids, noise pollution, and all of the other hidden costs of the cars. Motorists simply do not pay their fair share. At least with cyclists, the costs are obvious and straightforward.
BTW, we could stripe bike lanes on every road in the city and it wouldn't amount to more than a few million dollars. I don't see how the money spent on bicycle projects comes anywhere near dealing with a $471 million backlog in street maintenance.
Logical Hole
Streets were built for horses, not cars. And they were paved for bikes. Cars used pre-existing infrastructure in most cases (freeways are an exception, but neither bikes nor horses are allowed on freeways in Portland).
Sure, let's get cyclists to pay for roads - let's also get motorists to pay for their auto emissions, water pollution from leaked fluids, noise pollution, and all of the other hidden costs of the cars. Motorists simply do not pay their fair share. At least with cyclists, the costs are obvious and straightforward.
BTW, we could stripe bike lanes on every road in the city and it wouldn't amount to more than a few million dollars. I don't see how the money spent on bicycle projects comes anywhere near dealing with a $471 million backlog in street maintenance.