1- Yay
2 - It works in Europe because they have the density and land use patterns we do not have. The distance between Civic Center and Common Park in Denver would encompass the bulk of many European City Centers. By comparison, we are just too spread out. So no, you're comparing apples and oranges. The number of folks who can make use of a 2-mile max radius here is just much smaller. (And could also come at the expense of the other 3,000,000, including most of the City of Denver outside downtown proper, who can't afford to live in the middle and depend on that road space - rich folks who can afford center neighborhoods do not have a special claim in downtown - downtown belongs to all of the city, and maintaining road capacity to get there is non-negotiable.) Anyways, it's a rare few who will make a 5-mile bike ride, and it's a rare few here who can get where they need to in less than that. Most of those Europens you see aren't going five miles - ask them.
3 - Haha.
4 - I love it when you agree with me.
5 - Hi Scott!
I actually find there's less we can learn from European cities than from other regions of the world. Everybody wants us to be Barcelona, but nobody wants to live in Barcelona densities, nor can we turn the clock back 100 years and build ourselves a backbone subway system for pennies on the dollar - it's that core mobility that allows Europe to indulge in things like expansive bike networks. Personally I'd rather us be looking at the BRT systems of Latin American cities for inspiration than Dutch bike lanes.
Last edited by bunt_q; Aug 19, 2015 at 2:03 PM.
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