Instead of chopping down trees to build a bike lane, they should simply take lanes away from the road and make those into protected bike lanes. This has multiple benefits: 1) leave the trees alone, and keep the street looking nice, 2) not waste more space on vehicles, 3) make biking safer, 4) discourage people from using cars by making it more inconvenient for them.
The other thing they can do is to restrict parking: replace parking lots with parks (and more trees) and more buildings.
> Instead of chopping down trees to build a bike lane, they should simply take lanes away from the road and make those into protected bike lanes.
Most of the roads this happened on are 2 lane roads in Eastside Portland. They're expanding the road for "bus lanes" which are hybrid turn lanes and lanes for buses to travel in as well as protected bike lines that are usually joined with a sidewalk and bust stop. Point being, there's no lane to take away.
Waging war on cars is waging war on the economy. The economy is our life support system.
Aggressively pushing bikes as the only future of transport is kind of ableist. Fine for healthy young people, in flat areas, on dry days. But not for the elderly, disabled, or unfit.
And public transport options need to be safe and comfortable. That doesn't fit with currently-trendy soft on crime policies.
> Aggressively pushing bikes as the only future of transport
Nobody is doing that.
> But not for the elderly, disabled, or unfit
Fortunately, when the roads are far quieter because more people are biking or on public transport, it becomes much easier for the people who need to drive, to drive! Everyone wins!
> And public transport options need to be safe and comfortable. That doesn't fit with currently-trendy soft on crime policies.
I live in the UK and our public transport is by-and-large safe and comfy (although I'd like more of it). And given our prisons are overcrowded, I don't think "soft on crime" policies dominate.
Evolution's an actual thing, you know, both for living forms and for technology.
The circulation of resources, goods, and energy is our life support - the economic assumption that growth is unlimited and GDP is a good metric is just a fad of the last century or two.
Nobody's trying to ban cars. The elderly, disabled or unfit would actually find it easier to drive with less traffic and bikes having better separation from the road.
The other thing they can do is to restrict parking: replace parking lots with parks (and more trees) and more buildings.