Feel free to comment to get the dialogue started. If you are interested in being added as blog "author," enabling you to post entries, contact the "blogmaster" directly at jpeters@co.jefferson.wa.us.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Experimental Blog
Welcome to the "Visionary Transport Blog" for Jefferson County, Washington. These pages are managed by the transportation planning program at Jefferson County Public Works. Our hope is that this blog fosters an exchange of ideas about the future of this part of western Washington state. Jefferson County residents and interested parties are welcome to contribute. Public Works will provide links to information and conversations happening in the world at large. Let us discuss whether and how these cutting edge ideas could be applied here. No idea is too "out there" in terms of thinking ahead and envisioning what this place may be like many years from now.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Test comment.
Hi Josh;
I think this BLOG is a great idea. Ours gets used by a handful of people but it is growing slowly.
Matt Tyler
Yes, I will play with you on this. I "fired" my car a little over two years ago as a way of forcing myself to connect with the abysmal reality of the community's transportation problems on a day-to-day basis, hoping that more frequent experience with the regional non-system would lead to "ah-hah!" moment(s) and ultimately some sort of productive engagement.
I would like to see more bike spots available on the buses. I have been turned away from the bus before. How many people would use this bike/bus option more if they knew it was a consistantly viable option. Putting bikes on the back of the bus is an option that gets held up in part because mechanics need an easy access to the engine, which is a design issue, and by drivers who don't like being able to not see passengers at all times. These are real but not unsurmountalbe issues. Putting three bike spots instead of mostly two would also be a step in the right direction.
Jefferson County should look to the future and build roads.
The end of the automobile has been predicted since Expo 21 in Seattle, when we were told the monorails would some day wisk us everywhere. Fifty years later we are still in our cars and if I were going to make a prediction I would say that 100 years from now, the private automobile will be our primary form of transportation.
Think the end of oil will get us out of cars? Think again. Recall that as recently as 1970 there were no cell phones, computers, internet, computer aided drafting or satellite TV. Now a car has more computer power than a mainframe had in 1970. Could anyone in 1970 have predicted the things we now take for granted? Can one realistically predict what life will be like in 2050?
When trying to envision the future the only constant is that the pace of technological innovation will accelerate. The private passenger car is a most practical and popular means of transport in a rural county like ours. The only thing that will get us out of our cars is a fuel shortage. New power sources, better batteries, efficient electric and internal combustion motors are on the drawing boards and they will keep us in our cars for the that next 100 years.
Post a Comment