Sunrise, sunset. Sunrise, sunset. Swiftly fly the years that we’ve been waiting for safe-access-for-all in my self-proclaimed family-friendly suburb city.
It’s happening, little by little, and the latest talk (and yes, it’s still talk) is for a multi-use path on one little part of this east-west main corridor that connects neighborhoods with places to shop, eat, worship and access services. It’s needed for so many reasons, including the blinding light of sunrises and sunsets (i.e. commute hours), making it hard for already often-distracted drivers to see people on bikes.
Is this the little girl I carried riding a bike one day on that proposed multi-use path? No, no it won’t be. My girls came with me to City Hall when a family-friendly city for bike riding was promised when they were eight and thirteen years old. Children don’t wait — they grow up. Mine have. But yours could still benefit from infrastructure that meets standards for access-for-all (which almost none of the current bike lanes in my city do) anywhere around the USA.
Speaking of the USA, I just renewed my League of American Bicyclists membership and League Cycling Instructor certification. See my free classes here. I may start doing them in person again in 2025 (I’ve been busy traveling for my books Round America with a Duck and the upcoming Round Ireland with a Duck). I specialize in teaching women and girls over the age of ten, with a unique focus on reducing harassment and other safety issues females face disproportionately in our shared public spaces on a daily basis.
As for today, I’m waiting for after the sun rises to ride to MARTA and then down to Free Bikes 4 Kidz to help give out holiday bikes. I’m happy that there are increasingly safe places for them to ride them.
The City of Atlanta keeps getting better for people on bikes (and is, indeed, one of the favorite places to ride in the USA). Decatur, Georgia is the only silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community in the state of Georgia. Clarkston, the most diverse square mile in the USA and a major refugee resettlement location, keeps surprising me with wonderful improvements every time I ride there.
My neighboring city of Sandy Springs is building out their multi-use path system (which means, cha ching, many of my errand dollars are going in that direction more often lately). The City of Alpharetta, Georgia (where my 88-year-old mother lives) is building out its Alpha Loop multi-use path system (and neighborhoods are actually petitioning City Hall to build connections to the paths to boost their property values, as opposed to a small but loud group of my city’s citizens — and one of our city councilors — who continually reject multi-use paths by homes on main roads that you can’t avoid to actually go places). Even historically ultra-conservative Cobb County will blow your mind when you see how many multi-use paths they have!
So there is progress. One sunrise, sunset at a time.
P.S. For the record, my preference is not multi-use paths but rather separated and protected bike lanes/cycletracks so that I can ride directly and at my desired speed, with more sight lines at intersections than multi-use paths offer. There is pushback from City Hall to doing this, however, even though I’ve proven it is possible (see my email to my mayor and city council during National Bike Month 2024 — don’t miss the little portable bike lane video). If interested, here is my User’s Guide to Riding a Bike in Dunwoody, Georgia, USA.
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