What I would really love to see is more solar over commercial parking lots.
Most of those parking lots shouldn’t exist in the first place. They should be turned into actually-useful space by putting dense, walkable buildings on them, then the solar panels should go on top of that.
Often times, the only option for smaller communities that are car dependent is just a multi-level garage that has a smaller footprint. But many don’t have the demand for downtown commercial real estate that would help it make financial sense.
I mean, zoning is kind of the smallest hurdle for a rural town. Developing public transit and construction to make streets bike friendly are significantly larger investments. You’ve still then got the issue that your small town serves as the hub for miles of mountain and farmland and you can never fully end the car dependency. And for colonial era towns, construction is often not an option because of the likelihood that something has historical significance.
I mean, zoning is kind of the smallest hurdle for a rural town.
Yeah, that’s why it’s essential to do first.
Developing public transit and construction to make streets bike friendly are significantly larger investments.
Car traffic is the only thing making streets bike unfriendly in the first place. Fix that, and you don’t need bike lanes and whatnot.
Besides, this argument gets its order of operations backwards. You’ve got to quit massively subsidizing driving first in order to get people out of their cars and justify the investment in transit.
And for colonial era towns, construction is often not an option because of the likelihood that something has historical significance.
Colonial era towns are often the least problematic to begin with. It’s the towns that have been demolished to accommodate cars that suck. In fact, I’d wager that any parking lots that do exist in colonial era towns are very likely to occupy space that would’ve been historically significant if it weren’t already lost.
Most of those parking lots shouldn’t exist in the first place. They should be turned into actually-useful space by putting dense, walkable buildings on them, then the solar panels should go on top of that.
Often times, the only option for smaller communities that are car dependent is just a multi-level garage that has a smaller footprint. But many don’t have the demand for downtown commercial real estate that would help it make financial sense.
The real only option is reforming the zoning code so that the community can be restructured to end the car dependency.
I mean, zoning is kind of the smallest hurdle for a rural town. Developing public transit and construction to make streets bike friendly are significantly larger investments. You’ve still then got the issue that your small town serves as the hub for miles of mountain and farmland and you can never fully end the car dependency. And for colonial era towns, construction is often not an option because of the likelihood that something has historical significance.
Yeah, that’s why it’s essential to do first.
Car traffic is the only thing making streets bike unfriendly in the first place. Fix that, and you don’t need bike lanes and whatnot.
Besides, this argument gets its order of operations backwards. You’ve got to quit massively subsidizing driving first in order to get people out of their cars and justify the investment in transit.
Colonial era towns are often the least problematic to begin with. It’s the towns that have been demolished to accommodate cars that suck. In fact, I’d wager that any parking lots that do exist in colonial era towns are very likely to occupy space that would’ve been historically significant if it weren’t already lost.