Will COVID-19 be the trigger to implement urban planning measures that favour bikes and pedestrians as David Brown reports.
Cities as diverse as Berlin and Bogotá are using so-called “tactical urbanism” to take road space from cars and give it to people on foot and on bicycles by creating or widening footpaths and bike lanes with brightly painted concrete blocks and planters.
Now New Zealand Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter has invited their cities to apply for 90% funding to widen sidewalks and carve out temporary cycleways, measures that can be put in place in hours and days rather than the weeks and months that it can often take to design, approve and install such infrastructure.
Extra space for people will enable key workers and others to maintain two meters of physical distance when walking or cycling.
Motoring Minutes are heard around Australia every day on over 50 radio channels through the Torque Radio network. Motoring Minutes have an average daily audience of over 150,000 listeners. Motoring Minutes are also broadcast as part of Overdrive Radio Program, which is broadcast through the Community Radio Network across Australia and has a weekly audience of over 450,000.
David’s boyhood passion for motor cars did not immediately lead to a professional role in the motor industry. A qualified Civil Engineer he specialised in traffic engineering and transport planning.
What followed were various positions including being seconded to a government think-tank for the planning of transport firstly in Sydney and then for the whole of NSW. After working with the NRMA and as a consultant he moved to being an independent writer and commentator on the broader areas of transport and the more specific areas of the cars we drive.
His half hour motoring program “Overdrive” has been described as an “informed, humorous and irreverent look at motoring and transport from Australia and overseas”. It is heard on 22 stations across Australia. He does weekly interviews with several ABC radio stations and is also heard on commercial radio in Sydney.
David has written for metropolitan and regional newspapers and has presented regular segments on metropolitan and regional television stations. David is also a contributor for AnyAuto
