This post by David Hembrow in the Netherlands captures my feelings on the geopolitical, moral and environmentalist importance of cycling at this moment:
When driving a car means funding a country which is attacking Europe, riding a bicycle should be seen as a patriotic act. Insulating homes and other projects to reduce energy consumption should be viewed similarly, as should projects to generate sustainable energy in our own countries.
George Chidi is right.
Let me state the obvious: whoever is responsible for storing material under the interstate that could melt a bridge had better still be in prison when Eleby gets out.
The Department of Transportation bears the true burden for this disaster. And that may be why state investigators quickly made an arrest of someone who doesn’t work in a business suit.
The second-day news stories weren’t looking at the chain of command, working their way down from GDOT Commissioner Russell McMurry, trying to figure out who had the legal authority to allow high-density plastic conduit to be stored under the highway.
Instead, it’s the easy story — pictures of the black guy in an orange jumpsuit that they’ve done a thousand times before. And, because it’s easy to report, everyone reported it, burying the real questions under a wave of sensational news about an alleged crackhead burning down I-85.
Atlanta has a lot in common with the “coastal elite”. So do Charlotte, and New Orleans, and Nashville, and Birmingham, and the big four metro areas of East Texas. Even Jackson, Mississippi is a small pocket of liberal politics.
But many of these cities are also well-connected to interstate highways, international airports and/or mass transit systems. They’re connected in ways that smaller cities like Columbus, Macon, Corpus Cristi, Huntsville, Mobile, Pensacola, Charleston, and Little Rock are not.
One thing that is on my wishlist for Georgia is an interstate highway that goes through Columbus to Macon to Augusta, so that Macon will be almost as well-connected to second-tier cities as Atlanta. It would also benefit third-tier cities like Milledgeville, Sandersville and Roberta.
The second issue I hope to see resolved is the dearth of under-100k cities in the area between Augusta, Macon, Albany, Valdosta and Savannah. Tifton and Valdosta only have 1 interstate running through their cities, and on either side there is a multitude of very small towns until you get to Savannah or the Alabama border (with the exception of Albany). I think Tifton or Valdosta are a good place to have another East-West interstate, running from Savannah through either of these cities to a major city in either Alabama or Florida. It would be good for the farming communities of southern Georgia and southern Alabama.
