Biking is growing in popularity, and it’s no wonder. Urban cycling is an active, healthy mode of transportation, and it’s significantly more environmentally friendly than driving. In fact, in the last decade, the number of people who travel to work by bicycle has increased by 60% in the U.S. With so many people transitioning to more sustainable transportation, cities have some catching up to do when it comes to accommodating them.

So, how can urban planning make cities more bike-friendly?

Benefits of bike-friendly Cities

Before we talk about the “how”, it’s important to talk about why cities should be bike-friendly to begin with. In addition to the many health and environmental benefits, being bike-friendly also offers economic benefits for cities; bike lanes are significantly less expensive and require less maintenance than highways. Additionally, bikes take up less space than cars and other large vehicles, which means they’ll take up less space on the road, and require less space for parking.

How to Make Cities More bike-friendly

Luckily, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to come up with a plan for a bike-friendly city; there are many cities around the world that are already doing it successfully! Copenhagen, Denmark is one of the most well-known cycling cities, and it’s no wonder; they’ve invested over €134 million into biking infrastructure and facilities over the past ten years, as well as built 16 committed pedestrian and bike bridges. Antwerp, Belgium invested in large-scale projects like cycle paths, three new bridges, and an urban development zone that includes cycle paths. In Malmö, Sweden, the Cykelhuset (Bicycle House) accommodates bikes through the entire building to encourage car-free living, and the city is also looking to upgrade infrastructure and bike sharing accessibility.

So, what’s the takeaway for American cities and urban planners? Listen to your people, invest in bike infrastructure, and plan for a future with bikes as a primary mode of transport. Not sure how bikes can fit into your city? Test out temporary bike lanes to see where your new bike lanes should go, and plan accordingly.

CREED LA fights to ensure that developers pay fair wages to all the hard working construction professionals throughout the industry while simultaneously providing them with quality health care, continued training, and trustworthy retirement plans. To learn more about how our non-profit organization supports those building a better, greener world for us all, contact CREED LA online or at (877) 810-7473.

Traffic congestion is one of the most common urban issues.. Nobody likes to waste time stuck in a traffic jam while the honking symphony plays outside. The problem not only affects productivity and increases stress, but it also harms the environment. According to the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States, vehicles are the second major source of greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why many cities are adopting initiatives, like car sharing, to reduce traffic congestion and minimize its impact.

Why Car Sharing Helps Reduce Traffic Congestion

The inefficient use of cars contributes significantly to traffic congestion. In Madrid, for example, approximately four out of five cars carry only a single driver and the fifth vehicle carries only two people. What’s even worse is that the majority of cars are not being used most of the time—they’re parked, instead.

So, what’s the solution? While there is no consensus on which is the best strategy to eliminate traffic jams, car sharing has increased in the last few years. When people carpool, they reduce the need for 9 to 13 vehicles on the road per shared car. Another benefit for car sharers is lower maintenance costs.

Learning From Vancouver

Vancouver is considered the car sharing capital of North America. There are four different car sharing services operating in the city: Modo, Evo, Car2Go, and Zipcar. At the beginning of 2018, Vancity surveyed 4,000 people who use these services and here’s what they found out:

• Convenience and saving money are the main reasons people use car sharing services.
• 58% of respondents also said they want to help protect the environment.
• About 25% of car sharers have disposed of at least one private vehicle.
• 40% have avoided buying a private vehicle because they prefer car sharing.

Other Ideas To Reduce Traffic Congestion

Car sharing alone probably won’t solve the problem of traffic congestion. Fortunately, cities are also testing other ideas. In Pittsburgh, cameras capture and process images of traffic. So, a smart system can decide how long traffic signs should remain green or red. Public authorities in Los Angeles are using drones to perform specials tasks, including firefighting, so they can avoid putting more cars in the streets. In 2003, London implemented a traffic congestion charge to incentivise the use of other transport options.

While there’s no magic trick to make traffic congestion disappear, we all can collaborate to reduce the effect of vehicles on our cities and our planet. A good start is to think about how you can help.

CREED LA fights to ensure that developers pay fair wages to all the hard working construction professionals throughout the industry while simultaneously providing them with quality health care, continued training, and trustworthy retirement plans. To learn more about how our non-profit organization supports those building a better, greener world for us all, contact CREED LA online or at (877) 810-7473.

Of all forms of exercise and modes of transportation, walking is the most accessible to the majority of Americans, requiring no special equipment, training, or cost. However, pedestrian activity does require space. Over the 20th century, space for pedestrian activity became increasingly scarce as the automobile became the primary mode of transportation, altering our cities and removing many residential areas to suburbs distant from workplaces, grocery stores, and services.

Making cities more walkable offers myriad benefits for inhabitants and their overall wellbeing. Regular walking is not only good for the body, but also for the mind. Read on while we outline the physical and mental benefits that more walkable cities can provide.

Physical Benefits of Walking

Many recent studies detail the role of exercise and regular physical activity in fending off conditions link . The risk of colon cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other conditions is significantly lower among those who get regular exercise. In fact, a recent Cambridge University study indicated that lack of exercise increases risk of death twice as much as obesity.

More walkable communities also affect the health of inhabitants by placing critical goods and services in walking proximity to residences. If important things like medical care, groceries, and schools are only accessible by car, individuals or families who cannot afford vehicles are left at a serious disadvantage when it comes to maintaining their health.

Heavily auto-dependant communities are also more dangerous. Particularly in lower-income communities, pedestrians are twice as likely to be killed by traffic than in affluent neighborhoods. Minorities are also at a disadvantage: compared to white pedestrians, African-Americans are 60 percent more likely to be killed by cars, and Latinos 43 percent more likely.

Mental Benefits of Walking

Mental and physical health are correlated, and it’s no wonder that the health benefits of regular walking extend to an individual’s mental health. Regular exercise can change the brain in ways that protect and improve memory and thinking skills, and walking displays benefits ranging from reducing stress and promoting better sleep to increasing creativity and self esteem.

As growing American cities have spread into sprawling suburbs that privilege automotive transportation and pedestrian access has become increasingly limited, the demand for more walkable cities has become clear. Part of CREED LA’s mission is to ensure that the construction industry in Los Angeles supports projects with positive impacts for the community. Making LA and its communities more walkable will benefit everyone, and as our cities continue to grow and change, these benefits must inform the way we design our cities and the communities they contain. To find out more about how we work to build a better construction industry in LA, contact us online or call us at (877) 810-7473.

People use cars to get to work. You use them to get to the grocery store, to do your shopping, to visit your friends and family. When they’re such an integral part of your everyday life, it can be hard to imagine life without cars. In fact, many cities are designed with vehicles in mind instead of people, which creates a cycle that’s hard to break free from.

However, car-centric cities aren’t doing us or our planet any favors. Between urban sprawl (which we covered in a previous blog), traffic hazards, and pollution, our reliance on vehicles is killing us.

Hazards of Driving

Did you know traffic crashes kill 1.25 million people every year, and disable millions more? Fast, high volume traffic is a hazard to bikers, pedestrians, and other drivers. While these hazards are the most obvious, there is a far more sinister hazard of your reliance on vehicles: driving for more than two hours a day contributes to a sedentary lifestyle and can be hazardous to your health.

Rush Hour Pollution

If you work a regular shift at your workplace, chances are you’re traveling during rush hour to get to and from work. All those cars on the road at the same time, moving at a crawl, emit fumes into the air. Where do those fumes go? Unfortunately for rush hour drivers, that pollution goes right back into the breathing air inside vehicles; in some cases, the particulate matter can be two times higher inside cars than along roadways. So not only is your commute harming the environment by releasing pollutants into the air, but it’s also harming your health and the health of other drivers.

Noise Pollution

Honking horns and sirens are common sounds on the roads, and they never stop. Many cities still have traffic well into the night, and this noise pollution can reach past drivers and into people’s homes and businesses as well. Unwanted environmental noise can actually increase the risk for heart disease, stress and even depression.

It’s time to start building cities for people instead of vehicles. Our health and the health of our planet depend on it.

CREED LA fights to ensure that developers pay fair wages to all the hard working construction professionals throughout the industry while simultaneously providing them with quality health care, continued training, and trustworthy retirement plans. To learn more about how our non-profit organization supports those building a better, greener world for us all, contact CREED LA online or at (877) 810-7473.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Features Something for Everyone!

Imagine driving along a bridge over a large bay. All one sees is water to the left and right of the road deck beyond the sides; only the road ahead provides solace that you’re still on solid gr… Wait? Where’s the road?!? It’s gone!!! Aaaahhhh!!

No worries, it’s just the tunnel entrance.

See, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) is a monstrous, 17.6 mile civil engineering marvel that has connected Virginia’s Eastern and Western Shores for over 50 years. The CBBT is a bridge-lover’s delight as it features something for everyone: low-lying trestles (fun during choppy seas!) that serve as connectors for two, separate, mile-long tunnels along with two high-level bridges. A restaurant, fishing pier, and sightseeing stops are but a few of the amenities that exist on the route, all of which have helped millions of travelers take in the natural wonder and beauty of the majestic Chesapeake.

The Coalition for Responsible Equitable Economic Development (CREED LA) proudly supports environmentally-responsible construction projects throughout Los Angeles that not only have a positive impact on the local community, but support LA’s working families as well.

CREED LA fights to ensure that developers pay fair wages to all the hard working construction professionals throughout the industry while simultaneously providing them with quality health care, continued training, and trustworthy retirement plans. To learn more about how our non-profit organization supports those building a better, greener world for us all, contact CREED LA at (877) 810-7473.

*picture from http://www.cbbt.com/

Solar Roadways Give New Meaning to the Phrase “SUNday Drive”!

As many people know, asphalt roadways absorb a lot of heat as a result of their black color. The incessant baking they endure became a source of inspiration for a couple of enterprising engineers who envisioned the substitution of solar panels in place of asphalt or concrete on some of our nation’s roadways. While many technological obstacles exist, one must remember that there are countless miles of highway throughout the U.S. that aren’t in wooded or forested areas, meaning they spend many hours in direct sunlight.

How Would People Drive on Solar Roadways?

Fundamentally speaking, formulations for tempered glass exist that are so strong, tractor trailers can travel on them without cracking! Next, the glass would be textured to provide the traction necessary to allow it to perform similarly to asphalt. Indeed, it is becoming quite apparent that there aren’t many places solar panels can’t be utilized!

The Coalition for Responsible Equitable Economic Development (CREED LA) proudly supports environmentally-responsible construction projects throughout Los Angeles that not only have a positive impact on the local community, but support LA’s working families as well.

CREED LA fights to ensure that developers pay fair wages to all the hard working construction professionals throughout the industry while simultaneously providing them with quality health care, continued training, and trustworthy retirement plans. To learn more about how our non-profit organization supports those building a better, greener world for us all, contact CREED LA at (877) 810-7473.

*Picture of An up-close image of the prototype solar roadway panels with heating elements and LEDs built in. Photo credit: Solar Roadways from: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Department-of-Transportation-Official-Discusses-Solar-Roadways

Four-Leaf Clover Highway Interchange Designed In 1931

It’s hard to imagine a point in our nation’s history when people got genuinely excited about newly-introduced highway features. However, in November 1931, the Engineering News-Record reported on the first cloverleaf highway interchange in the U.S. Located in Woodbridge, NJ, the cloverleaf was hailed as ”an outstanding development” in traffic engineering. How influential was its impact? Consider that the recently begun Hoover Dam was relegated to the back pages of that issue!

Today, the cloverleaf is as common as the asphalt roadway itself and they’re typically encountered with much less fanfare and excitement than they were approximately 85 years ago. Yet, cloverleafs possess certain advantages within their design. The first of which is their ability to link ramps safely in order to accommodate left turn situations. This makes them well-suited for the intersection of two freeways. Additionally, their design works well in rural & suburban locations where space is abundant.

The Coalition for Responsible Equitable Economic Development (CREED LA) proudly supports environmentally-responsible construction projects throughout Los Angeles that not only have a positive impact on the local community, but support LA’s working families as well.

CREED LA fights to ensure that developers pay fair wages to all the hard working construction professionals throughout the industry while simultaneously providing them with quality health care, continued training, and trustworthy retirement plans. To learn more about how our non-profit organization supports those building a better, greener world for us all, contact CREED LA at (877) 810-7473.

Before Planes, Before Trains, there was … the Erie Canal

Connoisseurs of civil engineering projects often credit the Panama Canal as mankind’s pivotal triumph over nature. Yet, an equally ambitious project predated it by almost a century and was done without the aid of gargantuan digging machines. The Erie Canal was commissioned by New York State as a way to help our rapidly expanding nation transport products west of the Appalachian Mountains by connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson River, about 363 miles away.

On July 4, 1817 digging began and continued for eight years, finally opening on October 26, 1825. During that time, 83 locks were constructed to help the 40’ wide, 4’ deep canal cope with 565’ of elevation change along its route. This was aided by 18 aqueducts, some of which passed over rivers & deep ravines… So impressive was this engineering feat at the time that many considered it the Eighth Wonder of the World.

The Coalition for Responsible Equitable Economic Development (CREED LA) proudly supports environmentally-responsible construction projects throughout Los Angeles that not only have a positive impact on the local community, but support LA’s working families as well.

CREED LA fights to ensure that developers pay fair wages to all the hard working construction professionals throughout the industry while simultaneously providing them with quality health care, continued training, and trustworthy retirement plans. To learn more about how our non-profit organization supports those building a better, greener world for us all, contact CREED LA at (877) 810-7473.

Disconcerting News for Gephyrophobics

Gephyrophobics, individuals that suffer anxiety with respect to crossing bridges or going through tunnels, often reveal their fears manifested from traumatic experiences at some point in their lives. Rather disconcertingly, statistics released by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), for 2016 reveal that the condition of many of our nation’s bridges and tunnels won’t do much to allay their fears any time soon… Consider that there are approximately 58,500 structures throughout the country that have been marked by the FHWA as functionally obsolete or structurally deficient.

Within California, a state with over 25,000 bridges, approximately 2000 of them have been classified as structurally deficient, meaning one (or more) key bridge elements, such as the deck, superstructure, or substructure, is considered to be in poor condition. Furthermore, approximately 4400 bridges are classified functionally obsolete, meaning the structure no longer meets design standards in line with current standards.

Indeed, our transportation infrastructure needs help.

The Coalition for Responsible Equitable Economic Development (CREED LA) proudly supports environmentally-responsible construction projects throughout Los Angeles that not only have a positive impact on the local community, but support LA’s working families as well.

CREED LA fights to ensure that developers pay fair wages to all the hard working construction professionals throughout the industry while simultaneously providing them with quality health care, continued training, and trustworthy retirement plans. To learn more about how our non-profit organization supports those building a better, greener world for us all, contact CREED LA at (877) 810-7473.

Los Angeles Transit Oriented Development. Smart Planning Today for a Better Tomorrow

An image comes to mind when we hear the word bucolic, that of picturesque, almost rural small towns that harken back to simpler times. These towns had a centralized “Main Street” that featured many of the town’s necessities, such as a pharmacy or a bank, within walking distance of the homes in the area. However, much of the United States hasn’t had towns laid out this way for quite some time due to rapid post-war development that gave rise to suburbs which grew, encroached upon, and absorbed many of these small towns in the process.

Today, a new trend is emerging among developers and city planners in Los Angeles and around the country that is trying to reintroduce the closeness these small towns featured, improving the quality-of-life for local residents in the process. Known as Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), compact neighborhoods comprised of residential, retail, light commerce, and entertainment would be located within a half-mile radius of public transportation hubs. A major goal of TOD is to reduce living costs by eliminating one of the most expensive aspects of living in traditional suburbs: commuting. The money spent on fuel, tolls, maintenance, etc. to keep a car, or multiple cars, running in order to maintain this lifestyle consumes a lot of a family’s income. TOD neighborhoods can help save families money because many residents would be within walking distance to a majority of the necessities of daily life would also reduce air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and improve the health of residents.

Even as transit-oriented developments begin to emerge and change the shape of existing neighborhoods for the better, it’s important to remember that highly-skilled, highly-trained construction workers are needed to safely and competently build these projects.

The Coalition for Responsible Equitable Economic Development (CREED LA)

Creed LA fights to ensure that developers pay fair wages to the hard working men and women throughout the construction trades while simultaneously providing them with quality health care, continued training, and trustworthy retirement plans.

As a result, CREED LA proudly supports transit-oriented development projects throughout Los Angeles that not only positively impact the local community, but support LA’s working families in the process. To learn more about how our non-profit organization fights for fairness, contact Jeff Modrzejewski at (877) 810-7473.