How Paris Grew Cycling by 240% in 5 Years

Bicycle in Paris, France (Pixabay License).

Every day at The Overhead Wire we sort through over 1,500 news items about cities and share the best ones with our email list. Each week, we take some of the most popular stories and share them with Urban Milwaukee readers. They are national (or international) links, sometimes entertaining and sometimes absurd, but hopefully useful.

Lessons from Paris, bike capital: Between 2018 and 2023, Paris increased cycling by 240%. The program was achieved through sustained political action and a concerted program to improve the city for cycling, which included car restrictions, better bike infrastructure, and better public space. After streets were calmed, people felt safer and were more likely to bike according to a recent study of the city. (Ron Johnson | Momentum Magazine)

Recreation superhighway network: The Committee for Sydney has released a report suggesting the Australian region could benefit from an organized network of parks, greenways, waterways, and streets that promote recreation and active mobility. Existing greenways have been successful but more places are needed close to where people live in order to allow them to benefit from better air and more opportunities for activity. (Matt Levinson | Committee For Sydney)

Housing bill passes: The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act has been passed into law after a ten day time period without a veto. The legislation, which is the largest on the subject of housing in decades, has a lot of provisions people hope will result in more housing. Limits to institutional investors, a grant program to develop pattern books for ready build housing, and environmental review limitations are just some of the new rules in the bill. (Stephan Bisaha | NPR)

Beauty over billboards: Grenoble France has been fighting visual pollution since 2014 when the city didn’t renew a contract with an advertising company. Now the city argues that the move also helps small businesses compete and reduces negative imagery that promotes consumption. After taking down advertising on public property, the city has also legislated more restrictions on advertising on private property as well, resulting in the removal of 117 billboards. Though with digital advertising and less focus on cars, billboards and outdoor ads are less valuable to advertisers. (Peter Yeung | Reasons to be Cheerful)

Truck pollution could increase: The Environmental Protection Agency is looking to allow heavy duty trucks to pollute more by rolling back clean air regulations from 2023. The changes would allow companies making trucks that will be less durable and more polluting over the long term. Heavy and medium trucks are responsible for 58% of nitrogen pollution while only making up 13% of vehicles. (Maxine Joselow | New York Times)

Quote of the Week

She had a conviction of bettering the world. We knew her in the transportation sector, but I think her passion really was to make a better society. And we were so lucky that she landed in our sphere. She was a champion at whatever she wanted to put her work into, and her life and her passion into. And it really was to make the city better, to make our world better, more equitable, more safe, more welcoming, more friendly.

–Galen Mook, executive director of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition in WGBH talking about Boston Transportation Planner Louisa Gag, who was killed last week by a truck driver while riding her bike.

This week on the Talking Headways podcast, we’re joined by Ryan Puzycki, who writes at The City of Yes. We have a discussion on urban disorder, how it manifests, and how to address the upstream impacts instead of when it’s too late.

Want more links to read? Visit The Overhead Wire and signup.