this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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[–] grue@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

There is actually a bigger city that spent in the ball park of 500k putting in a miles of a walking/bike path, less then 10 people showed up for it’s “grand opening” and it’s so unused there isn’t even trash or homeless camps. It was dubbed a waste of money.

I'm willing to bet it's winding and/or goes fucking nowhere. When bike paths don't get used, it's almost universally because they were designed by dipshits who think they're for recreation instead of transportation.

[–] KrisND@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

To be honest, you may have a point. I can't think of anything demanding thats within 1 city block from it. A school, some medical places and a gas station is pretty much the only things along it.

Poor planning, could've been better spent.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The key to bike infrastructure is that it needs to be a connected network. Even a path that goes 99% of the way directly from your house to your workplace is completely useless if there's a barrier (e.g. a stroad that's unsafe to bike along, a freeway with no bridge across, etc.) occupying the last 1%.

That said, the other important takeaway is that a bike path like yours might be useless at the moment, but that doesn't necessarily mean the money spent on it was a waste. Instead, it could mean that it's vitally important the city keep going and build more connections to retroactively make it useful.