Closing Remarks

As this trip comes to a close, the biggest emotion that comes up is gratitude. If you’ve been following along, you will note that this is not the first time I am expressing that my life has forever been changed. I feel like I see cities in a wholly new light after seeing what is possible when an entire society decides to bike more. I am also super grateful for all the people I have met during this trip. It’s not every day that you meet someone you feel you will be a lifelong friend, but I am coming away from this experience with one or two of those. The most important thing that I have taken from this trip though is more personal. I have never had a clear plan or path for where I want my life to go after college, but now I feel I can confidently say that I will make it my life’s mission to make American cities more accessible by bike. The goal is to finish up my last year at UO this year and then find myself in San Francisco next year, hopefully with an internship centered around cycling planning.

To reiterate what I’ve been attempting to express with my previous posts, being here has made it abundantly clear that when a city is designed for bikes and pedestrians, life improves. With less cars that means that there’s less danger, noise, and people are happier and healthier. When you have more people willing to use a bike for their daily lives, life is better for everyone, including cars (less car traffic to compete with).

It wasn’t that long ago that cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen were car-oriented like most American cities, and right now we have the perfect opportunity to make a change like these places did. Gas prices right now are astronomical and the US is continuing it’s battle against obesity and heart disease so improving bike infrastructure seems like a very logical solution to me. Along with these issues, we are continuing to be beaten down by the effects of climate change and with improved bike infrastructure, cities can dramatically decrease their carbon output. In fact one of my favorite moments during the trip is when one of the professionals Susan, said that there is not a single social issue that couldn’t be helped with improved transportation infrastructure. If you think about it, this really rings true. Active transportation improves mental health, personal relationships, relationships with strangers, accessibility for differently abled folks, senior citizen autonomy, and more!

I’m sure that everyone believes that their work is the most important, but I really believe that biking can save the world, or at least the world’ cities. Any issue that a city has will be helped with the implementation of a well-connected and high quality bike network.

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