Georgia bill could make biking trails happier
by
Hollis Gillespie
Georgia Online News Service
I can tell you the exact moment I stopped riding my bike in Georgia. It is welded to my memory like pieces of old wrought-iron patio furniture. And it's not what you'd expect, either. It is not the time my friend, Jim, tricked me into riding my bike from downtown Atlanta all the way to Stone Mountain. No, not then, even though I swore I'd wrestle a crocodile before I got back on a bike again. Jim had tricked me, by the way, by insisting the whole route was a lovely "bike path."
I remembered bike paths. We had those in San Diego, which is where I lived with my Southern parents before I became a Southerner myself. Bike paths were those lovely, miles-long strips of esplanade nestled between giant stretches of scenic tranquility from start to finish. The bike path to Stone Mountain was like this, Jim insisted. In fact, he told me, the entire 15-mile ride could be traversed completely within a lovely network of recently laid trails above which birds were chirping and topless hula dancers were handing out free margaritas at every bend. Not exactly his words but close enough.
The experience, in an understatement, did not deliver as he promised. In fact, what it really turned out to be was a 15-mile marathon battle with a hundred speeding diesel trucks that were apparently – it seemed to me, anyway – trying to mate with my bicycle.
After that, I almost abandoned my bike in Stone Mountain and took a cab back. But instead I did the next best thing, which was to throw my bike on the next MARTA train heading west, then collapse into a seat next to it coughing up truck fumes plus all the sugary cocktails I'd downed the day before while swearing to never, EVER, ride my bike in Georgia again.
Ha! Try keeping that promise after having a child. At first I got one of those one-wheeled attachments that served as an extension of my own bike frame so my girl could have her own handlebars and foot pedals while I remained up front in control of our journey. The result was what looked like a three-wheeled tandem. The only trouble with this getup was that my girl learned to leverage her weight to the point where she could hurl us into new directions whenever she saw something of interest to her, like the shiny penny in the middle of the street or the bug-encrusted car grill of the oncoming Hummer. That was my clue she had to graduate to her own wheels, but only after I padded her like an astronaut and boot-camping her on bike safety.
It wasn't a week later that we tried to roll through one of the bad patches of road Georgia is notorious for when my girl's wheel got caught on a pothole and she was hurled to the ground in a way that somehow resulted in her getting punched in the face with the end of her own handlebar. To this day, I cannot think of that incident without freaking out (suggested cut: like a fruit bat) – Lord, I'm shuddering right now – and to this day neither of us has bicycled together since. Don't get me wrong. I would love nothing better than to spend a sunny afternoon on a leisurely pedal through the neighborhood with my girl, but we would have to travel to a different state first because, hate to say it, Georgia has a long way to go to get bike friendly.
There is some hope, though, with House Bill 277 under consideration in the Georgia Legislature.
The measure would levy a one percent increase in the state sales tax for specified transportation projects over the next decade. It's promised that the proceeds would be used to develop a variety of transportation options for Georgia residents. A lot of attention has been placed on the suggestion of a commuter rail that would run between Athens and Atlanta, as well as road widening and construction, but the money would also be used for bike and pedestrian facilities.
Personally, I think it would take a lot to refashion Georgia's roadways so they are, as a whole, as welcoming to cyclists as those in other states, but I guess this is a start. I am still very wary, though. In fact, it will take a lot more than the passing of a single bill to get me back on a bike in this state.
Hollis Gillespie is one of Atlanta's best known literary personalities. She has published three books, and a fourth is on the way. Gillespie for years was a columnist for Creative Loafing. She now writes for the Georgia Online News Service and Atlanta magazine, giving readers her unorthodox and often-hilarious point of view on life in Georgia. She also runs a writing academy. [full bio]
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Editor's note: Hello, Georgia.
Times are tight. Government feels it, just like you do. Crime tends to rise when the economy takes a tumble. But our crime problems could be better handled, says GONO's executive editor, John Sugg.
That's just one great piece of journalism for you today. We also include columnist Hollis Gillespie on a bike, film critic Eleanor Ringel Cater in the comfort of her home theater, and a pretty well reasoned defense of Georgia college basetball.
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