The Cyclists Who Beat an Airplane: A Tale of Carmaggedon

[marmar]

from YES! Magazine:



The Cyclists Who Beat an Airplane: A Tale of Carmaggedon
During Los Angeles' freeway-free weekend, little went quite as expected.

by Brooke Jarvis
posted Jul 18, 2011


Over the weekend, Los Angeles—perhaps America’s most famously car-choked city—briefly became a modern transportation morality play.

The city closed ten miles of the 405, a heavily congested freeway that typically handles 500,000 vehicles each day, so it could demolish an overpass bridge. Traffic was predicted to be spectacular. City officials—and, at their request, celebrities—issued dire warnings of a coming "Carmaggedon"—a word that sums up just how thoroughly people expected L.A. to unravel without the freeway.

In response, JetBlue offered a special deal: $4 flights from Burbank to Long Beach. At under 40 miles, it was the shortest flight route the airline had ever offered. The flights sold out in three hours.

Flying? Across L.A.? A group of cyclists decided to call attention to more sensible transit possibilities by issuing a modern-day John Henry challenge: on their bikes, they would beat the plane to the other side of the city. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/brooke-jarvis/the-cyclists-who-beat-an-airplane-a-tale-of-carmaggedon