That's it. I'm moving to Amsterdam!
#101
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Electricity (Rural Electrification Act of 1936)
Telephone (Communications Act of 1934/Telecomunications Act of 1996)
Highways (Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956)
Internet Broadband (USDA, ongoing, only 4.8 million of 24 million rural households to date)
-mr. bill
Telephone (Communications Act of 1934/Telecomunications Act of 1996)
Highways (Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956)
Internet Broadband (USDA, ongoing, only 4.8 million of 24 million rural households to date)
-mr. bill
Last edited by mr_bill; 04-01-19 at 10:27 AM.
#103
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Just wondering, more like this (too many horses?):
#104
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walk to work even given the opportunity and I see precious little foot traffic on sidewalks.
OK, first, I've biked on roads INSIDE Amsterdam and Copenhagen too. I did not die. This idea that you need door-to-door bike infrastructure is ludicrous.
But second, you are flat out wrong about the long distance travel on bikes in either Netherlands or Denmark. Just look into riding between Amsterdam Centraal and Rotterdam Centraal. Not sure why I'd ride a bike the 75K between the two, I'd rather bring my bike on the train, but....
How about a more rational excursion Amsterdam to Utrecht, only 50K.
Up for a double metric century? Amsterdam to Groningen?
How about a really pleasant short ride, from Copenhagen to Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Enjoy the outdoors, enjoy the art in the indoors, enjoy the art in the outdoors.
While planing your routes, figure out how many km's you spend on the roads. More importantly, ask what kinds of roads you are riding on.
That's just somebody's house. They just happen to live in one of the many new farmless houses around. (I live in a new farmless house too.)
-mr. bill
But second, you are flat out wrong about the long distance travel on bikes in either Netherlands or Denmark. Just look into riding between Amsterdam Centraal and Rotterdam Centraal. Not sure why I'd ride a bike the 75K between the two, I'd rather bring my bike on the train, but....
How about a more rational excursion Amsterdam to Utrecht, only 50K.
Up for a double metric century? Amsterdam to Groningen?
How about a really pleasant short ride, from Copenhagen to Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Enjoy the outdoors, enjoy the art in the indoors, enjoy the art in the outdoors.
While planing your routes, figure out how many km's you spend on the roads. More importantly, ask what kinds of roads you are riding on.
-mr. bill
#105
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OK, first, I've biked on roads INSIDE Amsterdam and Copenhagen too. I did not die. This idea that you need door-to-door bike infrastructure is ludicrous.
But second, you are flat out wrong about the long distance travel on bikes in either Netherlands or Denmark. Just look into riding between Amsterdam Centraal and Rotterdam Centraal. Not sure why I'd ride a bike the 75K between the two, I'd rather bring my bike on the train, but....
My impressions of bike travel outside of Amsterdam is from what others who have visited there have said. Just looking at the bicycling aspect of Google maps however, it shows that the green marked areas are more in city centers and less further out. Being that most all of the Netherlands is densely populated, naturally the areas with more green are a greater percentage of the map than in the US. But of course, infrastructure tends to follow with tax base so no surprises there.
#107
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Seattle & Portland...In fact, the whole West coast, for example. Nobody here is from here. Lots of new license plates from a lot of far off places with poor job markets arriving daily. 300,000 to the Puget Sound area last year alone.
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This is dedicated/independent bike paths only, bicycle lanes are not included.
I don't think it would make much sense for the USA because of the low number of cyclists and the huge distances. Allthough it's useful for transportation, a lot of the network is from the early 20th century financed by the cycling association that believed it was important for the people to get out of their villages and see something of the 'world', which probably was the case.
I'm not entirely sure about that. I've no complaints about the home cooking but that never translated to eating out, that food has traditionally been import. French for the fancier restaurants but almost any village over 3000 people has had at least one Chinese restaurant and take away since the 60's, followed by the pizzeria's, because there was a gap to fill. Taste buds have evolved and after decades of halfhearted trend following there finally seems to be some sort of direction to the bulk of non-exotic restaurants.
#109
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No, not really.
This is dedicated/independent bike paths only, bicycle lanes are not included.
I don't think it would make much sense for the USA because of the low number of cyclists and the huge distances. Allthough it's useful for transportation, a lot of the network is from the early 20th century financed by the cycling association that believed it was important for the people to get out of their villages and see something of the 'world', which probably was the case.
This is dedicated/independent bike paths only, bicycle lanes are not included.
I don't think it would make much sense for the USA because of the low number of cyclists and the huge distances. Allthough it's useful for transportation, a lot of the network is from the early 20th century financed by the cycling association that believed it was important for the people to get out of their villages and see something of the 'world', which probably was the case.
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No, peace broke out a couple of decades ago. Cars might want to avoid them if they're in a hurry, if there's room to pass they will pass, if it's too tight they will stay behind the cyclists. It's a 30 km street or a 'woonerf' which is a residential area with a walking pace speed limit, it's where kids play on the street so then 30km is way too fast.
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No, peace broke out a couple of decades ago. Cars might want to avoid them if they're in a hurry, if there's room to pass they will pass, if it's too tight they will stay behind the cyclists. It's a 30 km street or a 'woonerf' which is a residential area with a walking pace speed limit, it's where kids play on the street so then 30km is way too fast.
The illumination-industrial complex here says that’s fine so long as LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT....
-mr. bill
Last edited by mr_bill; 04-03-19 at 02:27 PM.
#113
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(You would, if you would, find youself all alone, so all alone, between Amsterdam and Groningen. And Amsterdam and.... How can you simultaneously think there isn’t bike infrastructure in the boondocks AND think there are no boondocks?)
-mr. bill
#114
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Amazing, huh? So “scary” on Street View, but so not scary in real life. There are some 50 km/h streets along some low traffic waterways. But I’ll ask you, do you ever ride anywhere on a 100 km/h (~65 mph) roads?
The illumination-industrial complex here says that’s fine so long as LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT....
-mr. bill
The illumination-industrial complex here says that’s fine so long as LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT....
-mr. bill
Do I ever ride on 65mph roads? Well, technically no since we don't have any roads with a 65mph limit here. Bicycles aren't allowed on the 70-75mph Interstate highway system but they have a wide paved shoulder so I'd be fine riding there if permitted. The closest I've got in Michigan are 50-55mph roads and yes, if I'm riding on pavement it's almost certainly a 55mph road. I do prefer to go on the dirt backroads which actually have a 50 or 55mph speed limit but fewer people and more hills. Not much in between in my area.
Oh, thanks for clearing that up. Here I was thinking that population density meant everyone was evenly spaced out!
Obviously any country will have more and less concentrated spots, but the Netherlands is still the most densely populated country in Europe (aside from city states) so getting to the empty spots will naturally be easier in a place that has 1/10 the overall population density. Different places for different folks is all.
(You would, if you would, find youself all alone, so all alone, between Amsterdam and Groningen. And Amsterdam and.... How can you simultaneously think there isn’t bike infrastructure in the boondocks AND think there are no boondocks?)
-mr. bill
-mr. bill
Anyways, there's a difference between riding past what is essentially a commercial farm and riding through a forest that hasn't been touched in a lifetime. I've looked back and forth along the route between Amsterdam and Groningen using street view and while it is quite scenic, I can't find a single spot where I don't see another car, buildings, etc. It looks nice to visit, but not a spot I'd want to live, which was my initial point on entering this thread.
Like I said, our perceptions differ. The only time I have felt truly alone on a road was once while traveling across Wyoming when I realized that I hadn't seen a car and barely a sign of human habitation for an hour or two. Nice place.
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Amazing, huh? So “scary” on Street View, but so not scary in real life. There are some 50 km/h streets along some low traffic waterways. But I’ll ask you, do you ever ride anywhere on a 100 km/h (~65 mph) roads?
The illumination-industrial complex here says that’s fine so long as LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT....
-mr. bill
Anyways, there's a difference between riding past what is essentially a commercial farm and riding through a forest that hasn't been touched in a lifetime. I've looked back and forth along the route between Amsterdam and Groningen using street view and while it is quite scenic, I can't find a single spot where I don't see another car, buildings, etc. It looks nice to visit, but not a spot I'd want to live, which was my initial point on entering this thread.
Here in the North, which isn't densily populated, there's a tidal area with a few small islands and I go sailing there quite regularly. It's a national park and a Unesco natural heritage site but even there when the low tide grounds the boat at night there's always some other boat in the distance also spending the night on the bottom, there are always lights in the distance, there are even 'traffic lights' in the water. I'm not a nature/great wide open kind of guy but it got to me too once. So on a calm summer day I sailed out of the tidal area into the North Sea, only to keep oil rigs in sight. Then the weather changed and it is only a 7 yard boat with less than 10 inches draught so it got pretty scary and I chickened out before ever beeing alone.
So you got a point there. The density is also affecting the non populated area's. The flipside is that nature is very close, that tidal area is within an hour's drive, if I ride 10 km I probably can pat a cow next to the bike path (farmers are part of nature preservation too), sometimes there's a flock of sheep going through the city centre, there's just no great wide open. It's not great, not very wide and some of it isn't even open to the public to not disturb the wildlife.