Mist-Cooled Bike Paths Being Built in Qatar

bike_air_conditioning.jpg

Correpsondent Pascal van den Noort sends news of this project that his organization, Velo Mondial is working on in Qatar. The ruler of Qatar, Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani wants to get his people riding bicycles. One of the challenges in accomplishing this goal is the fact that, for much of the year, Qatar is hotter than a blast furnace.

Fortunately, when you’ve got a pannier full of oil money, 115 degree daytime temperatures are no big deal. The Emir hired the Rand Corporation and Rand proposed a 30 kilometer shaded, solar-powered, mist-cooled bike path. The Emir gave the green light and with no cumbersome democratic processes to get in the way the project sailed through to approval (Qatar is similar to Brooklyn like that).

It almost makes you think that if we want to start getting things done in this town, we need to replace New York City’s inefficient plutocracy with a straight-up monarchy. King Weiner anyone?

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

STREETSBLOG USA

Stop Rand Paul’s Senseless Attack on Biking and Walking

By Angie Schmitt |
The Senate is getting ready to produce a 2014 transportation budget, and national advocates like Transportation for America think it’s a pretty good package. Naturally, some senators are trying to sabotage it. As Tanya reported last week, Kentucky Republican Rand Paul has proposed an amendment that would transfer funds for biking and walking to bridge repair, where […]

Masdar: Arabic for Chutzpah?

By Aaron Naparstek |
The world’s first car-free, zero-carbon city is slated to rise near the Persian Gulf by 2013. Even though it derives almost all of its wealth from oil and gas, the emirate of Abu Dhabi is making a splashy effort to wean itself from fossil fuels, reports Agence France-Presse. Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed al-Nahayanis […]

DOT Opens Greenpoint Ave Bridge Bike Lanes — Now With Flex-Posts

By Stephen Miller |
DOT staff led a celebratory ride on the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge over Newtown Creek this morning to mark the completion of new bike lanes between Brooklyn and Queens. The lanes provide safer passage on what had been a nerve-wracking crossing next to fast-moving traffic and lots of trucks. The project was first proposed in 2010 and revived earlier […]

After 8 Years, DOT Finally Has a Bike Plan for Dyckman St. CB 12: Not So Fast.

By David Meyer |
Eight years after uptown advocates first called for a bike connection across Inwood, linking greenways along the Hudson River and the Harlem River, DOT has a bike lane plan for Dyckman Street. Between Broadway and Nagle Avenue, the redesign would convert the current four-lane design into DOT’s standard road diet template — a general traffic lane and a five-foot-wide un-protected bike lane in […]