Active Transportation Initiatives

Photos
Wild turkeys on Cape Cod. Pictures taken in 2005 by my friend Barbara out the car window while I drove.

Wild turkeys
I had a flock of wild turkeys in my back yard this morning. I tried to get a picture of them, but they were too far away and there was too much underbrush that made them difficult to pick out. However, I made up for it with the pictures from the Cape.

Walk or ride a bike
Thursday night (Nov. 8th) I went to a meeting in Hartford regarding the Active Transportation Initiative. There are many initiatives these days in surrounding towns as well as the Capitol Region as a whole devoted to the region’s bicycle and pedestrian needs and plans in concert with vehicular problems. The meeting, held in Union Station, brought out a sizable crowd of biking enthusiasts as well as members of town governments. There is an urgent need to get more people riding bikes and/or walking and/or taking public transportation in order to decrease congestion, clean up the air we breathe, link communities and have healthier residents. In Hartford (as other cities) you can ride a bike into the city, then put your bike on the bus bike rack for the remainder of your trip. This is handy when the remainder of your trip cannot be done safely by bike. If any of these subjects interests you, check out the CRCOG website, and click on Active Transportation.

There is another meeting coming up next Thursday (Nov. 15th) of the Advisory Committee for the Buckland Transportation Study, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Friends Room in the South Windsor Library at 1550 Sullivan Avenue, South Windsor, CT. The study is to “identify and address near and long term transportation needs within and around the Buckland area.” All Advisory Committee meetings are open to the public. I will be at this meeting also. The transportation needs of the Buckland/Evergreen Walk area are huge. The ability to walk or bike safely in this area is extremely limited. It will get better, however, thanks to the Advisory Committee’s work. I don’t know if the improvements will ever be made in my bike-riding lifetime, but hopefully in my physical lifetime—and I plan to live to at least 150. ☺

Snow showers
In some parts of the state, mainly the south of Hartford, there have been snow showers. These could be observed on Doppler Radar as well as traffic cams. I guess summer has really let fall take over.