Great Article on Bikes vs Cars

A quick update before I continue neglecting my blog: I was alerted to this article in Wired via Ozarks Greenways. I was particularly intrigued by item #6 in this listicle. I've not heard the argument that our current auto-oriented design of roadways is essentially a Ponzi scheme, in which the decreased population density outside of urban environments - the outcome of personal automobile use - results in costs for maintaining roadways that outpace all tax revenues dedicated for roadway infrastructure. Certainly I'm familiar with the idea that gas taxes do not cover all roadway infrastructure costs. This means that as a tax payer (income, sales, and personal property taxes, including taxes for an automobile), I'm likely paying more than my fair share of the costs of maintaining the roads that I'm biking on (and thereby causing less damage to). But it's an interesting idea that in certain suburban environments, essentially no one is paying their fair share and roadway maintenance is being subsidized by other revenues. This is definitely something to keep in mind for those, like me, who are involved in bicycle advocacy in their own communities.