Here are some pictures from yesterday's Spokane Summer Parkways in north Spokane's Chief Garry/Logan neighborhoods. The event closes down almost four miles of neighborhood streets to vehicle traffic and opens it to non-motorized modes of transportation such as walking, bicycling, skateboarding or other fun ways to get around.

In addition, there are other activities happening at parks along the route such as yoga, demonstrations, bounce castles, barbecues and much more. I had a table set up to talk to people about our Metropolitan Tranpsortation Plan, Horizon 2040. I heard some pretty interesting stuff too. Horizon 2040 is a long-term plan for transportation for all of Spokane County for the next 20+ years. So when I was asking folks yesterday how they would like to see our tranpsortation system develop in the coming years, I heard a lot of comments about expanding the hours of public transit to later in the evening, providing transit to Post Falls or Coeur d'Alene, come up with some better north-south routes and hurry up and finish the North Spokane Corridor.

I also spoke to people about their transportation experiences in general and heard some really cool stories. One gentleman told me that he has started a car-sharing program within his family. He rides his bike most of the time for transportation but when he needs a car, he shares it with his siblings. They bought a car together and share the price of maintenance and fuel and schedule in advance when they will use it, if they know ahead of time they will need it. He said so far it has worked very well excecpt for a couple times when more than one person needed the car at the same time.

Another older gentleman told me he used to be an urban planner back in the 1960's and his first assignment was to plan emergency escape routes out of cities and to shelters in the event of a nuclear bomb attack. He said he felt at the time it was a futile effort but it was his job so he did it.

All in all I heard some great input and always enjoy taking part in the Spokane Summer Parkways events. Another one is coming up Wednesday, June 20 on the south hill. Here's information on that event. And SRTC will be at that one too, so come find us and share your thoughts for the future of transportation with us.