Check out PACTS latest outreach effort on You Tube.
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Contact Information
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Paul Niehoff
Carl Eppich
207-774-9891
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Paul Niehoff
- Links
- Recent Posts
- Riding Your Bike with Traffic
- Passing a Bicyclist
- PACTS You Tube Video
- Bicycle Approaches to Tukeys Bridge: Portland, Maine
- PACTS Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan – Final
- PACTS Regional Bike and Pedestrian Plan Update: Section A, Final Draft
- PACTS Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan Update: Section B, Final Draft
- Recent Comments
- Erik West on PACTS You Tube Video
- John Brooking on PACTS You Tube Video
- Erik West on PACTS You Tube Video
- Tony Donovan on PACTS You Tube Video
- John Brooking on PACTS You Tube Video
Erik, one quibble: One CAN bike well on roads without good shoulders, as long as the travel lane is okay. It’s just not as comfortable for most people, and not as convenient for the motorists.
You are absolutely right!
I really like this. It’s a clear, not preachy insight and overview of the transportation network in and around Portland and a call to action that we don’t have the $$ to keep it up. I hear the comment that we need to reduce car usage but I think that comment misses the point that this is one way to do that. I can’t bike well on roads that are trashed or don’t have good shoulders and I totally support a gas tax to help pay for it. I support other solutions too like mileage based insurance and a more robust transit system. I think this is a good video that covers a lot of ground and asks us to not take the network for granted.
I find this video very troubling. At a time when we should, when we must be discouraging auto use, this video appears to be celebrating the pavement industry. The most telling segment of the video is the scene when the SUV splashes through a pot hole and the commentator refers to the damage the pothole is doing to the SUV! I would suggest the problem is reversed. That 6000 lb SUV caused the damage to the roads and to the public resources needed to pay to fix it! SUV’s, trucks and of course car use is creating an untenable financial burden on local and state budgets. We cannot continue to pay and pay for roads. This is one of the leading causes of high property taxes. And our State fiscal shortfalls. We are closing schools so we can pay for roads that need to be repaired again every few years.
PACTS might have considered their first foray into video messaging by trying to encourage reductions in vehicle use. By seeking alternatives to cars, such as found in public transit – and not just pavement based bus modes. The video says the “C” in PACTS stands for comprehensive. Well a train appeared for 1 second. Buses may have received 30 seconds of exposure. A few seconds given to a ferry; and then the pavement companies, and the “jobs they create” get the rest of the 8 minutes.
I would suggest to PACTS that the discussion on alternative modes be widened. The “C” to date is for collector as in roads. Time to get the Comprehensive back into Transportation systems.
Very well done technically. Content-wise, I think it may try to do too much. It started out being a general introduction to PACTS, but then turned to a specific issue, the revenue shortfall for road maintenance, so by the end I didn’t feel I had a consistent takeaway message. Perhaps it might be better as two separate videos: (1) Who we are and what we do, and (2) the current road maintenance crisis. That would also make #1 more general purpose, and #2 more concise, especially for audiences who already know who you are and what you do.