Bicycle Infrastructure

• This article explores increased bicycle infrastructure as a climate solution, including implementation costs, financial benefits, and CO₂ emissions reduction.
• Students will learn that people rarely travel by bicycle in urban areas, the amount of travel by bike has increased due to increased infrastructure, and additional bicycle infrastructure can prevent many gigatons of carbon emissions.

Positives

• This article also mentions how increased bicycle infrastructure could impact traffic congestion.
• This article acknowledges that weather and geography can influence the expansion of bicycle infrastructure in a city.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• Some students may need the terms car-centric cities, pop-up lanes, infrastructure, urban, "rails to trails," or others defined before reading the article.
• Students should know what greenhouse gases are, their effect on the planet, and how modern transportation contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. 
  

Differentiation

• Students can use this article for a research project on the connection between city planning and climate change mitigation.
• Teachers can assign this article as homework to enhance an in-class discussion on how bike-friendly their community is and why so many cities in America have car-centric infrastructure.
• Combine this article with other infrastructure-related solutions from the Table of Solutions for a lesson on city planning, who engages in it, and why it matters.