Greenway - Subway

[Athomsfere]

I think a couple people know me around here by now, so take this as an Athomsfere thing but:

I've been spending an inordinate amount of time trying to find the lowest hanging fruit method to get a greenway from what we have now: A great recreation system that's mostly useless for commuting to something that also runs east to west.

Common objections and problems are as follows:

• Too many hills

• Too hot in the summer

• Too cold in the winter

• No where to put it

• No one wants to give up a lane on Dodge, Farnam, etc.

Which get's me wondering: Why don't we get someone like The Boring Company, who currently just builds useless tunnels but at semi-low costs due to the smaller size of the tunnels to build bike / pedestrian tunnels like the Netherlands has?

It would need frequent entrances and exits to be useful. But if we could run it from Downtown somewhere to Aksarben, it would solve so many problems.

So other than cost, why not?

Or you know, just discuss my fellow Omahanian-shennaniganites.

[thenewguy]

It'd sure be cool, but I suspect very cost prohibitive.

[Garrett]

I'd have to see examples but it does sound a bit dystopian to walk or bike through a tunnel like that.

[Athomsfere]

I'd have to see examples but it does sound a bit dystopian to walk or bike through a tunnel like that.

Perhaps the Maastunnel then?
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/maastunnel




Probably not ideal, but we really need to start finding ways to get people to be able to run basic errands without cars.

[Athomsfere]

It'd sure be cool, but I suspect very cost prohibitive.

If Musk / the boring company were to be trusted: ~100 million maybe. $10 - $15 million per mile is the number they throw around for their smaller bore machines they bought second hand.

Which I believe would be double the approximate price to rebuild Dodge out the the same area... And of course the tunnel would have a much higher throughput if the demand was there...

[Dusty]

It was hard enough to get the Harney Street Bikeway. IMO, it was poorly designed. Anyways...
Boring holes with a large price tag would be a tough sell. Besides, people in Finland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands cycle in the snow and rain just fine. It doesn't stop them. Only Americans act like they will melt if a rain drop hits them while riding.

For those that can't figure out how to put on a rain jacket and ride, you can always suggest one of those pod cars. I saw one a few weeks ago riding in the bike lane.

https://mypodride.com/

[NEDodger]

I'd have to see examples but it does sound a bit dystopian to walk or bike through a tunnel like that.

Perhaps the Maastunnel then?
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/maastunnel




Probably not ideal, but we really need to start finding ways to get people to be able to run basic errands without cars.

Judging from the photo above, you may want to try alternatives. I don’t think 100 million dollars for a creepy, empty tunnel is going to fly here.

[Athomsfere]

It was hard enough to get the Harney Street Bikeway. IMO, it was poorly designed. Anyways...
Boring holes with a large price tag would be a tough sell. Besides, people in Finland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands cycle in the snow and rain just fine. It doesn't stop them. Only Americans act like they will melt if a rain drop hits them while riding.

For those that can't figure out how to put on a rain jacket and ride, you can always suggest one of those pod cars. I saw one a few weeks ago riding in the bike lane.

https://mypodride.com/

I personally would love this option if it got us good bike infrastructure.

Also, snow here and the cold isn't the same as at least the Netherlands. I can get not wanting to bike in a foot of snow and feels like -40...

[Dusty]

I know we like to share videos and different channels. If you haven't watched Bicycle Dutch they put out some great videos on YouTube. They did a video on biking in cold and snowy Finland. Maybe we can learn some things from them.

Also, they did a ride through video on a bike tunnel like you mentioned. It made me a little dizzy watching it. Enjoy!

[S.O.Boy]

I'd have to see examples but it does sound a bit dystopian to walk or bike through a tunnel like that.

Perhaps the Maastunnel then?
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/maastunnel




Probably not ideal, but we really need to start finding ways to get people to be able to run basic errands without cars.

Judging from the photo above, you may want to try alternatives. I don’t think 100 million dollars for a creepy, empty tunnel is going to fly here.

We have those under Dodge Street, unless they have been filled in.

[Athomsfere]

I'd have to see examples but it does sound a bit dystopian to walk or bike through a tunnel like that.

Perhaps the Maastunnel then?
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/maastunnel




Probably not ideal, but we really need to start finding ways to get people to be able to run basic errands without cars.

Judging from the photo above, you may want to try alternatives. I don’t think 100 million dollars for a creepy, empty tunnel is going to fly here.

We have those under Dodge Street, unless they have been filled in.

There is only one. It only goes under Dodge. And it isn't bike friendly, at all. In fact, the signs tell you to walk your bike.

[Athomsfere]

I know we like to share videos and different channels. If you haven't watched Bicycle Dutch they put out some great videos on YouTube. They did a video on biking in cold and snowy Finland. Maybe we can learn some things from them.

Also, they did a ride through video on a bike tunnel like you mentioned. It made me a little dizzy watching it. Enjoy!

Those are great.

I guess my thoughts on all of this boil down to roughly two points:

1. That tunnel is an ancient (by modern infrastructure standards) car tunnel. Repurposed for bikes. We could make a much nicer tunnel if we chose to. But anything would be a win for Omaha.

2. It's my outside the box thinking that got me on the tunnels. We get stupid stuff like the expressway built without issue, but try to get more bike lanes or transit and it's A. Omaha isn't big enough B. Omaha is too cold C. Omaha is too hot D. Omaha has too many hills D. Omaha needs the swing lane E. We can't take a lane from anywhere for bikes

etc. etc.

So I threw something new out there.

[NEDodger]

Because the Dodge Expressway gets….used….

[riceweb]

So basically tunnel between the existing greenways/trails along creeks? interesting concept.

But I do think you have it inverted. It's probably more likely that we'd bury a wider street and replace the street-level with a narrower street while adding bike lanes + greenway. Take Center St within the 680 loop, for instance: you might be able to cut-and-cover Center St so that 4 lanes run underground, and aboveground you'd retain 2 lanes + a long park/trail system.

[Athomsfere]

Because the Dodge Expressway gets….used….

Of course it gets used, when we haven't built anything else, or even enabled anything better.

Instead we doubled down and built that nonsense.

Imagine living back in the Old Mill Apartments or housing. Zero affordance has been given to bikes or cars to get to any employers, restaurants and bars there. Or even to the ORBT.

[Athomsfere]

So basically tunnel between the existing greenways/trails along creeks? interesting concept.

But I do think you have it inverted. It's probably more likely that we'd bury a wider street and replace the street-level with a narrower street while adding bike lanes + greenway. Take Center St within the 680 loop, for instance: you might be able to cut-and-cover Center St so that 4 lanes run underground, and aboveground you'd retain 2 lanes + a long park/trail system.

Basically yes.

But I'd take the "more likely" scenario too. What we have now is mostly unusable for anything other than recreation.