Charleston Moves

Charleston Moves

>> hopefully, you've had a chance to create a new regimen getting outside while social distancing.

And we have an array of parks and trails, but some argue that they're not enough.

Here to argue for these places is katie zimmerman for charleston moves, and great to see you.

So how have you been holding up during this time?

>> it's definitely unique, and i'm lucky in that i can primarily work from home.

And so i hope everybody is hanging in there and staying as safe as possible.

>> absolutely.

And so this is mobility month, and what does that mean exactly.

>> may is national bike month, and in charleston, we kind of turned into mobility morning because we like to celebrate not just biking but walking and running and being able to take the bus, mobility choice you have the options and you get around as you choose in a safe manner.

>> and i know there are a lot of places around the low country that people can do this, and we're lucky in that way, because there are a lot of other mun is battles that don't provide these kinds of spaces.

Would you say that we have enough or do we need more?

What's the challenge that we face?

>> we definitely need more, and charleston moves, we push for a concept that a lot of people probably are familiar with, it's called complete streets, so when a street is built or represent ro fitted or even if repairs are done, that's an opportunity to make that street work for multiple types of users, depending on the context of the street.

So in the charleston area, we don't have that right now.

We don't have a lot of strengths where you can get around by different types and feel safe, and be comfortable doing it.

But a lot of people, you know, have no other choice but to bike to get somewhere.

If you can't afford a car, or you don't want to drive a car.

That's kind of what you're relegated to as the safe mode right now.

And we believe that there's a broader array of options that would probably work better.

>> right, i've always lived in a city where i've had to basically live in my car.

It didn't matter how close something was, i had to get in the car, and i had to travel in that way, and i thought moving to the low country, it would be a little bit different, but when you look at it, people live far away and they come to the city center to work so, how would you create that balance?

If you can't afford a carp but you live far from your job, how does mass transportation work into all of these plans?

>> yeah, providing mobility choices, but a study actually just was released about a week ago that showed it was a long-term study, pre pandemic, and it emphasized what we already knew, which is providing space for people to bike, if you put in a bike lane, that improves the economy.

So businesses do better when there are good connected sidewalks and bike lanes that can you get to to shop there.

Mass transit also, you know, the low country is getting up to speed with that.

And we're going to have bus rapid transit soon, soon in a few years, but the council of governments is working very hard on that.

And that's an option for people who live far away from their job to be able to not have to drive to get to it, save money, save time really, because you can sit and work on a bus if you're so inclined.

But that also saves money generally from the amount of money that goes into highway expansions is incredible.

The amount of money that tax dollars -- i mean, it's an incredible waste when you look at what we could be doing with the space we already have.

And that's providing better transit and biking and walking, and also, most trips are actually outside of commuting, so it's running errands and things like that.

So if we're able to get people safely to be able to go to the grocery store and not drive, that's one less car off the road and that builds up and makes an impact as we're seeing right now.

Obviously no one.ed this to be the reason why, but traffic is lessened by 75%.

>> and air quality, in the cities where they had some of the worst air quality, now they have some of the best because nobody is driving.

And it's amazing the impact it has.

So charleston moves, you have events coming up, and are these taking place because of the pandemic?

I know that things are lance thing upright now, about what do you have planned?

>> usually we do a huge number of events in may, and they're designed to bring people together.

Wich -- >> you can't do so much.

>> so we originally had push today all back to june.

I'm not sure, we're keeping an eye on things.

It's likely we'll push it back to fall, all of our events or most of them simply because we want -- you know, we want people to be safe.

And we want them to be comfortable.

>> absolutely.

We'll keep an eye on on your website for any changes in that schedule.

And of course 23 people get the chance to get outside and fresh air while keeping a social distance, they're all the better for it.

I want to thank you so much, katie for giving us insight on this important topic.

>> one thing to add, people outdoors now, more than they ever have, if you go to the website, we have audits and surveys, and you can tell us what your it experience has been like, and a lot of people are learning that we're behind the curve on your infrastructure needs.

>> that's great.

And thank