Dan Burden speaking TONIGHT in San Jose

Dan Burden is director of Walkable Communities, a non profit organization dedicated to helping communities become more pedestrian friendly. Dan took a walking audit of the downtown San Jose area, and he'll talk about his findings tonight at 6 PM at the San Jose Repertory Theater on Paseo de San Antonio as part of the city Great Cities Speaker Series.

The premise of Dan Burden's organization is that Walkability is the cornerstone and key to an urban area's efficient ground transportation. Every trip begins and ends with walking. Walking remains the cheapest form of transport for all people, and the construction of a walkable community provides the most affordable transportation system any community can plan, design, construct and maintain. Walkable communities put urban environments back on a scale for sustainability of resources (both natural and economic) and lead to more social interaction, physical fitness and diminished crime and other social problems. Walkable communities are more liveable communities and lead to whole, happy, healthy lives for the people who live in them.

I've worked with Dan before on a traffic calming committee that I participated with in Colorado. He's a very engaging speaker with wonderfully creative and bold (some would say "crazy") proposals. He's very positive and does a great job helping people to see the possibilities.

Dan Burden favors some traffic calming engineering that are not popular with many cyclists. He likes traffic circles, for example. While many cyclists like to promote wider lanes, Burden believes streets should be made narrower for enhanced safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

Tonight's talk is free; show up expecting to learn quite a bit about traffic calming.