News and links from around the web

Here are some stories and links that caught my eye lately:

• Matt Wright contacted us wanting to let our readers know about the launch of The Mappy Thing.  The site is designed to  help newcomers and travelers who might visiting San Diego for a few days, or locals who are new to cycling to help them sort out where they can ride, places they can rent bikes, and reviews on select bike shops.

• Further north in the County, Leucadia’s plans to reduce the lanes on Historic Highway 101 from two to one has been voted on and has passed 3 to 1. Traffic calming measures are slowly beginning to spread in San Diego county.

• The idea to give public spaces back to non-auto users spreads to Los Angeles where planners are proposing to narrow Grand Avenue.

• Another reason to switch to pedal power, heart conditions are being linked to vehicle exhaust. Air pollution has also been linked to asthma in a study done in South Bronx [pdf link].

• It is always the little details that go the furthest. Copenhagen has introduced foot and hand rails for bicyclists to lean up against while stopped at a stop light or a stop sign.

• Here is a solution that would be ideal to deal with San Diego’s canyons, suspending bike lanes up in the air. However, it seems this is a rather dangerous solution compared with just reducing the number of lanes and creating more traffic calming measures.