An apocalyptic remains of civilization? No, just the next subdivision ready to go in.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we loaded up the car (rental car in our case) and headed to Lubbock to see the in-laws. During this trip, I began reading “$20 Per Gallon“, a book about how our world will change with the inevitable rise of oil and gasoline prices in the coming years. I’ll do a full book review in the coming weeks, but so far while the book is a bit formulaic, it does get you thinking and worried about how ill prepared our country is for this reality.

I am often frustrated by the level of progress the City of Austin makes in turning our city into a sustainable metropolis ready to tackle the new green economy. Sure, we talk a good game. We get lots of award, but the fact of the matter is that most people in this city still live in wasteful single family homes located in barely walkable, sprawling suburban subdivisions using their car for a majority, if not all, their trips. We’ve make the commitment to change in our minds, but we are woefully slow at making these visions reality.

Well, there is nothing like a trip to Lubbock to put things in perspective. While in Austin, there is an attempt to tackle these economic and environmental crises coming down the pike, cities like Lubbock are continuing down the same path assuming last summer’s $4/gallon was an aberration. During my visit, I saw two different parts of Lubbock that are very telling. On Thanksgiving, we had dinner at the Lubbock Club, a dinner club at the top of one of Lubbock’s few downtown high-rises. From here, you could see all of downtown and all of the city on a clear day. Looking down at the streets of the central business district, I saw block after block of empty cement lots, places where the building that made up the heart of Lubbock once stood, now parking lots. Some of these lots didn’t even have parking spaces painted, instead the owners deciding to pave over the lot just to save on maintenance.

A day later, I went on a bike ride out south of town and on my way back in came across an empty subdivision a full 10 miles from downtown around 125th street (1st street is downtown). All of the roads of this subdivision were paved with street lights and signs. There were dozens of lots fully plugged in with electric and gas boxes ready to have a prefabbed ranch home dropped on it. It was a bizarre, apocalyptic sight I would have written off to silly over-reaching by a developer if not for the fact that there were new homes under construction not a 1/4 mile down the road. This was not some visionaries attempt to create some separate community from Lubbock. This was the edge of town and the next stop on further expansion. Just a bit further out there was a sign for commercial development, the strip mall to serve this new part of town. The street numbering goes on to 178th street, another three miles out.

All the utility lines are installed and ready for a home to be built, 10 miles from downtown.

In a city of 200,000 people, you have solid development radiating over 10 miles out from the urban core, approximately the same area as the island of Manhattan. Such low density, car centric development can only be sustained by cheap oil. This has been the reality of our world for two generations, but it is rapidly coming to an end. I found myself frequently asking myself, what will Lubbock do at the reasonable prediction of $8/gallon, let alone $20. Their current reality will cease to exist. Unfortunately for Lubbock, their leaders appear to have turned a tin ear to this possibility. Nothing is being done to produce sustainable communities where the car is not the only legitimate form of transportation. Lubbock’s bus system is sketchy at best, the single family home and strip malls dominate, and while they’ve taken the time to create bike routes, these routes intersect with the 6 lane major roads Lubbock has at 1 mile intervals with no stop light or safe way to cross. One wonders how many other cities in America are in the same state. There are probably enough to mean we’re going to be in real trouble as gas ticks up.

When looking at our own community, Austin can’t continue to make half measures. In the high gas price future, the cities and communities that prepared in these cheap oil times will thrive and grow. Those that don’t will struggle and wither. Whether it’s bicycle infrastructure, higher density walkable neighborhoods, renewable energy or a real transit system, we cannot afford to wait. Not only will these things improve our quality of life, they will be the economic saviors of our future. We either invest today to yield the dividends in the future, or play a painful catchup at risk of being left behind. It’s time to get real. Are you ready?

Related posts:

1. Wanting more cyclists on the road? Look to what women want ...
2. Preparing for Cyclocross ...
3. Krause to give free lecture on preparing for endurance mountain biking ...
4. Special Wednesday Night Road Ride on for tonight ...
5. Bike Infrastructure: What we can learn from Seattle ...