When people try and evacuate from any community bigger than, say, mine … Gridlock will be a thing. Particularly if emergency services aren’t going full speed to clear accidents, getting anywhere by car may be an agonizingly slow or even impossible. Paranoid Prepper told us about his experiences with this after leaving the Twin Towers on Sept 11 here. But there is an alternative to the gridlocked highways: Greenways.
What are greenways?
Many communities have a network of bike paths, mostly paved, known as greenways. They’re meant both for recreation and to allow bike commuting without having the bicycles and the cars share space (which often is hard on the bicycles). Many have physical barriers to prevent cars and such from using them.
Here’s the greenways map for one small city. You can get to a lot of places with no traffic problems.
Why would a prepper care about greenways?
If you can’t drive anyway, what could be better than a smooth paved ‘road’ network, well-paved, that’s likely to have far less traffic and in many cases its own bridges (bridges can be nasty chokepoints for those trying to exit cities)? Why, a road like that that often runs directly between important areas and connects with similar paths outside the city! If you’re bugging out by foot or bicycle, these are in many cases a better route than roads, being more direct and avoiding the worst congestion points.
They also allow several modes of transport, so long as they aren’t cars. Most are meant for walkers or cyclists, of course. (Salty talks about bicycles as bugout vehicles here.) Do you have kids to bring along though? Would that kid make better mileage if she could use her kick scooter? Or even her skates? Would it ease your load to haul some stuff along in the kid’s wagon for as long as possible? The goal is efficient movement, as comfortable as possible; not being TactiCool.
You can be creative with modes of transport on greenways; whatever works!
If it’s a situation where things might get ugly, I would propose you are less likely to find predators hanging around the greenways than the roadways. It’s just not where most people’s minds go, especially in the U.S. The predators go where they expect to find the traffic.
What’s the best way to make use of greenways?
Scout them ahead of time. Many states or regions have ‘bike maps’. The shape and placement of the route (inside a green space, gentle curves instead of straight lines and right angle turns) will show you real greenways (as opposed to a bike lane on a regular road). In other cases, you can download .pdfs from the local park system website.
Even better, explore them. That will Really show you what to expect, in terms of the route and your comfort in moving along it. If you carry your bugout bag, that’s optimal.
Although I would always discourage inappropriate use of greenways with motorized vehicles, in an emergency — well, that might not be inappropriate. A motorcycle, particularly dirt bike style, might be able to negotiate around the obstacles often placed to keep motor vehicles off the greenways.
Don’t overlook the bike trail/greenways options for longer distance travel
While I don’t consider the situations where people would have to walk long distances through the countryside very likely scenarios, it certainly might happen. In such a case, I’d much rather take a bike path (the ‘rural name’ for greenways) than a road: less traffic, more shade, easier access to water, and probably a lot less drama. Pretty and peaceful would be welcome characteristics in such trying times too.
Many states have great options that the state parks website would love to tell you about. There’s also sites that allow you to explore options in a lot of states. I’ve found TrailLink (clicky) to be nice.
These longer trails are also great to explore for fun and fitness. Want a stealth prep? Invite your sweetie on a bike trail wine tasting day. Maybe it’s because the grapes like river valleys, but in the midwest there are often wineries along the trails, complete with bike driveways. Hey, nobody said prepping couldn’t be fun!
Spice is not suffering as she spends a fine afternoon on a bike path.