I live about 7 miles from work by car. My house is between the two major north/south highways that traverse Austin (IH-35 and Mo-Pac). My work is just a block away from one of them, 6 or so miles south. A couple of years ago, voters in Austin narrowly rejected a light rail proposal that would have created a small system of surface-level commuter trains, with one of the primary objections being its perceived cost. Now, I'm not big fan of driving to work. I have a decent car rather than a mammoth land barge, but it still seems wasteful. In the best of all possible worlds, I wouldn't have to drive, but since Austin voters didn't see fit to support light rail and I am not independently wealthy, I will have to make do.
One thought that I entertain from time to time is riding my bike to work. 6 miles isn't far at all on a bike, especially if I replaced my mountain bike with a hybrid. The problem in my case is that the area between home and work is quite heavily developed and thus heavily travelled. I could ride my bike, if I liked the tastes of diesel exhaust and death. But then, why suffer that as an unchangeable permanent situation? When I lived in Vermont, there was a short bike path connecting my development with a hitherto disconnected one. It was short, only about a half mile, but very useful. Austin already has a large number of recreational trails. It seems a rather logical step to develop a few dozen miles of dedicated bike paths connecting major parts of Austin for use by short/medium distance commuters. I imagine they could be pretty cheap and simple. A 10-foot wide path, 5 feet of shoulder, and then hedges, shrubbery, and trees to provide isolation/insulation and shade. Create two main paths parallelling the major highways, perhaps 2-3 miles apart, with east/west offshoots every mile or so, from Parmer Lane to William Cannon. It would be inexpensive, easy, and would get some cars off the road, not to mention providing an enjoyable recreational environment. Were I the sort of person to care about things, I might actually put effort into this beyond the weblog post. Ah well.
Addendum: It appears that the City of Austin thinks that bike lanes on the streets are good enough. I'm not so sure about that, but I can plot a better route than I had thought from home to work. Of course, since we are now entering the peak of the Austin summer, it is unlikely that I'll start now, but it's definitely something for me to think about (assuming it doesn't get vetoed like the motorcycle and the mustache).