When it comes to transportation issues there doesn’t seem to be any government agencies addressing the infrastructure problems in a solution-oriented way. So it follows that sustainable transportation solutions in rural communities will depend on citizens to design, fund, and implement them.

Last spring I started a successful used bicycle recycling business in a town a little smaller than Eastsound, and have since written a detailed manual on how to start a used bicycle shop. Almost anyone with some basic knowledge of bicycle mechanics can start their own shop for the price of a used car. This manual offers a “how-to, then-do” community building model focusing on infrastructure that is affordable and which leaves our community in control.

With a start up cost of $2,000, my business started making profit within the second month; the return on investment doubled within the first four months of operation.

Once implemented, this proposal will create jobs and cottage industries, empowering ourselves using largely local resources. Go to travellightcycles.com to learn more.

With a bicycle recycling center, we can help to create an affordable means of transporting pedestrians and products efficiently around our residential and business areas. There have been successes in shifting car-dominated cities towards pedestrian friendly areas, creating livable and prosperous towns by modifying their transportation infrastructure. Not much, however, has been done on sustainable transportation in rural areas. I believe it is time that our local communities develop and implement a transportation model that we all can live with.

The second phase of the bicycle recycling center (BRC) will modify some of the bicycles to become hybrids – running on pedal and/or electric propulsion. This is actually being done presently with my sixth conversion riding the roads of Orcas.

The electric bikes are affordable ($700-$1400) and will expand the range of pedestrian transport to outlining areas and villages.

The BRC will also diversify to manufacture carts, pedicabs, and trailers for bikes and horses to facilitate courier services, such as transporting goods and people from the Eastsound or Friday Harbor airports to town. This will require the improvement and expansion of trails and pathways, creating jobs and encouraging community participation.

The electric bike conversion and trailer manufacturing could be started up for as little as $5,000 to $8,000 each. We believe there are enough community resources, creative financing, and generosity to start the wheel rolling.

Investment into our communities’ sustainable infrastructures will provide a backbone for economic and social security. A vision like this cannot wait another year for feasibility studies. Clearly our current crumbling infrastructure isn’t feasible, especially when oil prices can only go back up.

Implementing this and other sustainable-oriented projects in our communities will eventually ease the burden on already maxed out centralized systems.

If interested in being involved, contact me at mikial@ymail.com and or come to the Sustainable Orcas meeting at the Orcas Library on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 5:30 p.m.

Mikial Denker lives on Orcas Island.