Imagine my surprise to get an e-mail solicitation yesterday from a casino in Black Hawk, Colo., asking me to bring our business to their facility…. Regular blog readers will know this is the very same town that has banned bicyclists from its streets, making it really quite an unlikely destination for a national bicycling organization to choose for a meeting, unless perhaps we are planning some civil disobedience, or a field trip to see what life would be like in a town where bikes were not allowed.
Yes, maybe we could take a handful of potential major donors out there and put the fear of God (or Glen Beck) into them by showing what the world would be like without bicycle advocacy groups like the League and Bicycle Colorado. Or maybe we could go undercover and surreptitiously hand out garish plastic bike pins (if you’ve been to the National Bike Summit you know what I’m talking about) to resort visitors.
What a stark contract we could draw with the promotional materials I picked up at the ASAE convention last week from places like Sonoma County: check out the cover of their Visitor Guide and Wine Map; or Vancouver BC where the meeting planners guide also has a cover shot of normal looking people on bikes and the local bike network is promoted as evidence of their green credentials. Of course, Portland, Ore., and their Travel Portland site has not just a few images but a choice of hotel packages that include bikes.
Closer to Black Hawk, nearby Boulder has getaway packages featuring on- and off-road biking attractions that might just appeal more to the 50+ million adults in the USA that love to ride; Longmont has plenty of riding options; and Fort Collins proudly boasts of its walking and bicycling opportunities in the opening sentence of its website.
For the time being, at least, I think we’ll consider those places as just a tad more suitable for us than Black Hawk.
In fact, we’re having our next strategic planning meeting this fall in … Denver; check out the pedicab on the cover of their tourist guide this year, and the launch of the Denver bike sharing program certainly factored into our location decision! And we’ll be taking a tour of Boulder while we are there. Sorry, Black Hawk. Maybe next year.
Andy Clarke League President
Andy Clarke was appointed to the position of Executive Director in April of 2004 after successfully leading efforts to create, interpret and implement the various transportation programs that are available to improve conditions for bicycling and walking as the League’s State and Local Advocacy Director. Before joining the League in February 2003, Clarke was on contract to provide technical assistance to the highly regarded Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center on site at the Federal Highway Administration. He is on the Board of Directors for America Bikes, and a member of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycling Professionals.
A ten-day traffic jam stretching more than 60 miles outside of Beijing, China is a nightmare – a nightmare for those in their cars, for the Chinese government, and for its citizens. The jam, noted as the longest in history, formed on August 14 and has caused some drivers to be stuck on the road for six days.
The number of vehicles in Beijing has increased by 1,900 a day on average in the first six months of this year, officials said at a recent transportation seminar. Beijing, like many of China’s big cities, has invested heavily on widening roads, building towering flyovers and expanding its subway system. It is, however, still struggling to keep pace with the surge of new vehicles. China, with its fast-expanding middle-class, this year, overtook the United States to become the world’s biggest car market. In Beijing alone, a city of 20 million, the total number of vehicles is expected to hit 7 million by 2015. The city’s roads can accommodate 6.7 million vehicles…To ease the burden on the roads, the government is planning to invest 331.2 billion Yuan ($ 49.4 billion) in the next five years to expand its subway system by 850 km and increase the usage of public transport to 40 per cent.
Hopefully, China’s efforts include bike infrastructure and increasing the bike-mode share, in addition to expanding its public transportation system. Similar problems are popping up in countries near and far. Click here for a slide show of 12 of the world’s most high traffic areas.
Similar recurring nightmares (albeit not as long as Beijing’s) are clogging our own backyards. Next time, instead of sitting idle in your car for two hours on you way to work and for two hours on the way back, ride your bike. Worst case scenario, it will take you the same amount of time as when you sat in traffic. However, when you bike commute you don’t subject yourself to the frustration of going nowhere and annoying radio morning shows. You feel refreshed and not the least bit irritated from the time you wasted sitting in traffic – because you didn’t!
In addition to biking your work commute and errands, take action and protect vital bicycle funding in your community. The more citizens on bikes, the less traffic and the happier we will all be.
The League is proud to be a Gold Level sponsor of this year’s Pro Walk/Pro Bike Conference taking place September 13-17. Bronze Level BFC Chattanooga, TN will be hosting the biennial conference. Along with sharing information on the League’s programs to participants from our booth, we’ll be taking part in several plenaries, panel discussions and workshops on connecting offroad riding opportunities to traditional bicycle networks, creating bicycle friendly work places, Bicycle Friendly Communities, state DOT bicycle programs, distracted driving and federal transportation policy. You can see the full list of program items here.
Though the conference is quickly approaching, it’s not too late to sign up. As added incentive, all panel presentations are now qualified for AICP continuing education credit. This not only speaks to the importance and timing of our work in the planning field, but offers added incentive for your community’s planning staff to participate.
Jeff Peel State and Local Advocacy Coordinator
Peel joined the League in March 2008 as a Program Specialist for the Bicycle Friendly Communities program. Peel has a BA in American Studies from the University of Southern Mississippi.
As bicycling continues to grow across the country, so does the need for increased understanding of how to safely ride a bike. There’s much more to learn beyond the basic balance, braking and shifting. Luckily, with proper training and a bit of practice, it’s not that hard. With our terrific Smart Cycling series of courses, and our hardworking League Cycling Instructors (LCIs), we offer courses for cyclists of all skill levels – beginner to expert.
With this growth of bicycling, comes the need for more instructors. The League relies on our wonderful LCIs to help deliver our Smart Cycling message across the country, and we welcome more cycling enthusiasts to join us in this effort. What would have made for a full year of instructor seminars a few years back, now makes for a full month! We have 16 seminars remaining this year [2 are apparently already full!]. See the schedule below, and consider signing up for one:
South Portland, ME
Fri-Sun, September 10-12, 2010
Contact: Jim Tasse, 207-318-0386 Seminar signup
Sep 16 Seminar
Chattanooga, TN
Thu-Sat Sep 16-18, 2010
Contact: Philip Pugliese, 423.643.6887 Seminar signup
This seminar is directly after the ProWalk/ProBike Conference in Chattanooga
Houston, TX
Fri-Sun, Oct 01-03, 2010
Contact: Brian Hatt Seminar signup
Oct 1 Seminar
New Britain, CT
Fri-Sun, Oct 1-3, 2010
Contact: Elizabeth Emery, 860-522-2217 ext 227 Seminar signup
Registration for this seminar is open to CT residents. We will maintain a wait list of out of state candidates and notify you by Sept if space becomes available.
Asheville, NC
Fri-Sun, Oct 15, 2010
Contact: Gwen Wisler, (828) 333-1767 Registration for this seminar is closed
This seminar is not really closed but you must contact Gwen to register.
Corpus Christi, TX
Fri-Sun, Oct 22-24, 2010
Contact: Tom Neagli, 361-993-7000 Registration for this seminar is closed
You must contact the site coordinator to register for this seminar
Washington, DC
Fri-Sun, Nov 19-21, 2010
Contact: Glen Harrison Seminar signup
This will be at the WABA office on Ontario Street
Having active LCIs in your state, community or business earns you credit in their respective award recognition applications. If you’re working on any of these, it’s a great way to bolster your responses to the Education section. Also, we strongly encourage law enforcement, Safe Routes to School practitioners, planners and engineers to participate. As professionals working on behalf of cyclists, you already understand the needs, rights and responsibilities of bicyclists. You’ll learn the necessary skills to better share this with others.
To learn more about becoming a LCI, visit the Instructor FAQ’s , contact Education Program Director Preston Tyree or call the League office at 202.822.1333.
Jeff Peel State and Local Advocacy Coordinator
Peel joined the League in March 2008 as a Program Specialist for the Bicycle Friendly Communities program. Peel has a BA in American Studies from the University of Southern Mississippi.
There’s been a lot said and written about the decline of Detroit, Mich after its deindustrialization. Long ago dubbed the Motor City, locals tell us that many streets are void of auto-traffic making them great for bikes. There’s lots of people and organizations trying to turn the city around. Folks like the League of Michigan Bicyclists and Todd Scott at Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance are working to re-energize the city through bicycles and greenways. Now they may have some help from the Mower Gang.
Walking through a maze of shrubbery, trees, tires, paint cans and logs the size of wheelbarrows, it was hard to imagine that people raced bicycles there.
“I cannot believe that this has been abandoned in time,” said Tom Nardone, founder of the Mower Gang. The small group of volunteers was standing on the Dorais Velodrome in northeast Detroit on Friday. The motto on their shirts said it all, “Winning Detroit’s Other Turf War.”
Though the concrete velodrome needs quite a bit more maintenance to be race worthy, the group of volunteer armed with mowers and weedwackers did succeed in making it rideable again.
“It’s really not about getting some 45-year-old guy a better place to ride his bike,” said [Tom] Nardone, reflecting on the Mower Gang’s mission. “It’s more about getting 10-, 12-, 13-year-old kids a better place to spend an afternoon.”
Jeff Peel State and Local Advocacy Coordinator
Peel joined the League in March 2008 as a Program Specialist for the Bicycle Friendly Communities program. Peel has a BA in American Studies from the University of Southern Mississippi.
We have been following the Reed Bates’ case since pretty much the day the saga began. At the very outset, I called a couple of the people closely involved with Mr. Bates and offered the League’s help; it did appear that the charges were inappropriate, that Bates had a legal right to ride where he was riding, and that the jury that Bates chose to be heard by was incorrectly instructed by the first judge involved. On that basis, we would have been happy to help defend his right to ride on the road.
Our offer to assist was not accepted; instead, he and his advisers chose to assert that not only was Bates legally allowed to ride where he was riding, but that’s where he and everyone else should be riding, even in the presence of a perfectly rideable shoulder. That approach took the issue beyond a strict legal argument as to where one is legally allowed to ride to where one should ride, and a rural Texas courtroom may not be the best place to have that call made on our behalf. As the situation has developed, Bates (and the people advising him) has unfortunately chosen to follow a strategy that our board and legal advisers did not think was in the best interests of all cyclists – from the initial trial by jury preference to a failure to show up for court dates and hearings to the pursuit of a position that is simply not reasonable and could easily backfire.
We have remained in touch with the issue with local Dallas-area advocates, Bike Texas and our board of directors. It is instructive that none of us have chosen to get involved. I think we all regret that the way the case has been played by Bates and his advisers has precluded us from constructively intervening to help him and defend our collective rights to the road.
Andy Clarke League President
Andy Clarke was appointed to the position of Executive Director in April of 2004 after successfully leading efforts to create, interpret and implement the various transportation programs that are available to improve conditions for bicycling and walking as the League’s State and Local Advocacy Director. Before joining the League in February 2003, Clarke was on contract to provide technical assistance to the highly regarded Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center on site at the Federal Highway Administration. He is on the Board of Directors for America Bikes, and a member of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycling Professionals.
As we mentioned last week, state transportation agencies are faced with another round of rescissions and will be cutting unspent funds from various programs. Unlike previous rescissions, these cuts do not have to follow a proportionality clause, meaning an increased threat for programs that typically fund bicycling projects.
You can help prevent this by taking action! Visit our Advocacy Center and tell your Governor to require that these cuts be made proportionately across eligible programs. States must report which program funds are affected by August 25th — so action is needed this week!
Peel joined the League in March 2008 as a Program Specialist for the Bicycle Friendly Communities program. Peel has a BA in American Studies from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Los Angeles, the second largest and debatably most auto-centric city in the United States, is reaching out towards cyclists and making an effort to transform the city to make room for bikes. To reaffirm this point, L.A. hosted a bicycle safety summit this morning, August 16. This step towards bicycle-friendliness comes after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was hit by a car while on his bike. The accidentcrash resulted in a shattered elbow and a new push to increase safety for bicyclists.
The Mayor made a formal announcement on You Tube that included his personal crash, the need for improvement in L.A.’s bicycle infrastructure, and his intention to focus on this subject — starting with this morning’s bike safety summit. He also wrote that, “Eventually we plan to build a network of 1,663 miles of bikeways. I encourage everyone to take a look at the plan and give input.” Villaraigosa envisions Los Angeles’ climate and landscape as an ideal place for cyclists. The Mayor hopes that today’s discussion and upcoming bicycle plan updates will maximize what the city has going for it.
Carly Sieff League Bicycle Friendly America Program Assistant
Sieff joined the League in April 2010 with a Bachelors in Urban Studies and Science & Society from Brown University.
Technology is amazing and typically makes everything easier – information sharing, photo sharing, video sharing, and now bike sharing! Bike sharing by iphone joins the extensive list of bike-sharing systems already in place. Just in the past couple of years we have seen a boom in cities adopting bike share systems as an additional public transportation option – some of the more popular are Paris; Montreal; Washington, D.C.; Denver; Minneapolis; Chicago; and the list keeps growing. Cities are not the only ones on top of this boom, businesses are implementing systems, and even colleges and universities are getting in the game. Some systems allow people passing by to swipe their credit card and ride off, while others require a little planning ahead but can be just as convenient. Coming this fall to the Big Apple is bike sharing by iphone called Sobi. Soon a user will be able to locate an available bike with the simple touch of a phone. I once thought bike riding was as simple as it could get, but with these innovations in bike share systems I am starting to believe it can be even simpler.
Alison Dewey League Program Manager, BFB & BFU
Dewey joined the League in 2008. For four years prior to that, Dewey worked for Massachusetts- based Landry’s Bicycles and served on the board of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition. Dewey has a MA in International Relations and Communications from Boston University and is a graduate of St. Olaf College. She spent three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal.
Today Delaware Governor signed SB 269 into law. The bill, modeled after an Oregon law, enhances the penalty for drivers convicted of careless or inattentive drivers who cause serious physical injury to cyclists, pedestrians and other vulnerable road users. The new law includes sentencing guidelines such as:
completion of a traffic safety course
perform up to 100 hours of community service related to driver improvement and providing public education on traffic safety
fines up to $550
suspension of driving privileges
In response to the bill signing, League President Andy Clarke said “We’re excited that Delaware is becoming the third state in the nation to pass such a Vulnerable Road Users law that offers additional protection to cyclists and other non-motorized users of our shared roadways. It is this sort of leadership that has propelled them to 10th in our annual state rankings and garnered them a Bronze Level Bicycle Friendly State designation. We look forward to Delaware’s continued progressing in making their state a great place for bicyclists.”
If you live in Delaware please be sure to thank bill sponsors Senator Sokola and Representative Barbieri and co-sponsors Sen. Bunting and Reps. Bennett, Carson, Hudson, Jaques, Miro, Schooley, D. Short, Walls & Brady. Thanks also to Bike Delaware, Delaware Bicycle Council and Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia for their work in advocating for this law.
Jeff Peel State and Local Advocacy Coordinator
Peel joined the League in March 2008 as a Program Specialist for the Bicycle Friendly Communities program. Peel has a BA in American Studies from the University of Southern Mississippi.
On Tuesday afternoon, an emergency session of Congress passed a $26 billion Jobs Bill. The Bill includes $6.7 billion in rescissions, of which $2.2 billion will come from transportation funds. Unlike the last round of rescissions this Bill strips away the requirement that all transportation programs receive equal consideration to others- meaning that we will most likely seen a disproportional impact on programs important to the non-motorized projects such as Transportation Enhancements (TE) and Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality (CMAQ).
As the USDOT prepares guidance to help state transportation agencies make these cuts, we will be preparing action alerts and resources to prepare state and local advocates for the coming attacks on these funding programs that are critical to bike programs and infrastructure across the country.
Peel joined the League in March 2008 as a Program Specialist for the Bicycle Friendly Communities program. Peel has a BA in American Studies from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Portland is justifiably one of only three platinum level Bicycle Friendly Communities we’ve designated in the United States; they are rightly proud of that designation and thankfully not at all inclined to rest on their laurels. That’s a good thing, because there are some big cities snapping at their heels ready to take away their crown. Minneapolis actually has equally high levels of bike use; New York City has been transformed for cycling in the past two years; Seattle is always looking to outdo their neighbors to the south! But, perhaps the biggest threat comes from San Francisco…because after four years on an enforced hold, the city is about to implement an ambitious bike plan faster than you can imagine.
Last week, an injunction was lifted on the city that had prevented any engineering improvements for cycling on city streets. I wont go into the gory details of the folly of the injunction and the irony of the reasons for it even being granted – its more important now to focus on the tremendous opportunity we all now have to see a big US city really go to town on improving conditions for cyclists. It’s actually going to provide a really interesting case study, just as it has for the past few years when education and encouragement had to take center stage and did a fantastic job of getting more people riding in the city even without any new infrastructure.
San Francisco can now show us how to become a truly bike-friendly community in less than the 40 years it took Copenhagen to be so transformed; in less than the 20 years it took Portland to reach the dizzy heights of platinum and the moniker as America’s best biking city. This is going to be fun to watch. The momentum for cycling in San Francisco is going to shift dramatically; they are going to be able to use more innovative designs and do more experimentation that will help move every U.S. city forward in the future.
Its going to be a great ride and a great thing to see happen. Watch out Portland!
Andy Clarke League President
Andy Clarke was appointed to the position of Executive Director in April of 2004 after successfully leading efforts to create, interpret and implement the various transportation programs that are available to improve conditions for bicycling and walking as the League’s State and Local Advocacy Director. Before joining the League in February 2003, Clarke was on contract to provide technical assistance to the highly regarded Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center on site at the Federal Highway Administration. He is on the Board of Directors for America Bikes, and a member of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycling Professionals.
The battle to stop the proposed bike ban in St. Charles County, MO continues. As previously noted, bill no. 3620 banning bikes from Highways D, DD, F and Z and Highway 94 southwest of 40 was tabled after strong opposition at the last County Council meeting. Since that meeting, advocates in Missouri and the region, including Patty Vinyard of St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation, have met with Councilmember Joe Brazil and other County leaders. St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports:
The council is to take up the issue again at a work session Monday. After meeting with some bicycling activists, Brazil says he’s open to alternatives such as imposing the ban only on more dangerous stretches of the roads or just requiring bicyclists to take special precautions in those areas.
“We’re just trying to come up with the best thing, the right thing and the most effective thing to do,” Brazil said.
The League, Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation, St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation, local cyclists and even the Missouri Department of Transportation hold fast in that such a ban would not only be unjust, but also illegal. The editorial board of St. Louis Post-Dispatch agrees “We understand their [the motorists] frustration, but bicyclists have the law on their side. This is a safety issue, so there should be room for compromise. There certainly is room for greater understanding and less hostility.” If safety is the shared concern here, then why are the County Council and local Sherrif’s Department dismissive when the subject of enforcing speed limits on these windy country roads come up? Compromise should not mean that cyclists just give up less.
All readers — Let St. Charles County leaders know that bicycling is an important to their County and should be encouraged, not banned. Sign the online petition, particularly if you live in Missouri, here.
St. Charles County residents — take further action by sending messages to your County Councilmember here.
Black Hawk Ban Moves to Court
Black Hawk, CO’s ban on bicycling is still in effect, and after weeks of discussions with state advocates and cyclists from around the state and country, city leaders have closed public comment. The ban now moves to court, where many of those who have received tickets will try to have them thrown out. Arraignment is expected in late August for a September to October court date.
Cyclists, especially those in Colorado, are encouraged to show their opposition to this unjust ban by signing the online petition here. For those wanting to help more, you can donate to help with the legal efforts here.
Photo from Bicycle Colorado
Jeff Peel State and Local Advocacy Coordinator
Peel joined the League in March 2008 as a Program Specialist for the Bicycle Friendly Communities program. Peel has a BA in American Studies from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Michigan became the 14th state to pass Complete Streets as a state law and the 22 to have a state-wide policy, like an executive order. As we reported in June, the League of Michigan Bicyclists (LMB) has been working hard with the Michigan Complete Streets Coalition to get this law passed. It will ensure that the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, people with disabilities and transit users are considered in all road projects.
Here’s LMB’s John Lindenmayer on why the legislation is important:
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
Yeah, we saw it too. A gubernatorial candidate in Colorado is claiming that Denver’s bike sharing program and the city’s participation in an international climate change agreement is “converting Denver into a United Nations community.” He went on, “This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed.” The Denver Mayor’s views seem harmless, the candidate says, but “that’s exactly the attitude they want you to have.” Finally, “This is bigger than it looks like on the surface, and it could threaten our personal freedoms.” Bold words. All this because of bike sharing?
Current Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, a cyclist himself, signed into law Complete Streets, 3 foot passing and other key bike-friendly legislation pieces in his tenure. As far as cyclists in Colorado are concerned, the next governor has big (cycling) shoes to fill.
This isn’t the first time this week that bicycling related items were been broken down to partisan politics this week. Our victory in the Livable Communities Act passed a crucial committee vote, but that vote went down on strictly party lines. As we’ve often said, we’re fully bike-partisan. Our work with elected officials through the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National Conference of State Legislatures and the U.S. Congress has ignored the D’s and R’s after elected officials names.
We feel bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation is good for everyone and plenty of liberals and conservatives agree. Though, we could always use more of both speaking up for it. To us, bicycling represents freedom from congestion, freedom from those extra pounds,freedom to live longer, freedom to better know your neighbors (and neighborhood), freedom to spend more money in your local economy and freedom to have a bit of fun every once in awhile. Hardly conspiracy theory material. To claim that bicycling represents anything else is absurd.
Jeff Peel State and Local Advocacy Coordinator
Peel joined the League in March 2008 as a Program Specialist for the Bicycle Friendly Communities program. Peel has a BA in American Studies from the University of Southern Mississippi.
On Monday we, along with a number of other national organizations, sent out an advocacy alert to people in states whose senators sit on the Senate Banking Committee to urge them to vote in favor of the Livable Communities Act and Senator Merkely’s amendment which made active transportation projects more prominent in the bill. Thanks to everyone that responded, the bill passed out of the committee (12 to 10). This is a big win for biking and walking, as the bill is one step closer to final passage.
So what’s in the bill?
The Livable Communities Act of 2009 will make it possible for communities to:
-Develop comprehensive regional plans to incorporate transportation, housing, community and economic development, and environmental needs
-Enables communities to enact their plans by funding Transit Oriented Development (TOD), public transportation, and pedestrian and bicycle thoroughfares that foster economic development and build livable communities.
Senator Chris Dodd says, “with sustainable development, our communities will cut traffic congestion; reduce greenhouse gas emissions and gasoline consumption; protect rural areas and green spaces; revitalize existing Main Streets and urban centers; and create more affordable housing.”
Thank you to all of you who sent messages to your senators. We will keep tabs on this bill and continue to work to get it passed.
Darren Flusche League Policy Director
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
This is SO the wrong question. Zero-sum games are rarely constructive and rarely ask the right questions. The issue for urban transportation planners isn’t, or shouldn’t be, “which mode is going to win”. The questions should be more along the lines of what is the balance we need achieve among the different modes; what are people trying to do in urban areas that transportation facilitates or enables? Transportation – even riding a bike – is rarely an end in itself; in fact it almost always imposes costs that individuals and the community end up paying for somehow: in time, or pollution, or energy consumption, etc.
We should be asking how we minimize the need to travel in urban areas; and how we minimize the impact and cost of urban travel – in part so that essential traffic, like deliveries and emergency services and Presidential motorcades (kidding…), doesn’t get stuck in traffic made up largely of single-occupant vehicles driving a mile or two down the street at not much more than walking pace. Just look at the madness we create for ourselves with the school trip: 20%-30% of morning rush-hour traffic in many metro areas consists of perfectly able-bodied kids being ferried to school by parents with better things to do with their time who won’t let their kids walk or ride their bikes to school because there are so many harried parents rushing their kids to school and the roads and sidewalks around the school aren’t safe. And frankly, many of the kids could use the exercise.
And lest we forget, the numbers show that fully half of all trips in metropolitan areas are three miles or less; 40% are two miles or less and more than one quarter are just one mile or less. These are the trips we ought to looking at to see if there are more sustainable and efficient ways that people can travel than by car – which is how the vast majority of those trips are currently made, and it really isn’t working that well. That should make sense whether you are a cyclist, pedestrian, transit user, or car driver.
Similarly, the numbers show that we are going to be adding 100 million people to the US population in the next two to three decades, mostly in urban areas. With the best will in the world, that simply isn’t going to work if all those people have two cars and expect to be able to drive an open road 20 miles each way every day to their job or to buy groceries. We have to diversify our transportation system and rely less on SOVs. That means more and better transit, and safer, more convenient and attractive bicycling and walking. That isn’t rocket science and it isn’t an assault on cars either.
The best cities in the world, and the best streets in the world have managed to find a good balance. Copenhagen has a 37% bike mode share, which is amazing and which somehow civilizes the city and rush hour. But the second biggest share of traffic is cars. You can drive almost everywhere you want to in Copenhagen, but it doesn’t always make sense and there are real choices. Places like Portland and Boulder in the USA provide decent (not great, yet) examples of the same phenomenon. And the contrast between New York City avenues that have been balanced and those that haven’t are really quite instructive. Eighth and Ninth Avenues have been rebuilt recently with much better pedestrian and bicycle provision, much better transit, delivery and parking management, and the streets really work as multi-modal corridors. Safety for ALL users has improved. By contrast, 6th and 7th Avenues are still wide open race tracks with illegal and double parking, pointless 4 foot wide bike lanes, terrifying pedestrian crossings that are five or six lanes wide…and frustrated drivers.
Hopefully others can weigh in on the need to create places for people, the need for actual bona fide land use planning to which people adhere, the incredible co-benefits of reducing car travel and getting people onto transit, foot and bike, the cost-effectiveness of a more balanced approach etc. And hopefully the urge to pick one mode over another or to take sides can be resisted. After all, we have it on good authority that the era of favoring motorized over non-motorized transportation is over. We are all in this together.
As for me, I’m escaping to Deep Creek Lake for the week and a few bike rides that actually will be ends in themselves.
Keith Laughlin from the Rails to Trails Conservancy adds:
Despite the media’s attempts to create conflict, it won’t be a death match pitting motorists and truckers versus pedestrians and cyclists. Rather, it will reflect an evolving redefinition of what is necessary to create economically vibrant cities in the 21st century.
The always reliable Representative Earl Blumenauer of Portland, OR also gave an eloquent response. Here’s an excerpt:
First, let’s be clear about one thing: there is enough room on our nation’s roads for everyone, particularly those who are taking up less space, reducing traffic congestion, causing less wear and tear to the roads, and putting less pollution in the air. In fact, drivers should be thankful to see more cyclists and pedestrians hitting the streets – the more people biking and walking to work, school, or the grocery means the fewer people holding up traffic or honking their horns to make it through a light.
Darren Flusche League Policy Director
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
When an issue becomes a hot topic there is always the risk that it will burn hot for a time and then burn out. Distracted Driving drew a lot of heat in Secretary LaHood’s first year, so it’s good to see that the DOT is continuing to stoke the flames. They have announced the second National Distracted Driving Summit for Sept. 21, 2010. “Working together, we can put an end to the thousands of needless deaths and injuries caused by distracted driving each year,” said Secretary LaHood. “By getting the best minds together, I believe we can figure out how to get people to put down their phones and pay attention to the road.” League President Andy Clarke attended the summit last year and it was a successful event. Our involvement in the issue also continues. In early September, just a week before the summit, we will be leading a session on distracted driving, based on our Distracted Driving report, at the Pro-Walk/Pro-Bike Conference in Chattanooga, TN.
The efforts of local advocates continue as well. Washington State recently upgraded their law from secondary to primary enforcement. This means that drivers can be ticketed for distracted driving without having committed an additional violation. Dave Janis, the policy director of the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, sent me a copy of the rack card from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. The Alliance is distributing thousands of them. The card informs drivers of the new handheld cell phone and texting ban and the accompanying fine. On the back it gives a rather upsetting example of a fatality – that of a nineteen year-old local resident — caused by texting while driving.
front
back
This kind of education, combined with enforcement, is a significant part of the battle to change driver behavior and make the roads safer for bicyclists and motorists alike. As Lehman Holder, a Vancouver WA resident (and League member) who testified in favor of upgrading the distracted driving law told me in an email, “Will the upgrading of this law prevent future injuries or fatalities? Only time will tell, but I personally think it will also take some kind of “culture change,” for people to stop texting/talking on a hand-held cell phone while driving, similar to when not using a seat belt while driving became illegal. There was a lot of grumbling and complaining about that, but now probably 95% of drivers attach their seat belt out of reflex when they get in their vehicle.”
Darren Flusche League Policy Director
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
Cyclists and motorists share a desire for safer roadways. Most of us are motorists as well as cyclists and we have probably all benefited from the wake-up call provided by rumble strips on the Interstate or major state highways. However, as cyclists we also know that there is no such thing as a bicyclist-friendly rumble strip, and over the years a lot of good roads for riding have been lost to rumble strips. [Click here to go directly to send the alert.]
Almost a decade ago the cycling community worked long and hard with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and State Departments of Transportation (DOT) to develop more tolerable rumble strip designs (for example, with gaps in the rumbles so that cyclists can cross them if needed) and to agree to policies that ensured popular cycling routes and roads with shoulders less than four feet in width would not be rumbled without good cause – i.e. a documented history of run-off-the-road crashes.
Today we are faced with a renewed push by the FHWA and state DOTs to rumble strip state highways as a matter of course and without regard to their own policies on where it is appropriate. We are seeing rumble strips being proposed and implemented in more and more urban settings, rather than just rural highways. In an attempt to prevent “roadway departures” by motor vehicles, rumble strips are seen as a very effective countermeasure: they do wake people up. Unfortunately, not every road is the nail to the rumble strips hammer. To be effective, there has to be recovery room; crash history and there have to be no unintended consequences. We need transportation agencies to take closer look into their toolbox.
For example, has roadway safety been improved if cyclists are all but forced to ride in the travel lane of a high-speed rural roadway because the shoulder has been rendered useless by rumble strips? This gets to the heart of the US Secretary of Transportation’s recent policy statement that declares “Because of the benefits they provide, transportation agencies should give the same priority to walking and bicycling as is given to other transportation modes.” This is where the rubber meets the road and we see if Federal and state agencies are going to heed LaHood’s words that, “this is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.”
We have researched and issued a report on best practices. We have tried to work with FHWA on this issue. In an unprecedented partnership, the League of American Bicyclists, Adventure Cycling Association, Alliance for Biking and Walking, and USA Cycling have jointly asked them to re-issue their existing rumble strip guidance to states. We’ve met with officials in FHWA’s Office of Safety to ask for their help in applying their own guidance at the state level. And yet we learned recently that 17 states are leading a “Roadway Departure Prevention” program where the indiscriminate and wholesale application of rumble strips is being encouraged. Other states are sure to follow and the hard-won policy protecting cycling routes has been thrown out of the window.
This is a real threat and it is time to act! We need your immediate support and action to try to put a stop to it, today. We are not asking to end the use of rumble strips – they are a legitimate and effective safety treatment. We ARE asking for an end to the indiscriminate and inappropriate application of rumble strips that ignores FHWA and AASHTO’s own guidance on when and where they should be used. Send a message to your State DOT TODAY and ensure you don’t wake up tomorrow and discover your favorite ride has been ruined.
Photo by Dennis Coello
Another example:
Photo from Savannahnow.com
Darren Flusche League Policy Director
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
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