Archive for December, 2011

Everyone at the League would like to wish our members, bicycle advocates, Bike League Blog readers and all the cyclists out there a happy holiday and New Year! We have enjoyed working diligently for bicycling and bringing you the latest in bicycling news this year. Andy Clarke, president of the League, would also like to personally thank you and wish you a happy holiday.

Thank you for all your continued support, especially when we needed you the most. We survived repeated attacks on bicycle funding due to all of you responding to our alerts and e-mails. You wrote your state and national politicians, and we have held on to bicycle funding — for now. We even are faced with the possibility of losing our rights to the road on federal lands. We have a lot of work ahead of us but we will be raring to go in 2012. We’re looking forward to the National Bike Summit, National Bike Month, educating new and returning bicyclists nationwide and well, saving cycling again and again.

And if you are searching for that perfect gift for your favorite cyclists this year, make a donation in their name or buy them a League membership — it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Have a wonderful holiday!

Meghan Cahill
League Director of Communications

Cahill joined the League in December 2008 and has a BA in Media Communications with a concentration in Italian Studies from the College of Charleston.

Today, we announced the winners of the League’s Peopleforbikes.org Pledge Contest. The goal of Peopleforbikes.org is to unite a million voices in support of a better future for bicycling in America; and so far, more than 420,000 people have signed their name to the cause. To raise awareness and signatures, the League challenged Bicycle Friendly Businesses (BFBs), Bicycle Friendly Universities (BFUs) and recreation bike club members in some healthy competition to see who could gather the most PFB pledges. The result? People and organizations from across the country rallied around bicycling and signed the PFB pledge– everybody wins!

The University of Cincinnati (UC) won in both the overall and university competitions by collecting the most signatures. “UC is honored to have received recognition from the League of American Bicyclists. Participation in initiatives like this are important to enhancing the bike culture and bike infrastructure at UC and in the Cincinnati area,” said the UC President‘s Advisory Council on Environment and Sustainability. “It allows UC to connect with other like minded entities nationwide that are leading the way on bike policy and funding initiatives that will ultimately make it easier and safer for students and others to use their bikes on-campus and surrounding areas.”

The League’s affiliated clubs had an impressive showing too. The Bicycle Coalition of Maine won with the most pledges in the business/organization category as did the Mountain Top Cycling Club of Colorado in the bike club category. “All the individuals, businesses, clubs and universities who participated made a difference by both promoting and signing the Peopleforbikes.org pledge,” said Bill Nesper, director of the League’s Bicycle Friendly America Program. “We hope that the pledge continues to grow in momentum and surpasses the 1 million mark.”

Meghan Cahill
League Director of Communications

Cahill joined the League in December 2008 and has a BA in Media Communications with a concentration in Italian Studies from the College of Charleston.

Busy day today in the world of bicycling advocacy.

Complete Streets

Last night, we told you about the Complete Streets-inspired amendment that the Senate Commerce Committee is considering tomorrow. You can still contact your Senator, if she or he is a member of the Commerce Committee, to voice your support for Senator Begich’s amendment.

Blue Ridge Parkway Management Plan

This morning, we sent out an action alert to bicyclists in Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina to ask them to send in comments to the Blue Ridge Parkway Supervisor on the park’s 20-year Draft Management Plan. Cyclists in other states are also welcome to comment. In it’s current form, the plan could limit the Parkway’s ability to sufficiently plan for biking in the future.

We have been working closely with the Virginia Bicycling Federation, the Adventure Cycling Association, and the International Mountain Bicycling Association on the Blue Ridge Parkway campaign. We are asking the park planners to: 1) Halt the National Historic Landmark application process. The designation would make it harder to make future improvements for bicycling access, such as wider shoulders and trails. 2) Recognize and promote cycling in the Draft Management Plan as a viable and important aspect of Parkway visitation. 3) Work with cyclists, the surrounding communities, and the general public to meet the needs of today’s changing world.

Ben Franklin Bridge Access

This afternoon, we worked with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia to get the word out about their petition and organized bike ride to a key meeting to get the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) to keep its promise to build a bicycling ramp to access the Ben Franklin Bridge. As readers of this blog know, bridge access campaigns (PDF) are big deal to us.

It is a pleasure to work with such committed bicycling advocates across the country. I look forward to seeing many of you at the National Bike Summit in March.

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.

Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released traffic fatality and injury numbers for 2010. Overall, the trend in headed in the right direction. The number of motor vehicle traffic fatalities – 32,885 – was the lowest since 1949. Thankfully, there were ten fewer bicyclist fatalities in 2010 than in 2009; but 618 cyclist deaths is still 618 too many.

There was one stunning exception to the downward trend: injuries to pedestrians spiked. The number of pedestrians injured in traffic crashes increased 19 percent, going from 59,000 in 2009 to 70,000 in 2010, according to NHTSA’s data. Meanwhile, pedestrian fatalities increased 4.2 percent.  Safer cars and drivers wearing seatbelts may be helping drivers’ safety, but they are little help to a person on foot.

With a one year increase of 11,000 pedestrian injuries, it is a good time to consider what can be done to improve road safety for all road users. Senator Begich (D-AK) has introduced an amendment (to S.1950) that would require the Federal Department of Transportation to set safety standards for motorized and non-motorized modes.  (A state could write its own safety policy or law to be exempted from the federal standard.) This law would give the US DOT the authority enact a Complete Streets policy and encourage states to implement their own.

The law says the Secretary of Transportation “shall establish standards to ensure that the design of Federal surface transportation projects provides for the safe and adequate accommodation, in all phases of project planning, development, and operation, of all users of the transportation network, including motorized and non-motorized users.” [Emphasis mine.] As stated above, states are granted a waiver if they pass a law of their own that accomplishes the same. The Secretary “shall determine whether the applicable State has achieved compliance with this section,” according to the amendment language.

The Commerce Committee will hear the bill on Wednesday, Dec. 14^th at 10:00am.  These Senators are on the Committee. You can use our Advocacy Center to send a message to your Senator to urge them to support the Begich amendment to S. 1950 for the SAFETY FOR MOTORIZED AND NONMOTORIZED USERS.

Majority Members

Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV
West Virginia

Senator Daniel K. Inouye
Hawaii

Senator John F. Kerry
Massachusetts

Senator Barbara Boxer
California

Senator Bill Nelson
Florida

Senator Maria Cantwell
Washington

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg
New Jersey

Senator Mark Pryor
Arkansas

Senator Claire McCaskill
Missouri

Senator Amy Klobuchar
Minnesota

Senator Tom Udall
New Mexico

Senator Mark Warner
Virginia

Senator Mark Begich
Alaska

Minority Members

Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison
Texas

Senator Olympia Snowe
Maine

Senator Jim DeMint
South Carolina

Senator John Thune
South Dakota

Senator Roger Wicker
Mississippi

Senator Johnny Isakson
Georgia

Senator Roy Blunt
Missouri

Senator John Boozman
Arkansas

Senator Patrick J. Toomey
Pennsylvania

Senator Marco Rubio
Florida

Senator Kelly Ayotte
New Hampshire

Senator Dean Heller
Nevada

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.

The League of American Bicyclists is currently building a new local reviewer database for its Bicycle Friendly America (BFA) programs. The BFA program provides incentives, hands-on assistance, and award recognition for communities, businesses and universities that actively support bicycling. BFA award winners promote cycling by providing safe accommodations for cyclists, encourage people to bike for transportation and recreation, and provide educational opportunities for both cyclists and motorists.

If you are a regular cyclist, work with or for cyclists, or are otherwise knowledgeable about bike issues – please consider becoming a BFA local reviewer.

Each application to the Bicycle Friendly Community, Bicycle Friendly Business or Bicycle Friendly University program is reviewed by a panel of national bicycle experts and several local reviewers are consulted to share their on the ground perspective of the applicant.

As a local reviewer, you may receive applications from communities, businesses and universities that you have specified. The time commitment of reviewing an application and providing input is approximately 30 min to 60 min and you will have 2-3 weeks to complete your review. Reviews are typically requested in February/March and July/August. All local reviews remain anonymous to allow for candid feedback.

Your input is very important to us and the BFA applicants. If you have been a local reviewer in the past or are knowledgeable about bike issues and would like to become a new reviewer, please sign-up here! Contact Nicole at Nicole@bikeleague.org  if you have any questions.

Houston, TX, is not known for its bicycle-friendliness, at least not yet. A group of nearly 60 advocates, agency staff, and elected officials are aiming to change that. A full room of people interested in dedicating more transportation funds to bicycling and walking met in Houston on Friday for an Advocacy Advance Action 2020 workshop.

Action 2020 workshop participants in Houston, including members of BikeHouston, discuss transportation funding.

Participants representing 41 different organizations, departments, and jurisdictions came together to get to know each other, learn about federal funding sources, get tips for integrating biking and walking into transportation planning, hear from a key note panel, and set goals to increase active transportation funding in the Houston region.

“The Action 2020 Workshop delivered in many ways,” said BikeHouston board member Paul SoRelle. “Not only did participants learn about the multiple areas of federal funding, but also learned ways to make bicycles an integral part of planning and maintenance as well as a major input into all decision-making.”

Participants, including H-GAC Pedestrian and Bicyclist Coordinator Chelsea Young (second from left), set funding goals.

Getting the right people in the room is critical for a constructive and successful session. That included a keynote panel discussion with Houston City Council Member Brenda Stardig, Rice University political science professor Dr. Robert Stein, and Patrick Walsh,  the director of transportation and long-range planning for Sugar Land, TX, who shared their varied perspectives with the audience.

“The diverse mix of local elected officials, agency representatives, and general advocates really gave this workshop a realistic perspective as to how we can increase and promote biking and walking in our localities and region,” said Chelsea Young, the new Pedestrian-Bicyclist Coordinator at Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC).

Guest speaker Pete Lagerwey of Toole Design walks the groups through an exercise.

Action 2020 workshops are part of the Advocacy Advance program, a partnership between the League of American Bicyclists and the Alliance for Biking & Walking, and was made possible by the SRAM Cycling Fund. The Houston workshop was hosted by the Houston-Galveston Area Council and BikeHouston. More information on Action 2020 and a list of upcoming workshops can be found here.

We look forward to seeing where Houston goes from here.

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.