Bridges are a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Advocates must take advantage of the chance to ensure bicycle and pedestrian access to connect communities and complete transportation networks people rely upon. In Albany, NY, the New York Bicycling Coalition (NYBC) has been working to ensure such access as part of the Livingston Avenue Railroad Bridge rehabilitation. The bridge is the main connection across the Hudson River between the cities of Albany and Rennesslaer.
Livingston Avenue Bridge
Sadly, bicycle and pedestrian access was discontinued in the 1980s due to a lack of maintenance, though the railroad tracks continue to be in operation. The only other crossing for 30 miles is the unsafe Dunn Memorial Bridge with a tacked-on walkway that doesn’t meet current ADA standards. The New York State Department of Transportation, CSX railroad and Amtrak are now working to rehab the entire bridge — but bicycle and pedestrian accommodation is in danger of being left out.
Advocacy Advance, a partnership of the Alliance for Biking and Walking and the League, awarded a Rapid Response Grant to help NYBC seize this opportunity. What started out as a campaign of two people has blossomed into widespread support to include a bicycle and pedestrian walkway on the bridge. Today, the Livingston Avenue Railroad Bridge Coalition partners include:
New York Bicycling Coalition
Parks & Trails New York
Empire State Future
Capital Region Transit Advocates
Many community leaders, advocates, and stakeholders in the capital region
The high-quality communications and outreach work has not gone unnoticed. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer recently added his support for bicycle and pedestrian access on the bridge. “Senator Schumer’s involvement at this early point in the project design is very timely,” said NYBC’s executive director, Brian Kehoe. “The Coalition anticipates productive engagement with all project stakeholders as this critical project moves forward. We deeply appreciate the Senator’s support for bicycling.”
Lessons Learned
Work continues on the bridge design and the coalition will continue to grow and advocate for a complete design. So what are some of the lessons learned by NYBC?
Grassroots support: After initial meetings with NYSDOT and Amtrak were unproductive, NYBC pursued a strategy of building local support. This included resolutions of support from the cities and counties of Albany and Rennesslaer, and inclusion in comprehensive land use, transportation and parks plans throughout the capital region. NYSDOT has now publicly stated that bicycle and pedestrian accommodation will be part of the design conversation.
Building the Coalition: The demand for bicycle and pedestrian accommodations is obvious now, but the coalition began with only two people. Simple steps such as a Change.org petition, Facebook page, print materials, and dedicated coalition website made that possible.
The Advocacy Advance team is looking forward to the continued success of this campaign. To learn more, get involved in the coalition, and stay updated on future progress, visit the Livingston Avenue Railroad Bridge Coalition website.
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 tosend 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.
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.
Hard on the heels of a failed move in the US Senate to strip transportation enhancement funding out of the transportation bill, opponents of the program are now trying a new tack: claiming that bridges are falling down because of the funds diverted to “bike paths” and other beautification projects. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has suggested that enhancement funds – the primary source of Federal funding for bicycling and walking infrastructure – be siphoned off to bridge repair, in part because one key Ohio River bridge in Kentucky is in need of repair and the state transportation agency “doesn’t have the money” to do the repairs.
If this sounds familiar, it is. You may remember some of the same rhetoric surfaced around the time of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, including a statement from then-Transportation Secretary Mary Peters that she later retracted. The arguments being used by Senator Paul don’t improve with age or re-telling and still make no sense. Here are a few of the reasons why:
Safety: Thirteen people died when the Minneapolis bridge collapsed in 2007: since then, close to 20,000 pedestrians and 2,800 cyclists have died on our nation’s highways, largely as a result of poor highway design and an historic lack of safe non-motorized infrastructure – exactly what the enhancement program was created to fix. No bridges have collapsed since 2007.
Fix it First: Between six and ten percent of Kentucky bridges are classified as “structurally deficient” – yet for every dollar Kentucky has spent in recent years on bridge repair, they have spent $6.50 building new roadway capacity; they spent 77% of their stimulus funds on new capacity rather than fixing existing bridges and roadways – the fourth worst record in the nation.
Use it or Lose It: Kentucky isn’t even spending all the Federal transportation money they have already been given for bridges on bridges: in fact, earlier this year they sent $6.9 million of unspent bridge funds BACK TO WASHINGTON DC. They are not alone: nationwide, more than $534 million of unused bridge funds were sent back to Washington DC by state Departments of Transportation.
A Question of Scale: Kentucky has four massive bridge & highway projects in its “transportation improvement program” each one costing between $1.5bn and $4.1bn. The transportation enhancement program for all 50 states is around $900m annually of which bike/ped projects are typically half. This means the entire nation’s primary source of bike and pedestrian program funding for the next 20 years would have to be diverted to rebuild four bridges in Kentucky…bridges that aren’t actually structurally deficient, they are “functionally obsolete”, which means they aren’t as big and wide as the highway lobby wants them to be.
Senator Paul should be a little more skeptical of the rhetoric of many of our state’s highway agencies when they plead poverty, warn of imminent bridge collapse, and complain about “their” funds being taken from them. In far too many cases, state departments of transportation are spending vast sums of public money on the wrong projects in the wrong places for all the wrong reasons. That’s one reason why they often struggle to get approval for projects that take so long to implement – they are still trying to build a 1950s-style highway system long after the sell-by date.
As his Senate colleagues were reminded just a couple of weeks ago, the enhancements program is popular, successful, heavily over-subscribed, and is creating the kind of infrastructure improvements and choices in communities that people want more of, not less.
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.
Health and bicycling advocates are teaming up to fight a battle that will determine whether an Interstate-90 bridge connecting Minnesota and Wisconsin will accommodate cyclists for the next 100 years or be a barrier. Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota (BikeMN), Active Living LaCrescent (ALL) and Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin have worked hard to get Complete Streets policies passed. Now the policies are being put to the test.
The Interstate 90 Dresbach Bridge — connecting LaCrescent, Minnesota and LaCrosse, Wisconsin over the Mississippi River — is being replaced with a bridge that has a 100-year design life. Currently, that design does not include bicycle pedestrian accommodations, even though both states have Complete Streets policies and bike-ped accommodations are included in the LaCrosse area 2035 Transportation Plan.
Local and state advocates have already taken successful action. Working with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), advocates forced the Minnesota Department of Transportation to reexamine bicycle pedestrian accommodation on the bridge. Advocates now have five weeks to convince MnDOT to include bicycle and pedestrian accommodations on the Interstate Bridge and work with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to create a plan that connects the bridge to the three popular Wisconsin trails.
The stakes are certainly high. If transportation officials don’t include bike-ped accommodations now, ” there will be no bicycle pedestrian connections across the Mississippi River at Dresbach for the next 100 years,” says Nick Mason, Education and Technical Assistance Program Manager for BikeMN.
Advocacy Advance is a dynamic partnership of the Alliance and the League of American Bicyclists aimed at dramatically increasing funding for biking and walking projects and programs.
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.
If yesterday’s East Coast earthquake and the subsequent scramble to get home taught us anything, it may be that there is no better vehicle in emergency situations than the bicycle. As traffic in downtown DC was bumper to bumper at 3:00 in the afternoon, bicyclists navigated fairly smoothly through the jammed streets, smiling and waving to each other.
Capital Bikeshare in high demand after East Coast Earthquake, photo by Camera Slayer, Flickr
League Communications Director Meghan Cahill helped several people rent Capital Bikeshare bikes yesterday afternoon. Later, “two Australian tourists came up to me at a traffic light and said ‘Where’d you get that bike, we have to get out of here,’” Cahill said, “I explained where to find a station and what to do. They ran off saying ‘Cheers, mate!’”
Meanwhile, we keep hearing stories about the grueling experiences so many people had getting home.
In all seriousness, walking and biking are often the best modes in unusual situations, including terror attacks, transit strikes, extreme weather, and yes earthquakes. The ability of large numbers of people to evacuate quickly is one of many reasons that non-motorized accommodations are so important on bridges.
In DC, buildings were evacuated after the earthquake. Here is the view of First Street Northwest. Photo by Douglas Graham for Roll Call.
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.
I never met Mark Bixby in person, but during his campaign to convince officals to include separated bicycle and pedestrian paths on the new Desmond Gerald Replacement Bridge at the Port of Long Beach, I came to know him as a dedicated, passionate, and savvy advocate. Despite the daunting challenge of getting bicycling and walking paths included in a $1 billion bridge project, I always came away from phone calls with Mark feeling more confident and optimistic about the future of bicycling in Long Beach and beyond. Every community in America would be lucky to have an advocate like him. Therefore I was enormously sad to hear that Mark had been killed in a plane crash on March 16th.
Mark Bixby. (Photo source: cdmcyclist.com)
Mark’s death came just two days after he had achieved his long-sought goal: general contractors bidding for the Gerald Desmond Bridge replacement project will be required to include both separated bicycle and pedestrian paths in their proposals. ”The bike path is a mandatory requirement. When the bid is received it must include those elements in order to be a responsive bid,” said Dr. Bob Kanter, Environmental Planning director for the Port of Long Beach, according to a press release from Bikeable Communities. Mark had been tirelessly working for this requirement and had been chronicling his campaign at As The Wheel Turns.
According to Dr. Bob Kanter, Environmental Planning director for the Port “the
solicitation package to the design-build team bidders will require their bid include a Class
One bike and pedestrian path on the Gerald Desmond Bridge. The bike path is a
mandatory requirement. When the bid is received it must include those elements in order
to be a responsive bid.”
There is a memorial, including a bicycle ride to the top of the Gerald Desmond Bridge, scheduled for 8:00 a.m. this morning starting at Leeway Sailing Center on the Peninsula in Long Beach, according to the Long Beach-bsaed President of Bikestation, Andréa White-Kjoss.
Our hearts go out to Mark’s family, friends, and the entire Long Beach community. He will be missed.
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 call is today at 3:00 EST. Please register by noon eastern today. If you are not a member of the Alliance for Biking and Walking, email Jeremy Grandstaff at Jeremy@peoplepoweredmovement.org. He’ll give you the info you need to join the call.
To remind us all about how bicycle and pedestrian bridges can enhance the quality of our public spaces, here’s a video from the dedication of a new pedestrian bridge in downtown Scottsdale, AZ.
Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, celebrated the completion of the first bridge designed by renowned architect-artist Paolo Soleri to be constructed in the world.
Paolo Soleri, members of Cosanti Foundation, City of Scottsdale, Scottsdale Public Art, and more than 1,500 dignitaries, residents and visitors, gathered at the Downtown Scottsdale canal waterfront December 10-11, 2010, for the dedication of the recently completed Soleri Bridge and Plaza.
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.
Fresh off a successful Re-imagining Broad Street event in Memphis, advocates in Tennessee get a new Bicycle & Pedestrian policy at TDOT (helmet tip, Bike Walk TN). The updated policy:
now applies to local governments managing transportation projects with federal funding as well as TDOT staff and contractors
requires use of AASHTO and TDOT bicycle and pedestrian facility design standards
requires that accommodations for cyclists and pedestrians must be integrated into all federally or state funded transportation projects
Tennessee DOT has also been at the forefront in creating a model bicycle-tolerable rumble strip policy. As one of the state’s to be included in FHWA’s run off the road crash reduction planning efforts, we’ve received positive feedback that city, MPO and state transportation planners were steadfast to ensure that their model plan and design standards were integrated into FHWA’s efforts in their state, and ensuring that cyclist-safety is integrated into these crash reduction strategies.
These examples show that Tennessee is moving in the right direction in changing the culture of transportation agencies that will have a lasting direct effect on cycling in the state.
Bike Walk Tennessee advocates have worked hard for the progress made in their state.
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.
Bridges are critical links in transportation network. As veteran Seattle bike and pedestrian planner Peter Lagerwey says about all bridges, large and small: “If you can’t get across the bridges, nothing else matters.” Seventy‐one thousand bridges in the United States are considered structurally deficient, with a major defect in structure or deck. These bridges will require replacement or rehabilitation. When that happens, bicyclists need to be ready to campaign successfully to have bicycle accommodations included in the project.
Our latest Advocacy Advance report gives bicyclists answers to tough questions engineers will ask and tells the stories of current and successful bridge-access campaigns. How did advocates get a multi-use path included in the largest infrastructure project in South Carolina? How did Missouri advocates improve accommodations on three bridges? How are Boston advocates taking advantage of a $3 billion state bridge rehabilitation law to improve bridges for bicyclists?
Date & Time: Wed, December 15, 2010, 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM (Eastern)
Registrations will close at Wed, December 15, 2010, 12:00 PM (Eastern)
Register now. (Not a member of the Alliance for Biking & Walking? Email Jeremy at jeremy@peoplepoweredmovement.org to get access to the call.)
Perhaps the most famous successful bridge‐access campaign is Wonders Way, a 2.7 mile long, 12‐foot‐wide, bi‐directional, shared‐use facility on the Ravenel Bridge, over the Cooper River, Charleston, S.C.
After the jump, read an excerpt from the report to learn how to counter some of the arguments against accommodating bikes on bridges. (Read the whole report for links and sources.)
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 has been working with bicycling advocates Mark Bixby and local bike coordinator Charley Gandy to get a separated bicycle facility on the new $1 billion Desmond Gerald Replacement Bridge at the Port of Long Beach. League President Andy Clarke wrote a letter of support last month. I promised Mark that I would write a blog post on the bridge campaign this week. Before I had a chance, the US Secretary of Transportation drew national attention to the bridge. On Monday, Secretary LaHood blogged about the project, calling it a “bridge to everywhere.”
The new bridge promises to be an enormously important infrastructure project. Unfortunately, current plans call only for a 10-ft-wide shoulder that could be designated as a class III bikeway (that is, a bike route) in the future. That would be a major disappointment; this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to enhance bicycle connectivity in Long Beach by providing well thought out and designed accommodations. It is critical to get this right from the beginning.
Bridges are critical links in a transportation network. They represent perfect opportunities for DOTs to show that the Secretary’s policy statement on biking and walking – which calls for bicycling and walking accommodations on new, rehabilitated, and limited-access bridges – is meaningful, and not just wishful thinking. In addition to this being a bridge to everywhere, it needs to also be a bridge for everyone – including bicyclists.
The estimated cost of the bicycle accommodation is less than five percent of the total project cost. The port on the Terminal Island employs approximately 6,000 workers, who currently do not have a safe way to ride to work. Including bike and pedestrian accommodations is consistent with California’s Complete Streets law and federal regulations – it is also consistent with Long Beach’s efforts to be a “Green Port.”
But will it include safe facilities for bicyclists? (Photo: www.polb.com)
It’s worth noting at least one other notable, large, California bridge campaign. Advocates in Oakland and San Francisco succeeded in getting bike accommodations on one span of the Bay Bridge. That campaign was in inspiration to the Long Beach advocates. Now the Bay area organizations are working hard to upgrade the other span to finish the job.
Safe and comfortable accommodations on these major California bridges would go a long way in enhancing California bike touring and to connect communities for daily transportation. Stay tuned for our Advocacy Advance report on bikes on bridges campaigns – coming soon.
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.
Just last week I was treated to a bike tour from the city’s Acting Bicycle Program Coordinator Hayes Lord. Though I’m a frequent visitor of the city, and there seems to be new pathway or separated lane each time I go. On this particular tour, Hayes showed me the 1st and 2nd Avenue separated lanes that were still being installed as we rode by. There is no doubting the impact these types of facilities are having in drawing out new cyclists. That draw is part of the reason for new political support in addressing safety and throughout the city.
While the separated facilities in Manhattan often receive the most attention, NYC DOT has been busy installing and mapping a variety of infrastructure treatments. Using all the tools in their toolbox they’ve helped make it possible to safely bike in all 5 boroughs via low trafficked streets, a system of sharrows and routes, access across bridges, cycletracks, and other separated facilities as well as standard bike lanes. Clarence Eckerson Jr. of Street Films has a great new video showing how his commute uses a mixture of these facilities and how they work.
How does this compare to your commute where you live? Are there examples in the video that could translate into your community?
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.
Last week, our friends the Alliance for Biking & Walking’s PeoplePoweredBlog reported on an achievement in Missouri: After years of work by the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation, the Missouri DOT put a separated bike lane on the Heart of America Bridge. The Alliance quotes the Federation’s Brent Hugh on the importance of this success: “Advocates have been working for this day for more than two decades,” Hugh says. “The Missouri River cuts the Kansas City metro area in half, and a safe crossing point for bicyclists and pedestrians has been the biggest missing piece of the area’s bike-ped network.” Congratulations.
Photo by the Mid-America Regional Council
We know that gaining safe access to bridges is a perennial issue for bicyclists. That’s why it is the topic of the next Advocacy Advance report. If you have a story of a successful — or challenging — campaign to get bikes on bridges that you would like to share, please email me at darren [at] bikeleague [dot] org. I’d love to learn for you.
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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