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M II A II R II K May 15, 2010 6:44 PM

There also happens to be a Chicago 2015 Bike Plan


http://www.planetizen.com/files/Chic...ke2015plan.pdf

M II A II R II K May 16, 2010 5:38 PM

Democratizing the streets


05.11.10

Steven T. Jones

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Read More: http://www.sfbg.com/2010/05/11/democratizing-streets

Quote:

It's hard to keep up with all the changes occurring on the streets of San Francisco, where an evolving view of who and what roadways are for cuts across ideological lines. The car is no longer king, dethroned by buses, bikes, pedestrians, and a movement to reclaim the streets as essential public spaces. Sure, there are still divisive battles now underway over street space and funding, many centered around the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which has more control over the streets than any other local agency, particularly after the passage of Proposition A in 2007 placed all transportation modes under its purview.

- But as nasty as those fights might get in the coming weeks, they mask a surprising amount of consensus around a new view of streets. "The mayor has made democratizing the streets one of his major initiatives," Newsom Press Secretary Tony Winnicker told the Guardian. And it's true. Newsom has promoted removing cars from the streets for a few hours at a time through Sunday Streets and his "parklets" in parking spaces, for a few weeks or months at a time through Pavement to Parks, and permanently through Market Street traffic diversions and many projects in the city's Bicycle Plan, which could finally be removed from a four-year court injunction after a hearing next month.

- Even after this long ban on new bike projects, San Francisco has seen the number of regular bicycle commuters double in recent years. Bike to Work Day, this year held on May 13, has become like a civic holiday as almost every elected official pedals to work and traffic surveys from the last two years show bikes outnumbering cars on Market Street during the morning commute. If it wasn't for the fiscal crisis gripping this and other California cities, this could be a real kumbaya moment for the streets of San Francisco. Instead, it's something closer to a moment of truth — when we'll have to decide whether to put our money and political will into "democratizing the streets."



The number of SF cyclists has doubled in recent years even as a court injunction has prevented the creation of new bike lanes

http://www.sfbg.com/sites/default/fi...2-complete.jpg

M II A II R II K May 17, 2010 1:49 PM

City planners track cyclists, pedestrians to measure trail needs


May 11th, 2010

By Trevor Hughes

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Read More: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...counters_N.htm

Quote:

Rain or shine, summer or winter, Hartford, Conn., attorney Ben Bare rides his bike for the 4-mile commute to work. "It wakes me up in the morning and blows out the stress of workday on the way home," says Bare, 35. He says the ride is just as fast as driving a car. Bare is one growing number of people turning to bicycles for transportation. According to the most recent U.S. Census figures, the number of adults who bicycled to work in 2008 was 786,098, up 26% from 2006. That number continues to grow, says Wiley Norvell, spokesman for the New York City-based Transportation Alternatives advocacy group. "It has just exploded," Norvell says. Mindful of that growth, transportation planners in states and municipalities across the USA are increasingly deploying high-tech sensors along bicycle and pedestrian paths to map trail, sidewalk and bike-lane use and assess future needs.

Planners have long collected data about the number of vehicles on major roads by placing rubber-strip counters across travel lanes, but those counters are generally unable to detect passing cyclists, says David Patton, a bicycle and pedestrian planner for Arlington County, Va. Some of the new counters, which can cost $500-$8,000, are triggered by the weight of passing trail users, while others rely on heat emitted by their bodies or bounce radar off them, Patton says. He says recent advances in technology have made the counters more affordable, which means more communities are buying them to supplement labor-intensive tallies conducted by human volunteers. "You build a Walmart and we can tell you how many car trips it will generate, on which roads, and at which times of day," Norvell says. "We know next to nothing about how and where people bike and walk in this country."

Transportation Alternatives recently estimated that 201,000 people bike daily in New York City. City-conducted sample counts showed a 26% increase in bike ridership from 2008 to 2009, Norvell says. He says other large cities are seeing — and counting — similar increases. The increased use of high-tech sensors supplements a push for expanded counts by the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project, which this September is overseeing censuses in about 150 cities, including Kansas City, San Francisco and New York City, Michael Jones says. Jones, a planner and principal with the Portland, Ore.-based Alta Planning and Design, says he founded the count in 2004 after growing frustrated by the lack of consistently collected pedestrian and bicycle use data. He says about 10 groups conducted counts that first year.



http://i.usatoday.net/news/_photos/2...clex-large.jpg

M II A II R II K May 18, 2010 4:58 PM

Backbone Bikeway Network


February 1st, 2010

By Alex Thompson

http://www.bikesidela.org/wp-content...ideLA_logo.png

Read More: http://www.bikesidela.org/the-backbo...rk-labp-20100/

Quote:

If you open the draft of the proposed Bike Plan, and you flip to the maps, you’ll find a sixteen pages of confusing mess: dashed lines, dotted lines, infeasible lines, and tiny street names. By contrast, when the Bike Working Group publishes its Best Bike Plan (a community effort to produce a ambitious bike plan for LA), you’ll be able to flip to the centerfold, and view three clean, coherent maps outlining a system of bikeways that will get you anywhere in the city.

t’s the Backbone Bikeway Network. The Backbone Bikeway Network will get you from Downtown to West LA, Crenshaw to Valley Village, and LAX to Hollywood. The Backbone doesn’t have neighborhood level detail, because that’s not what a citywide system is for – this system gets you 5 and 10 and 20 miles across town. It goes on major streets – arterials – unlike the proposed Bike Plan, and it gets you within striking distance of major destinations like Dodger Stadium and City Hall.

This is the first section – the Central Area. Mad props are due to Mihai Peteu for designing this beautiful map – let’s hear it for Mihai! In the next few days we’ll come out with the Valley map, and the South LA map. This is the hardwork of the 3rd Bike Working Group, and we fought and loved over each decision. Therefore, we invite you to criticize!

Here’s a basic criticism: what do you do once you get near your destination and you must leave the Backbone? Then you make use of the neighborhood network. The neighborhood network is whatever the neighborhood has – bike lanes, sharrows, traffic calming, narrow streets with high speeds and pot holes, wide streets with calm traffic, whatever happens to exist there.



http://www.bikesidela.org/wp-content...p_central2.png

M II A II R II K May 21, 2010 1:35 PM

Bicycle Second Line celebrates New Orleans' expanded bike lanes and awareness


May 21, 2010

By Molly Reid

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Read More: http://www.nola.com/entertainment/in...elebrates.html

Quote:

You may have noticed the new bike lanes that have appeared over the past two years on major roadways such as St. Claude Avenue and Wisner Boulevard. They're impressive, but they're small potatoes compared to the bicycle-friendly path set to develop Saturday, when St. Charles Avenue and other thoroughfares become one big, temporary bike lane for the Bicycle Second Line.

Organized by the nonprofit cycling advocacy group Metro Bicycle Coalition and sponsored by Entergy New Orleans and AARP, the group bike ride, accompanied by the Crescent City Stompers, will take over roadways from Audubon Park to the Marigny Triangle and back to promote bicycle awareness. "It's about trying to encourage people and get them excited to get on a bike," said Nicole McCall, president of the Metro Bicycle Coalition. "There will be more awareness of cycling."



http://media.nola.com/entertainment_...63d2d38980.jpg

KevinFromTexas May 22, 2010 2:16 AM

350 miles of new bike lanes coming to San Antonio streets.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/about_us...day_focus.html
Quote:

Making room for bicycles
Web Posted: 03/19/2010 12:00 CDT

Some 350 miles of bicycle lanes could be added to San Antonio' s streets -- triple the amount now -- without widening a single road or impeding traffic, just restriping. The mayor, who sees bike lanes as a tool for urban renewal, is backing the plan.

...

vid May 22, 2010 6:07 AM

Restriping is how we're adding all of our bike lanes. Drivers are screaming bloody murder but I think ten years from now every travel corridor in this city will accommodate all forms of transportation.

M II A II R II K May 25, 2010 4:29 PM

South Carolina - Developers plan to build bicycles-only community


May. 25, 2010

By ANDREW SHAIN

Read More: http://www.thestate.com/2010/05/25/1...-bicycles.html

Quote:

Soon there will be a subdivision where your car is not welcome. Developers plan to build a bicycles-only community in Lexington County, near Gaston. Those developers — from Ohio and the Lowcountry — think their Bicycle City will be the first subdivision of its kind in the nation. It will have no asphalt. It will have miles of trails and ponds for boating. It will have eco-friendly homes. And residents and their visitors will have to park their cars outside the community and bike — or walk — to their homes.

Developers have spent nearly $1 million to buy 140 acres about 15 miles south of Columbia, according to land records. They also have hired community designer Ozzie Nagler, planner of Harbison and the Three Rivers Greenway. “It could become an eco-tourism destination,” said Joe Mellett, a Cincinnati-based Internet marketer and one of the developers. Mellet and one of his co-developers will present their concept to Lexington County Council at a meeting tonight. Bike-friendly developments are not a new concept, though they have been difficult to pull off.

fflint May 25, 2010 5:08 PM

^An interesting idea (there's a suburb in Germany built along the same lines), but I've got to ask: is there any demand for a car-free subdivision in South Carolina?

KevinFromTexas May 26, 2010 5:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas (Post 4849322)
350 miles of new bike lanes coming to San Antonio streets.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/about_us...day_focus.html

Here's an expanded article on this. It includes a map. The bike lanes look to be planned for every area of the city.

I must say, Julian Castro is an encouraging civic leader.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...wFullArticle=y
Quote:

Bike lanes now in fast lane for S.A.
By Colin McDonald - Express-News

Web Posted: 05/25/2010 6:43 CDT

For years, San Antonio has built streets and approved developments with little to no accommodation for anything but motor vehicles. Now with obesity rates off the charts, the region on the verge of violating federal air standards and a new mayor who sees bicycles as part of being a competitive and attractive city, bike lanes are gaining ground.

It’s a move Portland, Ore.; Seattle; Minneapolis; and New York made decades ago.

Although difficult and slow, the transformation has started: A federal grant will promote bicycling and department heads have issued new marching orders.

“It seems the bureaucratic molasses has given way to fuel,” Mayor Julián Castro said recently.

...

M II A II R II K Jun 1, 2010 7:56 PM

City’s bike plan switches gears


May 31 2010

Tess Kalinowski

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Read More: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/tran...switches-gears

Quote:

It’s the 1,000-kilometre question. Has Toronto’s cycling movement been tethered too long to a meaningless number — the 1,000 kilometres of bike routes touted for a decade as the path to a cycle-friendly city? The head of Toronto’s Cycling Committee thinks so. It’s time to let go of the round number that has taunted cycling advocates since it was enshrined in the bike plan nearly a decade ago, says City Councillor Adrian Heaps (Scarborough Southwest).

As he nears the end of his term, Heaps is advocating a new approach, one that focuses less on distance and more on connecting the city’s existing network of bike paths, lanes and routes, particularly downtown, with its high percentage of bike commuters. “I’m not going to go out there and pump paint to hit a quota,” he said. “Complete the circle, make it smaller, do it right. I’d rather have a smaller network that was fully integrated.”

A 2009 Ipsos Reid cycling poll for the city supports his position. It suggests safer cycling routes could help transform up to 44 per cent of Toronto’s recreational cyclists into utilitarian pedallers. A new city cycling report, being unveiled Monday for Bike Month, doesn’t even mention the elusive 1,000 kilometres. It simply notes that bike lanes, paths and trails grew to 418 kilometres in 2009, from 166 in 2001. Today, that number is closer to 500. A blueprint for the city’s active transportation priorities over the next two years, Changing Gears lists connecting bikeway trails and completing downtown bikeways as the top two priorities. It will be used as the basis for a review of the 2001 Bike Plan by city staff after this fall’s election.



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M II A II R II K Jun 7, 2010 12:27 AM

Changing Behaviors with Bike to Work Day


Quote:

Cong. Earl Blumenauer and Mayor Adrian Fenty both turned out in biking gear at Bike to Work Day in Washington, D.C., along with 900 riders who committed to bike commuting on that day. America.gov released this video capturing the spirit of Bike to Work Day in D.C.


M II A II R II K Jun 7, 2010 5:39 PM

2-wheeled revolution: 'Bicycling is now cool'


June 7, 2010

BY MARY WISNIEWSKI

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Quote:

When Rob Sadowsky started biking to his job at a downtown nonprofit in 1998, he felt like a "freak." These days, there are so many two-wheeled commuters that Sadowsky runs into bike traffic jams. "I'm part of the crowd," he said. "Bicycling is now cool." But Sadowsky, who for six years has headed the Active Transportation Alliance, said the city still has a long way to go to improve conditions for biking and walking. "I'd like it be 20 percent bike, 20 percent pedestrian and 20 percent transit," said Sadowsky. "It's doable, certainly May through October."

Sadowsky, 45, leaves his job Friday to head the Bicycle Transportation Alliance in Portland, Ore. Melody Geraci, Active Trans' program director, will serve as interim director until a permanent replacement is hired. During Sadowsky's tenure at the nonprofit, its budget grew from $1.4 million to $3.5 million, and its staff from 21 to 36. It also changed its name from the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, refocusing its mission to include pedestrians and transit as well as bikes. Sadowsky said he thinks Active Trans' biggest accomplishment during his tenure is the citywide "complete streets" policy, and a state law requiring complete street design.

A "complete street" is one designed for all users, so it must have sidewalks, some kind of bike accommodation, and intersections designed so that everyone can cross safely. City engineers are trained in complete street design, and residents should notice the approach as streets come up for resurfacing, Sadowsky said. The 2007 policy came about as a result of a meeting with Mayor Daley. "The mayor was complaining about engineers, and how he'd like to fire all the engineers. . . . People at the meeting were laughing," Sadowsky recalled. "And I said, 'I have an idea for you,' and he started writing it down, and within a week we had a written policy."



"Chicago was leading the way for a long while in cycling" before losing its direction, says Rob Sadowsky, who is taking a job in Portland, Ore. after heading Active Transportation Alliance.

http://media1.suntimes.com/multimedi...0.imageContent

JordanL Jun 8, 2010 5:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K (Post 4868042)
Changing Behaviors with Bike to Work Day






He's a Rep. for Portland, Oregon, and he's a big bike proponent even within the city itself.:tup:

Rizzo Jun 8, 2010 5:58 PM

As a cyclist, I'm thrilled to see more people out on the streets biking. My parents live in a quiet suburb of a small midwestern city and the council has been putting down tons of bike lanes. To be truthful, they really don't even need them, but they are committed to making cycling convenient in their community. They've developed a board to plan and secure funding for new trails and improvements. It's all paying off. Every visit home, I see tons of people out biking including elderly folks. It's not just a lifestyle trend popular in big cities, but even in the smallest of towns.

M II A II R II K Jun 11, 2010 7:40 PM

'Nice Ride' bike sharing program gets rolling today in Minneapolis


Jun 10 2010

By Joe Kimball

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Read More: http://www.minnpost.com/politicalage...in_minneapolis

Quote:

A new bike-sharing program kicks off today in Minneapolis, when Nice Ride begins offering greenish and blue bikes for short jaunts around the city. Hundreds of the bikes are available at 60 kiosks around the downtown Minneapolis area through the nonprofit program. To ride you need a subscription, available online. The cost ranges from $5 for 24 hours to $60 a year. Then the first half hour of riding is always free; the next half hour costs $1.50, and the next half hour is $3. Riders use a credit card to pay at the kiosk pay station.

Bikes can be returned to any kiosk at the end of the ride, although if there are no empty slots you'll be prompted to take it to another nearby kiosk with openings. As part of the opening festivities, Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, an avid cyclist and the author of "Bicycle Diaries," will join Mayor R.T. Rybak and others in a June 17 forum titled "Cities, Bicycles, and the Future of Getting Around." The event, at 7 p.m at the Uptown Theater, will also feature writer Jay Walljasper and Steve Clark, manager of the Twin Cities' Transit for Livable Communities Walking and Bicycling Program.



The Nice Ride bicycle rack at Fifth Street and First Avenue in Northeast Minneapolis.

http://www.minnpost.com/client_files...kNEMpls452.jpg

M II A II R II K Jun 14, 2010 5:10 PM

Get on your bikes and ride, Elgin


6/14/2010

By Harry Hitzeman

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Read More: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=387640

Quote:

Today kicks of Bike to Work Week in Elgin and other communities across the suburbs. The city's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee has a full docket of events planned. The committee also is working to promote biking as a viable and preferred mode of transportation for the coming week and beyond. "It's a more sustainable way to get around," said Elgin resident and committee chair Steve Wasliowski. "This isn't about recreation. It's about connectivity, getting from one place to another, without using a car."

Elgin, as part of its downtown streetscape plan, has painted bike-only areas on roads and has focused on making the city more bike friendly. Others seem to be taking notice, as the League of American Bicyclists this past April named Elgin as an honorable mention for a Bicycle Friendly Community. The city also wants opinions from residents about biking and walking via an online survey at the city's website. For details, visit cityofelgin.org or email bednar_p@cityofelgin.org.

The city's committee has proposed that new developments have a requirement for bike racks, similar to the number of parking spaces required for a new strip mall. Tom Armstrong, an Elgin resident and retired city planner, will kick off a short on-street instructional ride beginning a 10 a.m. Friday, June 18 from the Gail Borden Library, 270 N. Grove Ave., as a way to teach adults and kids 10 and older the rules of the road. Armstrong, a committee member, who by choice did not have a car for three years until last month, said biking is a great form of exercise and in many ways cheaper than owning an automobile. "It's the ultimate freedom machine, I think," Armstrong said.

M II A II R II K Jun 16, 2010 5:32 AM

New bikeways create buffer


June 15, 2010

By Mike Aldax

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Read More: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/New-...-96354489.html

Quote:

Drivers and bicyclists could wrangle less on San Francisco roadways if an upcoming pilot project to install bike lanes between parked cars and the curb in Golden Gate Park is successful. By year’s end, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency hopes to construct “parking-buffered” bike lanes along stretches of John F. Kennedy Drive between Stanyan Street and Transverse Drive.

The $250,000 project will move parking spots away from the curb so bicyclists and cars no longer have to mingle on the roadway. The lanes are expected to protect bicyclists and encourage more cycling in The City. “A painted buffer area between the parked cars and bikeway will provide space for passengers to enter and exit vehicles,” the SFMTA said. “In areas without parking, the bikeway will be separated from the travel lane by a painted buffer area only.”

Around half the JFK Drive corridor will have the new “cycling tracks,” mostly between Transverse Drive and Eighth Avenue, the transit agency said. The project is in the design phase and must be publicly vetted. Should the idea prove successful, the hope is that similar separations between bicyclists and vehicles will be constructed citywide. The 11,000-member San Francisco Bicycle Coalition said other good spots for the protected bikeways include Townsend Street by the Caltrain station and The Embarcadero between AT&T Park and Fisherman’s Wharf.

The SFMTA said it would construct more parking-buffered bikeways if the pilot project is successful, but it has yet to identify additional locations. The lanes have been a success in Amsterdam, Copenhagen and New York City, said Andy Thornley, the Bicycle Coalition’s program manager. The lanes offer the comfort of safety and fluidity for cyclists, he said.

harleyxx Jun 16, 2010 2:52 PM

Hi,

Bicycles were the first transpiration devices and they are pollution free transportation device which are most commonly used all over the world

Thanks!

_____________


MSDS Software

M II A II R II K Jun 17, 2010 12:45 AM

Concrete, not paint


http://pricetags.wordpress.com/2010/...ete-not-paint/

Quote:

From the late 80s, with the opening of the Seaside route, to the 90s, with the development of the bikeway network, Vancouver has been steadily increasing the number of kilometres designed to encourage cycling. But with the success of the Burrard Bridge lane, fully separated from passing traffic, Council gained the confidence to move forward, quickly and decisively, to introduce ‘cycle tracks’ into downtown.

Now it is possible to cycle on Dunsmuir Street from Main Street to Howe on a two-way track, separated from sidewalks and vehicle lanes, in comfort and safety.



http://pricetags.files.wordpress.com...pg?w=426&h=299

http://pricetags.files.wordpress.com...pg?w=426&h=282


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