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Entries tagged: Bicycle Coalition Of Greater Philadelphia

In the first week of October, two students at Carnell Elementary in Philadelphia were struck by cars in separate accidents. While neither student was severely injured, the events left community members and school officials shaken.

In response to the accidents, the school’s principal approached Safe Routes Philly — a program of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia — for support creating a school-wide focus on pedestrian safety. Within a few days, all 1,600 Carnell Elementary students had attended one of seven interactive assemblies conducted by Safe Routes Philly on various aspects of pedestrian safety. The assemblies included call-and-response songs and videos demonstrating safe walking and biking behavior.

According to Safe Routes Philly, “Carnell’s response to two accidents in its community will help prevent future accidents, and reflects the importance of a school administration which cares how students get to and from school.”

Biking and walking to school provides daily exercise to students and fosters a sense of school community. However, it’s important that students understand the safety measures necessary to protect against accidents and injuries.

Interested in Safe Routes Philly? Learn more from Diana Owens, the program’s Assistant Director of Education, on the recent Alliance Mutual Aid Call on “Winning Local Policies for Safe Routes to School.” Stay up-to-date by subscribing to the BCGP blog.

A new report published by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia proves the City of Brotherly Love has fallen head over heels for bicycling in recent years. Mode Shift: Philadelphia’s Two-Wheeled Revolution in Progress reveals Philly has, per capita, twice as many bike commuters as any other large U.S. city.

The growth in bicycle commuting has been phenomenal, rising 151 percent between 2000 and 2009 and rivaling nation-leading Portland in certain sections of the city. According to the report: “Philadelphia’s city-wide bicycle mode share for 2009 was 2.16 percent. Philadelphia’s share of female cyclists is also very high, an indicator often used to test how bicycle-friendly a city is. In Center City and South Philly, bike commuting rates are among the highest anywhere in the country, and rank among the Top 25 of 2,100 census neighborhoods. Only Portland, Minneapolis and San Francisco have two or more neighborhoods in the Top 25.”

The comprehensive report, which draws on BCGP’s own bicycle count data, also highlights the impact of bicycle facilities on rider behavior and gender mode share. For instance, almost twice as many bicyclists ride on streets with a bike lane and the percentage of women cycling jumps from 22 percent on streets with no bike lane to 37 percent on streets with a bike lane. The report found that dedicated infrastructure also improved rider behavior: “Sidewalk riding drops from 19.8 percent on streets with no bike lane to 8.6 percent on streets with a bike lane to 2.4 percent on streets with a buffered bike lane.”

Clearly Philly is on the right track, but, as the BCGP points out, the pace and prevalence of bicycle facilities pales in comparison to other big cities, like New York City and Minneapolis. “The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia recommends that Philadelphia pick up the pace to improve its bicycle infrastructure, launch a high profile public education and encouragement campaign, and make enforcement a higher priority,” the report concludes.

Click here to download and read Mode Shift.

What else is new in the Alliance Resource Library? Here are a few highlights:

• State-Based Costs of Deaths from Crashes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Complete Streets Policy Analysis 2010: A story of growing strength (Natl Complete Streets Coalition)
• Metropolitan Transportation Infrastructure Survey (US Conference of Mayors)
• Grow Your Organization’s Capacity with Interns Mutual Aid Call (Alliance)
• 2011 City Council Candidate Questionnaire (League of Bicycling Voters)
• State Legislation Policy Positions (PA Walks and Bikes)
• Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 (United Nations)

When members of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia pedal to City Hall tomorrow morning, they’ll have plenty to celebrate.

The City of Brotherly Love is showing its affection for active transportation.

In honor of Bike to Work Day, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter will lead the procession of cyclists on Friday morning. But the momentum for increased bike facilities has been building for months.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports this morning that a new bike/ped plan is close to completion. “The city’s proposed new bicycle network, now undergoing final revisions, will roughly double the miles of marked bike lanes to about 400, not counting 40 or so miles of separate trails on parklands,” the story notes. “The bike lanes will come over the next decade as streets are repaved.”

Sarah Clark Stuart, campaign manager for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, says the group has been very involved in the creation of the plan. “A lot of people are afraid to use their bikes because they are not used to riding in street traffic, and it is scary,” Clark Stuart told the Inquirer.  But city officials promise that the new network of marked lanes will make Philly one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world.

Click here to read the city’s draft bike plan. Or here to read the full newspaper story.

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) worked with six counties and agencies in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to secure $23 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Discretionary Grant Program.

This multi-jurisdictional project, called Generating Recovery by Enhancing Active Transportation in Pennsylvania and New Jersey (GREAT-PA/NJ), will help complete a network of biking and walking trails throughout the region, focused on connections to urban hubs in Philadelphia and Camden. The Bicycle Coalition and PEC assembled the proposal along with Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities and Mayor Nutter’s Metropolitan Caucus. The proposal received letters of support from more than 52 elected officials, institutions and non-profit organizations, including all four senators and eight members of congress in the region.

For more info visit the BCGP blog.

On July 23, state legislators from across the U.S. took part in the 6th National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Bipartisan Bike Ride, organized by BikeTexas and the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. The 100 participants, including 14 state senators and 21 state representatives from 23 states, rode eight miles through scenic downtown Philadelphia. BikeTexas coordinates this annual ride in partnership with the local advocacy organization. According to Robin Stallings of BikeTexas, “dollar for dollar, this is the most effective lobbying activity we do to advance the state-level legislative bicycle agenda.”

To learn more about the event and view photos visit www.biketexas.org

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia was instrumental in the City of Philadelphia’s plan to reserve one lane for bicycles on two major streets. The lane designation is a trial until next spring when the streets are resurfaced. Although cycling in Philadelphia has doubled over the last three years, there are currently only four miles of bike lanes in Center City and cyclists cannot safely ride from the East to West sides of the city.

To read the press release, click here.

For more information on the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, click here…