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As public works employees put paint to pavement on Friday, advocates and officials celebrated Oakland’s most successful year yet in biking and walking infrastructure.

Leaders from the East Bay Bicycle Coalition and Walk Oakland Bike Oakland joined Mayor Jean Quan to mark the installation of more than 18 miles of bike lanes and nearly 300 bike parking spots in 2011 alone.

Though it didn’t hit the organizations’ target of 30 miles by the end of 2011, the uptick in infrastructure has been a major victory for the Oakland Bikeways Campaign, a joint effort of the EEBC and WOBO. And city officials promised the next wave of sharrows and bike lanes should be on the ground by mid-2012.

“The bike lanes installed this year go a long way to fulfilling WOBO’s goal of connecting Oakland’s neighborhoods with safe, reliable and affordable transportation options,” Gloria Bruce, chair of the board at WOBO, said at the press conference. “Bicycling is fun, it’s healthy, and people want to do it. Despite the budget and other challenges, the City is moving forward quickly to build the network and we applaud them for that. Safe biking makes a big difference in people’s lives.”

“It’s not just putting down more miles, but miles that connect, and create a safe, continuous network that really gets you where you need to go and doesn’t drop you along the way,” Renee Rivera, executive director of EEBC, said. “We need to make Oakland a safe place to bike for everyone. We need to pay more attention to the eastern side of town, working with great partners like Cycles of Change and their earn-a-bike program, and bringing more infrastructure to the east side where it’s so badly needed.”

It’s worth noting that staff and volunteers from WOBO and EBBC worked on aspects of the Oakland Bikeways initiative at Alliance Winning Campaigns Training in 2008 and 2010 respectively. Jumpstart your 2012 campaigns by attending one of these workshops in your area. The first is coming up in a matter of weeks: Register now for the Winning Campaigns Training in Tucson, AZ, January 13-15th. The early bird rate — just $75 for Alliance members — ends on Friday.

Read more about last week’s celebration from the EBBC here.

Photo: Renee Rivera (left), executive director of the EBBC, with Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. (Credit: Gene Anderson)

On June 29, advocates from the Toronto Cyclists Union staked out a corner of Jarvis Street with a simple question: What’s wrong with this bike lane? The answer from the overwhelming majority of cyclists and motorists? “Absolutely nothing!”

The video that resulted was just one aspect of the Toronto advocates’ Save Jarvis campaign, which has not just galvanized the cycling community, but boosted the membership for the bike union.

The effort is the result of a recent push by Toronto’s mayor, Rob Ford, to remove a number of already installed bike lanes in the city’s core. Ford and his allies have argued that the lanes have caused traffic congestion. But, as the Bike Union has pointed out, that claim isn’t backed by the facts. “Updated traffic counts from the City of Toronto show that following the installation of bike lanes on Jarvis Street, motor vehicle volumes remained the same while cycling volumes tripled,” the bike union notes.

So, in the run-up to a city council vote to remove three major arterial bike lanes, the bike union kicked into high gear to protect the cycling facilities. They sent press releases to build their media presence, ran a targeted campaign of social media to get the word out, handed out fliers and buttons in the bike lanes themselves, and put together a three-minute video that included not just cyclists, but motorists advocating for the lane.

Unfortunately, the council voted to remove all three bike lanes last month, suggesting that the previous infrastructure will be replaced with a network of protected bike lanes on other streets. To fill the gap before the new construction, the council gave Jarvis a one-year reprieve. The bike union immediately jumped on the opportunity to capitalize on the growing, grassroots, pro-biking energy — and what better way than to get folks out pedaling.

“Our inspiration for ‘Ride for Jarvis, Ride for Bike Lanes’ was the Prospect Park Family Ride,” Heather McDonald, the bike union’s president, says. “When we were talking about what we would do if the council voted to cancel the bike lanes, the images of happy families riding on Prospect Park Ride came to mind. Leading up the ride we capitalized on social media, had a huge response via Facebook, had volunteers distributing buttons and fliers in the bike lanes and coordinated a press release.”

It worked. The turnout was huge. Approximately 1,200 cyclists streamed down Jarvis, ending with a rally at City Hall. But the event wasn’t just a boost to the bike lanes campaign; it was a membership boon for the bike union, too.

“We were able to use our core group of volunteers to act not only as marshals, but also as membership recruiters,” McDonald says. “We offered a discounted membership at the event. With a flat rate of $20 (reduced from $30), we recruited 75 members at the ride.”

“The threat of bike lane removal has really fueled our membership drive,” she adds. “Within 24 hours of the vote, 100 new members joined the bike union. Thanks to the Save Jarvis Campaign and our new full-time director of Membership, Jared Kolb, we’ve seen membership grow leaps and bounds.  Andrea [Garcia, the bike union’s executive director] has been working hard at a more proactive and targeted media presence and has been able to identify good areas for advocacy to fuel membership and vice versa. A general discontent with the state of affairs with the current administration in Toronto has also helped galvanize and unite city-building groups of various interests.”

“We’re thrilled to see that more and more people are turning to the bike union as a credible voice for cyclists in Toronto. We plan to take this momentum forward as we find creative ways to advocate for cyclists in the face of the recent challenges.”

Check out photos of the ride here and stay tuned to developments on the bike lanes on the bike union’s website.

Photos of Save Jarvis Ride courtesy of Martin Reis.

Last year, a case study from Baltimore showed that bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure created twice as many jobs as road-only construction projects. Now, a larger study confirms those job creation numbers on a wider scale. With the debate on a federal transportation bill imminent, this report provides valuable insight about the important economic benefits of biking and walking. Read the press release from our partners at America Bikes and download the report below.

Washington, D.C. (June 20, 2011) — Bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects create more jobs per dollar spent than other road construction projects, according to a new study, Pedestrian and Bicycle Infrastructure: A National Study of Employment Impacts, conducted and released this month by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

The report builds on an earlier PERI case study of Baltimore, Maryland, and is the first national study to compare job creation of bicycling and walking infrastructure with other roadway construction projects. Using actual bid price and cost data, the study compares 58 projects in 11 cities and finds that bike projects create 46 percent more jobs than road projects without bike or pedestrian components.

On average, the “road-only” projects evaluated created 7.8 jobs per million, while the “bicycling-only” projects provided 11.4 jobs per million. For example, a roadway-focused project with no bicycle or pedestrian components in Santa Cruz, Calif., generated 4.94 jobs per $1 million spent. In contrast, a bicycle-focused project in Baltimore produced 14.35 jobs per million. The PERI reviewers attribute the difference to the simple fact that bicycle and pedestrian projects are often more labor intensive.

“It’s no secret that investing in transportation infrastructure creates jobs and helps the economy,” said Caron Whitaker, Campaign Director at America Bikes. “This study proves bicycle and pedestrian projects are no exception — in fact, they are especially efficient in creating jobs.”

The study arrives as Congress is writing a six-year Surface Transportation bill, and struggling to continue robust reinvestment in infrastructure while moderating federal spending. Funding for bicycling and walking is part of that debate.

“This report adds to a wealth of studies demonstrating the many economic benefits of investing in bicycle and pedestrian projects and programs,” said Andy Clarke, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists.

Download the full report from the Alliance Resource Library.

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)

The irony is impossible to ignore: A burger joint leading a charge against bike lanes.

By any measure, Memphis is certainly in need of safer streets that support physical activity. In 2010, the city was labeled by Bicycling magazine as one of the worst places to ride in the entire United States. At the same time, Memphis was at the top of another list: It had the highest rate of overweight residents of the largest 50 cities in the U.S., with a staggering 70 percent of all adults overweight or obese.

So when Memphis officials rolled out a massive street project that didn’t include any facilities to encourage bicycling or walking, local advocates at Livable Memphis were ready to take action — and a won a commitment from the mayor for 55 miles of new bicycle facilities by 2012.

Now that the promise is hitting the pavement, some business owners are pushing back with misguided fears that bikes curb commerce.

Earlier this year, the city (with some help from the advocates at Livable Memphis) rolled out a proposal for Madison Avenue that would add bike lanes to this major east-west connector by converting the street from four traffic lanes to two (with a center turn lane). In his detailed memo, city bike/ped coordinator, Kyle Wagenschutz, outlines the traffic and economic benefits of the plan. Despite the wealth of data suggesting that businesses prosper in proximity to better bicycle and pedestrian facilities (click here for a number of studies in our Resource Library), a number of shops along the Madison stretch have risen up against the bike lanes, including a long-standing, much-loved restaurant.

“Hueys has been and continues to be a wonderful restaurant, and the owners (the Boggs family) have served as good stewards of the Memphis community for many years,” Anthony Siracusa, Memphis resident and secretary of Bike Walk Tennessee, says. “But today what we see in Memphis is a burger and fry joint blocking a bike lane in the second most unhealthy state in the nation.”

So advocates, like Siracusa, have been working overtime to make sure the bike lane proposal doesn’t get fried.

“Locally, we have waged a serious letter writing campaign with hundreds and hundreds of letter submitted to the Mayor and his staff,” Siracusa says. “We staged a bicycle buy-in, supporting those businesses that support the bike lanes. We sat down with the Mayor and invited two business owners to share their support of the road diet and bike lanes on Madison. In spite of all this work, we stand perilously close to a re-paving project on Madison that maintains four lanes of car traffic and provides no space for bikes.”

“While we thought we had turned a corner – leaving behind two straight years of being rated as the nation’s worst bike city – opposition from a small number of business owners has endangered a critical step in making Memphis a better place to live, work and play,” he adds.

Want to help? Write a quick not to Memphis Mayor AC Wharton with your enthusiasm for his plans to make Memphis into a bike-friendly city at mayor@memphistn.gov. And read more at the Walk Bike Memphis blog.

For more than a decade, Mark Birnbaum’s daily commute was edged with anxiety. The Novato, California, resident and member of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition (pictured) biked 16 miles to his job in San Rafael and, every day, braved a narrow stretch on Alameda del Prado.

“It became apparent the first day I ever commuted on my bike in 2000 that it was totally unsafe there,” Birnbaum told the Marin Independent Journal earlier this year. “It was just a matter of time before somebody got killed by an impatient driver. I’ve had a couple of close calls myself.”

Last week, advocates celebrated new bike lanes that will help ease the anxiety of riders like Birnbaum. “I wish Mark were here today,” Judy Arnold, Marin County Board President, said, as she cut the ribbon on the new bicycle facilities.

Birnbaum was traveling out of the country, but more than three dozen advocates showed up to christen the 4-foot bike lanes stretching along both sides of Alameda del Prado. Not only do the new facilities make a dicey stretch more passable for cyclists, but they also connect the existing bicycle lanes on Ignacio Boulevard to the Pacheco Pathway, closing a key one-mile gap in the North/South Bikeway.

According to the Marin County Bicycle Coalition, Birnbaum would be proud. “The completed project includes narrowed landscaped medians, underground utilities and a smooth surface to roll along,” the organization notes in its latest newsletter. “Check out the new bikes lanes the next time you’re traveling north. They’re very nice!”

Read more about the Marin County Bicycle Coalition here.

Back in 2006, a Superior Court put the brakes on San Francisco’s new Bike Plan. With the stroke of a judge’s gavel, officials were restrained from adding any new bicycle facilities in the Bay City. For more than four years, the legal wrangling over the environmental review handcuffed concrete plans for more bike-friendly streets.

As of this week, the brakes are off.

On Friday, the injunction was finally — and fully — lifted, making way for the near-immediate striping of 35 bike lanes.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, an organization with more than 11,000 members, applauded the ruling.

“We are celebrating San Francisco’s freedom to once again make streets safer for everyone and look forward to real improvements on streets in a matter of days,” Renée Rivera, Acting Executive Director of the SFBC said in a statement. “This is the first time in San Francisco’s history that this many bike lane projects are approved and ready to be striped. These long-awaited improvements will help growing numbers of people feel more confident, comfortable and safe when they bike to shop, to work and to play.”

That growth has been dramatic. Even with the injunction in place, bicycle ridership has surged by more than 53 percent over the past four years. And the new facilities could drastically increase that number: Surveys have shown that more than one-third of San Franciscans would ride if their routes included bike lanes.

With the lifting of the injunction, the city is now poised to nearly double its miles of bike lanes and position itself as one of the nation’s top cycling towns. According to SFBC: “Today’s ruling coupled with the City’s commitment to safer, friendlier streets will propel San Francisco into becoming one of America’s most bicycle-friendly cities.”

Read more from SFBC here.

In May, Bicycling magazine named Memphis one of America’s worst cycling cities. But a big push from local advocates could be the first step in turning around the Tennessee town. 

The ranking in Bicycling wasn’t exactly a surprise. According to the Alliance’s 2010 Benchmarking Report, Memphis lags in the bottom third of cities in just about every category, including safety and bike-ped policies. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act exposed just one example of the city’s seeming disregard for biking. While other jurisdictions loaded up their applications for stimulus funds with cycling and walking facilities, officials in Memphis didn’t include so much as a single sharrow in their ask for ARRA dollars.

Advocates with Livable Memphis weren’t content to let that omission slide. When the city started street repaving projects utilizing federal dollars, advocates rolled out an aggressive campaign to add accommodations for cyclists. 

Sarah Newstok, program director for Livable Memphis, says two Alliance workshops in 2009 gave her the tools to take on City Hall. The Membership Training in San Francisco, she says, clarified her organization’s mission. Then, attending a Winning Campaign Training in Little Rock armed her with tactics to advocate effectively.

“We really pulled out the stops,” Newstok says.

Livable Memphis members spoke at council hearings and sat down with council members. They lobbied members of his administration and met with Mayor A.C. Wharton Jr. himself. Advocates penned letters to policymakers, editorials for the local newspapers and saturated media with their pro-bike message.

“After chipping away from lots of directions the barriers seemed to crumble all at once,” Newstok says. “Our outrage about not including bike facilities in the repaving projects really came to a head this month, with a public scolding of our City Engineer by the Mayor.”

Shortly after the rebuke, Wharton committed to 55 miles of bike lanes and facilities, installed over the next two years. “Even though bike lanes were regrettably omitted from the city’s recent stimulus fund application,” Wharton announced on July 15, “I have directed our city engineers to make any necessary adjustments to their operating budget plans so we can get these lanes and facilities in place.” 

The about-face was significant. “This is a major turnaround for us,” Newstok says. “I feel like Memphis is finally at least facing the right direction.”

“Of course, this leaves us with a long list of next ‘to do’ items,” she adds. “But I’m energized and we have a very engaged crew of volunteer advocates. Here’s to getting Memphis off Bicycling magazine’s worst city list and to being awarded most-improved in the next ranking.”

Blog contributed by Alliance intern Adam Levine. Photo courtesy of the League of American Bicyclists.

The long-awaited bike lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue opened in grand style yesterday.

A long list of dignitaries cut the ribbon and took off for a ride down the protected, center-lane route, including District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Minnesota Congressman James Oberstar.

Speaking to bicyclists and advocates from across the city, Fenty declared that “we believe there is room here for everyone—on four wheels, two wheels and on foot.” LaHood added that “America’s Mainstreet” is now “America’s Bikeway!”

The new bike lanes have been in flux for several months, opening and then closing to deal with technical glitches. “Before we officially opened the bike lanes, we wanted to make sure they provide safe areas for cyclists, motorists and pedestrians, and now I’m confident that they do,” explained Gabe Klein, the head of the DC Department of Transportation.

Pennsylvania Avenue is just the latest addition to DC’s network of bike lanes, which city officials hope to increase from 50 miles to 80 miles. The significance of the location, however, did not go unnoticed. “There is no better place for the District of Columbia to demonstrate its commitment to traffic safety than right here on America’s Main Street,” Fenty said.

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.

Transportation Alternatives has released its annual estimate of how many New Yorkers ride bicycles daily. There are now 236,000 daily cyclists in the five boroughs. The figure represents a 28% increase over the previous year, continuing recent double-digit growth trends.  More than 200 miles of bike lanes have been installed in New York City over the past three years. These bike lanes are helping to fuel the dramatic growth in cycling across the city. For more information, visit Transportation Alternatives.

Thanks to Claire Gron for contributing this member news.

According to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC), “SFBC is celebrating another new bike lane on Otis Street which has created an important one block link between South Van Ness and Gough Street.

Otis Street is the ninth new bike lane to be striped since December. These bike lanes are the direct result of years of hard work by SFBC staff and countless hours of grassroots organizing by committed Bicycle Coalition members. The Coalition is pleased to see these new improvements for bicycling being added all across San Francisco and creating important links in the bike network.”

To find out more about the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and its efforts, visit sfbike.org.

According to Transportation Alternatives (T.A.), “First and Second Avenues (in New York City) are about to get a whole lot better for bikers, walkers and transit takers.

In response to T.A.‘s East Side campaign, the Department of Transportation has committed to building better bus, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure from South Ferry to 125th Street. Included in the agency’s plans are bike lanes, bus lanes and improved pedestrian crossings that will not only make these notoriously congested avenues safer, but also better-performing.

Though the DOT has yet to identify the exact configurations it will use when construction begins this June, all of the possibilities are huge improvements over the order-less mess that now rules the roads in this part of Manhattan, and we commend them, as well as the Volunteer Committee members, community stakeholders, local politicians and countless activists who helped the plan come together.

To ensure that this wave of street reform doesn’t simply splash on to two avenues and wash away, Transportation Alternatives is organizing an East Side Streets Coalition to help spread these changes. With the support of T.A.‘s Volunteer Committees, citizens and civic organizations from East Harlem to Chinatown, the East Side Coalition plans to push for streets that reduce pedestrian and cyclist injuries and fatalities from vehicle crashes by 50% in the next decade.”

T.A. is issuing a call to action. “Visit the East Side Streets Coalition website to take an online survey about current conditions and future possibilities, find out about upcoming community workshops and join the Coalition.”

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is continuing to see its re-paving project efforts pay off with a now smooth ride from Golden Gate Park to the Pacific Ocean.

The newly paved road means a safe, smooth, and enjoyable ride for commuters and other bicyclists and a win for the Coalition. SFBC and its team of volunteers have been working hard to identify San Francisco streets and neighborhoods in need of both re-paving and adequate bike lanes through their “Good Roads” campaign. Volunteers ride the city streets and tag/spray paint the most dangerous spots. These markings are an immediate help to many cyclists, but more importantly a designated legend for the Department of Public Works (DPW) who has committed to patching and smoothing the indicated spots. To view other resurfacing updates and projects visit www.sfbike.org/?goodroads. 

For more information on SFBC and the Good Roads campaign, visit www.sfbike.org

Livable Streets, MassBike, and other bicycling and walking advocates claimed a victory when the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) agreed to modify its plans to remove a portion of the bike lane on the Longfellow Bridge last week. Removal of the bike lane would have allowed for the installation of sidewalks where none currently exist. After much persistence from advocacy groups MassDOT chose to both build the sidewalks and keep the bike lane by implementing an alternative proposal submitted by MassBike, LivableStreets, WalkBoston, and the Institute for Human Centered Design.

According to MassBike, “MassDOT also agreed to perform further analysis of the traffic patterns on the bridge in order to determine whether the lane configuration currently planned for the long-term reconstruction of the bridge is necessary, or if alternative proposals to provide even more space for bicycles and pedestrians are feasible. Finally, MassDOT agreed to continue the discussion with the advocates about the future configuration of the Longfellow Bridge. “

Livable Streets, MassBike, and their partners will remain active throughout the process continuing to promote biking and walking throughout the state.  For more information and to view the rehabilitation proposal visit www.massbike.org or www.livablestreets.info

After the San Francisco Superior Court was exposed to a city report stating that bicycle ridership has increased 53% since 2006, the court ruled to partially lift the Bike Plan injunction set three years ago. 

Since the ruling, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) has been working hard to make sure changes are happening and that the City is taking full advantage of the court’s partial lift. Just days following the lift, SFBC welcomed the City’s first bike lane in three years along with its first green-colored “Bike Box” (an advanced stop line that gives bicyclists priority waiting room in front of cars at stop lights). Various neighborhoods have also received additional improvements such as “sharrows” (shared lane arrows), new sidewalk bike racks, a temporary on-street bike parking corral as well as improved bicycle way-finding signage.

These improvements are a step in the right direction but more than 35 bicycle related projects still remain on hold until the injunction is fully lifted. In the mean time, SVBC will continue their efforts and push for a full lift of the injunction with a hearing set for June 2010. To view current improvements, follow the injunction’s process, and more information on SFBC’s involvement, visit www.sfbike.org

On Tuesday November 17th, the City of San Jose adopted its first comprehensive bike plan with the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC) playing a strong role in its release.

SVBC, the Department of Transportation, various community organizations, and the general public have long been anticipating the plan which includes a Cal Train bike share program, a cycle track, a doubling of existing bike lanes, new safety signals, bike lockers, and an overall increase in bicycle ridership and safety. The City ultimately hopes to achieve a five percent increase in cycling and a Gold-level Bicycle Friendly ranking from the League of American Bicyclists by 2020.

Corinne Winter, executive director of SVBC said, “We need to ensure that hard commitments and funding streams follow. To turn this plan into a reality, the City will have to put dollars behind developing these bike facilities.” 

SVBC has been an active voice in the planning process and continues to strongly support the plan. They will continue to be persistent in urging financing as well as the implementation of any experimental suggestions in order to expedite the plan in an efficient manner.  To find out more about SVBC’s involvement and track the plan’s progress, visit bikesiliconvalley.org and/or sanjoseca.gov

According to New York City’s Transportation Alternatives (T.A.), “The completion of Brooklyn’s new Sands Street protected bike lane makes getting on and off the Manhattan Bridge as easy as pedaling. It also closes a painful chapter in the history of New York City bike advocacy.” In 2005, Noah Budnick, T.A.‘s Senior Policy Advisor, was seriously injured when he hit a pothole while biking on Sands Street and crashed. After four years of hard work, T.A. celebrated the opening Sands Street Bike lane (aka “Budnick Bikeway”) on August 7th.

For more information on T.A., visit here…

The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC) and local residents successfully saved the Reseda Boulevard bike lane from being removed. About 60 people attended the August 11th Northridge West Neighborhood Council meeting to protest the proposal to remove the bike lane in order to install peak hour traffic lanes on Reseda Boulevard. Their voices, along with others who wrote letters to Councilmember Zine’s office and to West Valley DOT, resulted in the proposal being unanimously voted down. According the LACBC, “The implementation of peak hour lanes would make it impossible to install the already approved bike lane extension and would also have resulted in the partial removal of some of the existing lane.”

To read about the Los Angeles DOT’s reaction that they were never planning these peak hour lanes, click here…

Click here for more info on LACBC.

According to Activate Omaha, Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle ceremoniously opened the first segment of Omaha’s on-street bicycle route system on August 10th with the shredding of a ribbon. Activate Omaha and the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee to the Mayor performed the ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the completion of the first segment of the Bike Omaha system, a planned 20 miles of on street bicycle facilities.

To learn more about Activate Omaha, click here…

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