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Entries tagged: Bike Lanes

Years of advocacy by the Marin County Bicycle Coalition (MCBC) has lead to 2009 being what they call a “banner year for San Rafael bicycle and pedestrian projects being completed or nearing completion.” Projects include the opening of the Cal Park Hill Tunnel in late 2009, opening of the Los Ranchitos bikes lanes in fall 2009, downtown bike and pedestrian improvements, and the Lincoln Hill Pathway. According the MCBC, “When these projects are finished, it will be possible to ride from north San Rafael all the way to Larkspur using bicycle facilities almost the entire way. This segment of the Marin County bicycle network, known as the North-South Bikeway, is rapidly becoming complete!”

For more information, click here…

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…

According to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, “After years of SFBC advocacy, on Friday June 26, the SFMTA Board unanimously voted yes on an ambitious Bike Plan and gave the green light to 45 new bike lanes.This is a momentous time for better bicycling in San Francisco, as these changes will dramatically improve bicycling and increase the number of people riding in San Francisco.
 SFMTA Board members heard over 3 hours of testimony from more than 200 supporters, including mothers with children in tow, business owners, health workers, city department heads and students who packed the hearing room and an overflow room in City Hall. This victory is the result of this testimony and more than three years of strong SFBC advocacy, including more than 150 letters of support from businesses, thousands of support letters, and countless hours of grassroots organizing by committed SFBC volunteers and staff. Together, we did it! See photos, watch a video and read what the media had to say about our victorious day.”

Mayor Hickenlooper announces bicycle infrastructure improvements, bike lanes planned in 11 new locations!

The Mile High City is making it easy to leave your car behind!

(Wednesday, June 24, Denver Public Works Press Release) Mayor John Hickenlooper today joined Deputy Mayor/Public Works Manager Bill Vidal to announce improvements to Denver’s “bikescape” or bicycle infrastructure. The goal of the upgrades is to create a comfortable, connected and safe environment for bicycling throughout Denver.

Denver Public Works will assess the need of every designated bike route in the City for increased signage, bike lanes or sharrows (pavement markings that identify lanes that are shared by both cars and bicycles) in order to create a connected and easily recognized system for residents to enjoy. To accomplish this task, a change in standard operating procedure will be implemented: when street maintenance is being performed on City streets, bike facility improvements will be made as part of this new programmed and proactive approach to increasing citywide bike markings.

This practice will allow an existing designated bike route identified by signage only to possibly be upgraded by adding a bike lane or sharrow if traffic conditions permit. Traffic volume and road width are factors that must be considered when streets with designated bike routes are assessed for bicycle improvements to ensure safety. Integrating these street assessments into Public Works’ existing work plans complements the current proactive process of routinely refreshing all bicycle oriented pavement markings.

“Our goal is to make Denver as bicycle-friendly as possible and make it easier for cyclists to commute,” said Mayor Hickenlooper said. “Improving our bicycle infrastructure is an essential component in motivating people to leave their automobiles behind and instead ride a bike; it’s an affordable, clean and simple way to get around town.” In addition to this pro-active strategy to improve Denver’s bikescape, Federal Stimulus funds in the amount of $250,000 have been dedicated to provide bicycle mobility enhancements throughout Denver. The funds are allowing new bike lane installations at the following 11 locations:

Mariposa Street - 8th Avenue to Colfax Avenue
Larimer Street - Broadway to Downing Street
Champa Street - 19th to 24th Street
Welton Street – Colfax Avenue to 14th Street
Tremont Street - 16th Street to Broadway
Stout Street - 30th Street to Downing Street
31st Avenue - Downing Street to Race Street
Martin Luther Kind Boulevard - Elizabeth Street to Quebec Street
Yale - Syracuse Way to Quebec Street
22nd Avenue - Park Avenue West to York Street
East 12th Avenue - Clayton Street to Madison Street
Public Works will be applying new sharrows to enhance the above installations, as well as applying new sharrows to provide connectivity to, and with, downtown Denver. The special arrow markings alert cars to use caution and allow cyclists to safely travel in these designated lanes.

“Traveling by bicycle is quickly becoming the preferred form of alternative transportation for Denver residents, and to encourage this trend we are committed to implementing new standards for bike routes throughout the City,” said Vidal. “Ongoing bicycle facility and roadway maintenance is essential to improving the safety and accessibility of roads and shared-use paths to bicyclists”

Released late last year, the Strategic Transportation Plan (STP) provides a proactive approach to addressing Denver’s imminent transportation needs with solutions that are consistent with our City’s goal to be multimodal in our approach to solving our transportation challenges. This commitment to bicycle connectivity is essential to the success of changing transportation behaviors.

Another project that supports the foundation provided in the STP is the joint planning effort between the Denver Public Works and Parks & Recreation departments on the Multimodal Access and Connectivity Plan. This endeavor is scheduled to kick-off this fall and will assess the on-street bike and pedestrian facilities as well as the trail system and the interface between the two systems. One of the central products of this plan will be a prioritized list of implementation projects to support alternative modes of transportation in Denver and aid behavioral changes.

The largest impact we make on the earth through our personal lifestyle decisions is the extent to which we drive an automobile. Bike riding is a smart choice with its synergistic combination of multiple benefits, both to society and to the rider. As Denver strives to advance the quality of life in our City by encouraging safe bicycling as a viable means of transportation and physical activity, we challenge everyone to do the same: by improving bicycle access to your building or event, you can help reduce traffic congestion and air pollution which benefits the environment as well as the health of the community.

Toronto kicked off their Bike Month with a big win for cyclists when the Toronto City Council voted 28 to 18 in favor of new bike lanes on Jarvis Street in downtown Toronto. According to Yvonne Bambrick of the Toronto Cyclists Union, “This is a big win for our city’s cyclists, and for the Toronto Cyclists Union who got the wheels rolling on this issue last fall by submitting a report to Transportation that showed the viability of bike lanes, in addition to some of the proposed pedestrian realm improvements.  This is particularly important because the original scope of the Environmental Assessment (EA) did not include any consideration of cyclists, and was focused solely on the beautification of the pedestrian realm.”

For more information, click here…

Bike Alameda is celebrating some,” long awaited, hard fought advocacy results!” A new bike lane segment and sharrows can now be found on Alameda, CA’s Central and Oak Street.  These are the first ever sharrows in Alameda. Also, the diagonal parking was changed to parallel parking resulting in less parking, too!

See the sharrows at bikealameda.org

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