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Entries tagged: Sidewalk

By teaming up with a local conservation organization, advocates from Charleston Moves helped turned a monster road for automobiles into a safer street for people who walk and bike.

The project in question was Harborview Drive, a thoroughfare on James Island that backs up with cars and school buses during certain periods of the day. The City Council aimed to remedy the congestion by redesigning the road to funnel traffic even faster.

Because the new design would take down a number of live oaks, the first group to raise a red flag was Will You Remember Our Trees? Quickly, the conservation advocates turned to Charleston Moves to examine the design and get involved in the campaign to calm the new beast. The advocates took a particularly keen interest in the stretch of pavement as it represents a key portion of the group’s Battery2Beach corridor — a proposed 24-mile bicycle route that runs from the Isle of Palms to Folly Beach.

“We found [the redesign] to be a monster,” Charleston Moves’ advocates wrote on their blog, “almost 70 feet wide, with a two-way multi-use path on only one side of the road, speed limit increased from 40 to 45mph, a center (suicide) lane, and not a single crosswalk!”

Drawing on his professional background as an engineer, Charleston Moves’ Vice Chair Chris Tullmann took a closer look at the plans and found that the redesign would do more harm than good. “Instead of helping connect many lovely neighborhoods on that portion of James Island,” Charleston Moves noted on its blog, “the project would instead create a monstrous concrete and asphalt “gash” through it, very likely to diminish property values, cheapen commerce and tarnish the overall quality of life.”

So Charleston Moves kicked off a letter writing and publicity campaign that urged the city council to reconsider — and they did. Thanks to the advocates’ mobilization, officials revised their plans and put forward a vastly improved design for the road with bike lanes on both sides of the street, and a sidewalk running among the old live oaks on the south side of the roadway.

Of course, it’s not everything the advocates had asked for, but now that the discussion had been reopened there will be another round of public comments next year. Learn more on CHS Moves’ blog.

Linda Mainquist was converted to a pedestrian advocate when she watched a woman in a wheelchair struggle to travel down the roadway because the sidewalk was blanketed in snow (video). The dangerous situation galvanized the St. Paul, Minn, resident to action: “Something magical happens when you say, ‘I’m the one who should do it.’”

Mainquist contacted her local city councilmember, who put her in touch with St. Paul Smart Trips, the local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group. Smart Trips had already created a helpful resource for snowy conditions: A slick little door hanger that gave folks a friendly reminder to bust out their shovel and comply with city regulations. “I’m a neighbor who relies on the sidewalks being clear of snow and ice so that it’s easy to get around safely,” the flier explains.

Linda started hanging the fliers on doors in her neighborhood. “It’s really good because a lot of people are too shy to talk to their neighbors about shoveling their sidewalks,” Mainquist said. “I’m proud of this one block. There are a lot of businesses and, when I walk by and see the business is open, I go in and tell them I’m Linda Mainquist and I think you should shovel your sidewalks. It’s been successful.”

St. Paul Smart Trips isn’t the only Alliance organization taking steps to make walking safe in the winter wonderland.

According to the Active Transportation Alliance in Chicago: “Snow or ice-covered sidewalks force people to travel in the street—a thoroughly dangerous enterprise. Uncleared sidewalks may even discourage people from walking at all. When people can’t walk easily to a destination, they might opt for making an unnecessary car trip.”

So they’ve come up with some snow-themed handouts, too. “Please shovel your sidewalk,” one flier asks. “It’s the law and the neighborly thing to do. Clear sidewalks make it safer and more convenient for your neighbors to walk.” To better serve and inform everyone in their community, Active Trans created fliers for both city dwellers and suburbanites; in both English and in Spanish.

Click here to download these resources from St. Paul Smart Trips and Active Trans. If your organization has model materials for keeping cyclists and pedestrians safe in snowy conditions, drop me an email if you’d like to share.

BikeDenver recently announced that on November 23rd Denver’s City Council approved a bill to amend many sections of the Revised Municipal Code related to bicycling.

The new ordinances took effect on Friday, November 27th and amend City traffic laws related to bicycles to partially conform with a new Colorado state law. The new law allows speed-restricted riding on sidewalks for the limited purpose of parking and eliminates obsolete language associated with licensing.  Councilwoman Carla Madison (pictured right) who championed the effort within the council says: “It’s good policy to have state and city law aligned, and it’ll be nice to see people be able to legally ride to park their bike.” 

BikeDenver Executive Director Piep van Heuven said: “It’s very important that Denver’s laws mirror those recently adopted on the State level that ensure key protections for bicyclists like 3-Feet to Pass.  Synchronizing City code with Colorado’s Bicycle Safety Law will make riding a bike in Denver and operating motor vehicles around bikes in Denver safer for all of us.  We’re also pleased to see City Council so actively involved in the effort to make Denver a safe, convenient and fun place to ride a bike.”

BikeDenver worked for months with stakeholders and councilmembers including to suggest ordinance revisions that would bring Denver in line with State and National standards.  BikeDenver’s van Heuven said: “It was great to see so many interested parties at the table and on the same page.”  Groups and offices involved in the effort included representatives from the Downtown Denver Partnership, the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee, Denver City Attorney’s Office, Denver Bike Sharing, Greenprint Denver, Denver Police Department, and the Department of Public Works.

For more of the story, including the specific key changes to Denver’s Bike Ordinances, visit http://www.bikedenver.org/news/denverbikeordinances/.