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Entries tagged: South Carolina

By Lisa Seyfried

Drawing inspiration from a national initiative, the Palmetto Cycling Coalition (PCC) is developing a new way for state stakeholders to discuss best practices for introducing and maintaining bicycle programs in South Carolina.

Cities for Cycling: South Carolina will bring bicycle advocates together with planning and engineering departments of cities and towns across the state to identify core issues relating to bicycle transportation challenges and opportunities. Through peer-to-peer collaboration among these various departments statewide, the PCC hopes to establish a forum for the exchange of bicycle transportation innovation, insights, and recommendations.

“The catalyst was a three-day visit with Mia Birk in South Carolina,” Rachael Bronson, PCC’s Executive Director, explains. “As we visited three cities in the state — trips that I often take on regular PCC business — I had a different perspective on the role that the PCC can play in local bicycle advancements across the state. Somewhere around that time, I received an email from Jeff (Miller) asking advocacy groups like the PCC to encourage cities to sign-on to Cities for Cycling.”

The National Association for City Transportation Officials (NACTO) created its Cities for Cycling program to provide a resource and venue for best practices in developing and implementing bicycle-friendly policies and projects in cities across the nation. Bronson saw the merit of the national initiative, but knew it could play an even more important role at the state level. “Cities and towns in South Carolina just cannot relate to cities like Pittsburgh and San Francisco and others,” she says. “And, problems that cities face in South Carolina are state-specific. Really, these thoughts were the genesis of our forum.”

In developing the concept for the state forum, Bronson was mindful that an advocate-led initiative could alienate some potential participants. Luckily, the city of Charleston was already blazing away at some innovative bike-ped projects and willingly took a leadership role in circulating the idea and bringing folks to the table. Thus far, even in the forum’s infant stages, the response has been resoundingly positive.

“Leaders from all over the state are chomping at the bit to get involved,” Bronson says. And the PCC is excited to serve as the forum’s facilitator, overseeing the group’s activities, and ensuring its long-term vitality and relevance to South Carolina public policy.

Last month, the forum held its first meeting and identified the need for an action plan and implementation of the statewide bicycle design specifications. Bronson hopes that the forum will be a resource for future planning and that this effort will serve as a model for other states to create similar forums.

To learn more, visit the PCC website or download the Cities for Cycling: South Carolina narrative here.

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.

This past weekend, pedestrian and bicycle advocacy leaders gathered in Columbia, South Carolina, for the Alliance’s final Winning Campaigns Training of 2011. The 13 participants — from universities, government agencies, and traditional and non-traditional advocacy organizations — created six campaigns that affirmed their commitment to dramatically improve walking, biking, and livability in their local communities.

“This training has been life-changing for me, giving me the courage to actively engage in change,” Valerie Marcil, from the Columbia Bike / Ped Advisory Committee, said.

Three campaigns created at the training will focus on projects in South Carolina, including:

• A statewide design guidance change to improve accommodations for bicycles and pedestrians
• A plan to improve standards and policies at the South Carolina Department of Transportation
• The implementation of a city art/bike rack program in Columbia

Maryland participants will work to close the gaps in their trail network, while Georgia advocates will push for a state-wide complete streets policy and the establishment of a community bike shop in Savannah. According to Brent Buice, Executive Director of Georgia Bikes: “This training gave us not only an actionable plan for a specific advocacy goal, but also the knowledge for achieving future goals.”

The workshop helped participants learn the process and planning necessary to win campaigns, and it also offered opportunities for attendees to connect and build peer relationships. Some chose to go on a walking tour through the city, while others chose to take a bike ride through Columbia’s beautiful neighborhoods. Whether having dinner with some great discussion, or even kicking back to take in some local football on Saturday night, there were plenty of opportunities for leaders to get to know each other and share their experiences.

“We often talk about the power of partnerships, and this weekend was no exception,” Rachael Bronson, the Executive Director of the Palmetto Cycling Coalition, wrote on her organization’s blog. “The training truly would not have been possible without the many partners and sponsors involved — and the projects developed will not be a success without such future collaboration.”

Click here for a few photos from the event.

A big shout out to our host, Palmetto Cycling Coalition, our national training sponsors, and local sponsor champions: Hawley, Earth Fare, Abacus Planning Group, Outspokin Bicycles, and Cycle Center.

The Alliance already has our Winning Campaigns Trainings mapped out for 2012. Be sure to check them out and reserve your spot today.

On October 1, a driver struck Dr. Matthew Burke while he was bicycling with a group in Augusta, South Carolina. After months in a coma, Burke died Sunday.

The circumstances of his death were both tragic and disturbing. The group ride was a regular Friday night social that departed from Outspokin’ Bicycles in Augusta. At 6:40 p.m. that October evening, a driver collided with a pack of 15 cyclists. Some of the riders reported hearing the motorist rev his engine before the crash, which sent Burke to the hospital with severe head injuries.

Burke (pictured) was a model citizen. An Army major, he had been home from Iraq for less than a year. Stateside, he worked as an orthopedic surgeon at the Dwight D Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon. He had a wife, Bonnie, and 11-month old daughter, Anna. This week, they will say goodbye to the husband, father and cyclist during a funeral at St. Mary on the Hill Catholic Church. Burke was 38 years old.

On Tuesday, the man alleged to have crashed into the group of cyclists was charged with reckless homicide, which brings a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a mandatory five-year revocation of his driver’s license. During the investigation, Daniel Johnson suggested he didn’t see the bicyclists because he was reaching down for something in his car.

After months of working with law enforcement and Peter Wilborn of mybikelaw.com, the advocates at the Palmetto Cycling Coalition commended the charge. “Although we are terribly saddened by the loss of such an honorable individual, husband, father, soldier, doctor and friend to many, we are hopeful for what the charge will mean for bicycle safety in South Carolina,” Rachael Kefalos, PCC’s executive director, wrote on the group’s blog yesterday.

“The charge of reckless homicide is a correct choice for this case, and the Palmetto Cycling Coalition is grateful for the work that the Department of Public Safety and Solicitor Strom Thurmond Jr. have done to ensure Dr. Burke’s family sees justice,” Kefalos explained in the group’s press release. “It is a tragedy to lose someone so young and with so much potential to offer the world.”

Hopefully, though, this tragedy will be a touchstone for a mutually respectful environment for both motorists and cyclists on South Carolina’s roads, Kefalos added. “As a state, we have some of the best bike laws in the country,” she said, “and we need to uphold these laws and continue to ride our bicycles for all the good that they bring.”

Peter Wilborn also took heart that law enforcement acted diligently. “We work for the day South Carolina roads are truly safe for cyclists,” Wilborn said. “The hard work of the South Carolina Highway Patrol in this case is getting us closer to reaching that goal. Cycling’s time has come, and South Carolina will be a wonderful place to ride.”

“Please join us in keeping Dr. Burke’s family close to your hearts and in your thoughts, and stand resolute alongside other bicycle advocates as we all strive for a safer and more bicycle friendly South Carolina,” Kefalos wrote on the PCC blog. “Bicycling is indeed good for ourselves, for our communities, for our businesses and for our government. Lets keep that in mind and, of course, keep on riding.”

Read more from the PCC.

Back in October, we highlighted a major victory in the Show-Me State. After years of targeted advocacy and partnership building, the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation helped cut the ribbon on a new bike-ped path on the Heart of America Bridge in Kansas City (pictured).

“Advocates have been working for this day for more than two decades,” Brent Hugh, MoBikeFed’s executive director, told us. “The Missouri River cuts the Kansas City metro area in half, and a safe crossing point for bicyclists and pedestrians has been the biggest missing piece of the area’s bike-ped network.”

Kansas City is far from unique. Bridge crossings pose significant challenges — and opportunities — for bicycle and pedestrian advocates across the country. To help spur more successes like the one in Missouri, the Advocacy Advance Team has just released its latest report, Bridging the Gaps in Bicycling Networks: An Advocate’s Guide to Getting Bikes on Bridges.

“Bridges provide critical connections in a transportation network,” writes Darren Flusche, policy analyst for the League of American Bicyclists and lead author of the report. “After a generation of building bridges exclusively for cars, it is time for a more inclusive approach. Bicyclists and pedestrians need bridges at least as much as any other road users and advocates are increasingly making progress with transportation agencies. However, because of their scale and complexity, advocates often need to undertake serious, concerted campaigns to ensure accommodations are made.”

“This report identifies some of the common objections to bridge accommodations for biking and walking and offers suggestions on how to answer them,” Flusche adds. “It also contains recommendations based on the experience of several successful and on-going advocacy campaigns.”

The report is a must-read. It brings together all the relevant statistics, policy statements and federal regulations that you need to discuss these critical issues with officials in your community. It includes key insights and engaging anecdotes from advocates across the nation. Click here to download your copy.

Then mark your calendars for our “Learn from the Bridge Access Report” Mutual Aid call on December 15th at 3 p.m. EST (please note the date and time change!). Advocacy Advance staff will join the call to answer any questions about the report and a panel of advocates will share their experiences in waging and winning bridge campaigns in their communities. Be sure to read Bridging the Gaps and dial in to add your voice and insight to this important discussion.

Click here to register for the call.

Blog contributed by Alliance intern Adam Levine

Charleston Moves is working to connect downtown Charleston to its surrounding beaches with a network of safe, accessible bike paths.

The 24-mile project will allow bicyclists of all skill levels to cruise to the beach or travel around town. Leaders from Charleston Moves also hope this project will promote a broader, regional mindset when it comes to bicycling and walking.

For more information about this initiative, watch the video or visit http://www.battery2beach.blogspot.com.