As I mentioned in my blog of March 11th, Edmond OK Bicycle News, I would submit comments concerning the Edmond bicycle master plan. 

My comments:

Edmond Bike Plan Comment Sheet

We are residents of Edmond, OK and long-time cyclists. Besides being avid cyclists, we also maintain a website and blog about biking – All for the Love of Bikes.

Being cyclists and local residents, we wholeheartedly support the City of Edmond’s plan to develop and implement a bicycle master plan. We attended the recent open house and provided input concerning frequent routes we ride and routes we would like to ride if it was feasible to do so.

We have reviewed the goals and objectives that were provided and support them. We recognize that implementation of the bike plan by necessity will occur in stages. Consequently, we feel it is important to prioritize components of the plan to achieve the greatest impact and benefit.

To that end, we would like to see a media campaign aimed at educating the public on the purpose and benefits to the community of the bicycle master plan. The media campaign could include more 3-foot signage, a series of articles in the newspaper about bicycling and the bike plan, insert in utility bill, etc.

Another relatively easy and inexpensive step could be incorporating bikes and bicycling into already established Edmond events, such as the arts festival, Liberty Fest, etc. We rode our bikes to the arts festival last year and found the organizers weren’t quite sure what to do with us. Having more bike racks would also encourage biking. I ride my bike to shop and although there is some parking downtown, there isn’t in the other shopping areas.

Additionally, to have a pedestrians and bikes only day downtown once per month (Saturday or Sunday) would give people an opportunity to ride in a safe environment. When I talk to “non-cyclists” the number one reason they give for not riding is they do not feel safe. In fact, it’s almost the only reason people give.

An initial focus for the bike plan should be perhaps to select 5-10 main streets for markings/signage that would denote them as bicycle corridors that would allow for access to shopping areas, library, downtown, restaurants, etc.

A key focus of the bike plan should be to utilize biking as a safe and convenient way to get around Edmond. Although recreational riding is important, using bikes as a means of transportation will have greater impact on making Edmond bike-friendly.

We look forward to helping bring the bicycle master plan to fruition and making Edmond a truly bike-friendly community.