Life is better on a bike!

Category: advocacy (Page 4 of 10)

Edmond Bike Plan–Comments

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.


Edmond Ok Bicycle News

City-of-Edmond-Bike-Plan-logoOn March 8th Mark and I attended the City of Edmond Bicycle Master Plan open house from 6:00 – 8:00pm in downtown Edmond. The open house was held to generate discussion and input for creating the “grand plan” for bicycling in Edmond, OK. Even though it was cold and rainy there was a large showing of Edmond citizenry interested in promoting safe bicycling in our community.

From 6pm – 7pm was set aside to visit various stations where goals and objectives were explained and for participants to note on maps where they currently ride, would like to ride, and would like to see bicycle facilities (trails, marked lanes, paths, etc.) to facilitate riding. There was a feeling of camaraderie as other’s shared their favorite routes, discussed difficulties with riding in the area and engaged in a little wishful thinking about what the future might hold. Mark and I noted on several of the maps where we ride and would ride if it was safer and easier to do so. To be honest, it was strange and beyond nice to be asked as cyclists how we thought “our” streets and community could better support our needs. As cyclists, we aren’t used to that are we!

The next hour of the open house was spent listening to staff of Kimley-Horn and Toole Design who will be constructing the bicycle master plan explain the process of developing such a plan. Jan Fees with the Edmond Bicycle Committee provided history and all parties took and answered questions from the standing room only audience.

Presently they are in the information gathering stage. There is a survey being conducted to elicit pertinent information and a comment form was distributed to open house participants for input into the bicycle master plan.

Outlined Goals and Objectives for the Edmond Bicycle Master Plan are:

Bicycle Network:

  • Identify a comprehensive on-street/off-street interconnected bikeway system that can be developed in phases.
  • Achieve a transportation system that is affordable and equitable for all types of users.
  • Increase the convenience of bicycling to and within commercial and employment areas.
  • Increase the connectivity of the bicycle network to parks, schools, Arcadia Lake, downtown, Citylink Transfer Center at Festival Market Place, trails, medical facilities and neighboring cities.
  • Improve accessibility for bicyclists around barriers such as intersections, freeways, and a discontinuous street network.
  • Develop a series of short loop rides around the community for the casual rider.
  • Develop a long continuous loop around the City connecting various destinations for the more advanced rider.

Engineering:

  • Design all bicycle facilities utilizing the most current national standards and guidelines and practices.
  • Include City of Edmond bicycle facility recommendations in the Edmond Transportation Plan.
  • Incr3ease the number of arterial streets that have wide shoulders or bike lanes.

Encouragement:

  • Distribute a Bicycle Map and Commuter Guide.
  • Promote bicycling through event and social marketing.
  • Set up community celebrations and/or rides each time the community completes a new bicycling-related project. This is a great way to show off the city’s good efforts and introduces new users to the improvement.
  • Design a way-finding sign program to facilitate and encourage bicycle mobility and access to facilities, services and destination.
  • Promote active lifestyles by promoting bicycle ridership through community-wide health initiatives.

Education:

  • Expand public education campaigns to promote the “share the road” message and the rights and responsibilities of all users.
  • Education city staff involved in planning, design, maintenance, and construction about best practices for addressing bicycle needs.
  • Expand the city’s Safe Routes to School program to include bicycling and encourage all schools to get involved.
  • Initiate a Bicycle Rodeo to education school age children proper bicycle ridership.

Enforcement:

  • Increase enforcement, taking a balanced approach that improves the behaviors of both motorists and bicyclists and reduces crashes.
  • Encourage police officers to use targeted enforcement to encourage motorists and cyclists to share the road. This could be in the form of a brochure or tip card explaining each user’s rights and responsibilities.

Evaluation:

  • Develop a system for identifying and understanding the type and location of bicycle crashes so that safety issues may be addressed.
  • Work to improve data collection methods for bicycle usage.
  • Establish a system of performance measures for plan implementation.

Implementation:

  • Adopt a 5-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for bicycle improvements.
  • Coordinate among city departments during the planning, design and construction phases of roadway projects to ensure that no opportunity to implement the bicycle network is missed.
  • Implement a procedure to ensure that non-motorized transportation opportunities are evaluation during the planning phase for major traffic corridors.
  • Develop short- and long-term goals for implementation.

We were told the website for the Edmond bicycle plan would have the Goals and Objective noted above, the PowerPoint slides presented, the maps with routes and notations made by citizenry, the bike plan timeline and other related information. It sounded to us like that website would be the place to go to check on the status of the project. Presently, there is a link to the survey on the website, I believe the other information I mentioned will be added soon.

Edmond Bicycle Master Plan website

If you are a local rider please click the link above and complete the survey. Even more important, please send any comments/questions about the Edmond Bike Plan to Jan Fees at [email protected]

It is my understanding that the bike plan will be presented to Edmond City officials in October 2012. Last year the City Council allocated funds to create the Bicycle Master Plan, additional funds to implement a pilot project will have to be obtained. Additionally there are plans to complete a paved trail around Lake Arcadia including access to it from Edmond.

I’m an Edmond resident/bike rider who has had good success working with city officials in the past on adopting the Oklahoma 3-foot law as a city ordinance and my experiences with the Edmond Bicycle Committee both of which I wrote about in “Improvements in OK Bike Law”.

I’m very excited about the obvious support and enthusiasm to make Edmond more bicycle friendly aka SAFE. I would venture that between 6-8pm there were around 100 people, all ages, attending the open house. Reportedly there have been over 300 people take the survey to date.

I have not sent in my comments/suggestions for this bike plan to Jan Fees yet, but when I do I will post them here.

National Advocacy News

Three of the big bicycling advocacy organizations have announced they will merge and become one big powerhouse advocacy group.

The Alliance for Biking & Walking, League of American Bicyclists and Bikes Belong were meeting in California when they came to this agreement. The decision to merge seems to have come about as a way to pool resources to become a singular, powerful voice to promote bicycling as a viable means of transportation and as recreation.

It makes sense to me that one united voice would be more effective, all three are great organizations. In these tough economic times and the current political climate we need the loudest, most powerful voice for cycling we can have.

Letter of Support for Biking

My letter to Oklahoma Representative James Lankford, a member of the House transportation committee, asking for his support of biking and pedestrian funding.

*(I should add that the first three paragraphs are mine, the rest is the generic letter I sent through Rails-to-Trails. I also sent letters via LAB and Alliance for Biking and Walking and other orgs fighting for our rights. Watching the vote now – SL)

Dear Representative Lankford:

I have written to you in the past asking for your support of bicycling, but never have the circumstances been more dire.

As a country we may not realize it yet, but biking will be an important mode of transportation in the future. To many of us it already is. I know people who can’t afford to own a car or two cars for couples and use a bike (or walk) to get to work, school, shop, etc. Of course I also know people who ride for recreation and enjoyment.

As you may recall, Oklahoma City Mayor Cornett challenged Oklahoma City residents to exercise and lose weight – and they did, over one million pounds. Many did so by biking. As a country we need to do everything we can to encourage people to bike, walk and focus on their health – certainly not reduce funding to the very programs that provide for these activities.

I ask you, as a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to vote for the Petri/Johnson/Lipinski amendment that will restore dedicated funding to the Transportation Enhancements (TE) program, among other important fixes, in reauthorization markup.

In particular, I am deeply upset that the draft bill eliminates the rail-trail category. Rail-trails do tremendous good for everyone: commuters, children learning to ride a bike, and small towns looking to boost their tourism and attract families. We all desperately need–and deserve–more such opportunities.

I look forward to hearing of your efforts to stand with Reps. Petri, Johnson and Lipinski by voting for this amendment to restore dedicated funding to the TE and Safe Routes to School programs.

Sincerely,


*Update: Unfortunately, the amendment failed by two votes. It isn’t over but this was a set-back. Rep. Lankford didn’t vote for it – no surprise. Two Republicans on the Committee voted yes, all Democrats did. Thanks to everyone for all efforts made in support of biking and pedestrian programs. More will be needed, and as I learn of future votes, etc. I’ll try to pass them on here. –Susan

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