Here’s an interesting visual aid for Mineapolis, a city where there is enough paint on the streets to merit explanation. Several things on their list would be a good idea for Ithaca. But the main thing I’m curious about — is their paint actually still visible at this time of year?

From: Understanding Bicycle Markings in Minneapolis

Marking	Symbol	Picture	When you bike	When you drive
Bike Lane			Dashed is a merge area – look for turning vehicles	Solid line is just for bikes – dashed line is a yield area
Green Bike Lane			Ride in the green area – look for turning vehicles	Use extreme caution – yield to bikes when turning
Advisory Bike Lane			Like a standard bike lane – look for merging vehicles	Like a standard bike lane – look for merging vehicles
Buffered Bike Lane			Bikes ride in bike lane – enjoy the extra elbow room	Bikes ride in bike lane – enjoy the extra elbow room
Cycle Track			Ride in the bike lane – look for pedestrians and car doors	Drive or park to the left of the bike lane
Shared Lane			Symbols indicate a safe and visible place to ride	Expect to see bicyclists – only pass bikes when safe
Green Shared Lane			Green indicates a safe and visible place to ride	Expect to see bicyclists – only pass bikes when safe
Bike Boulevard			Designated bike route on a quiet street – enjoy your ride!	Designated bike route on a quiet street – drive slowly
Bike Box			Slide up front while you wait – the box is for bikes	Wait behind the solid white line and yield to bikes

Some illustrations in this section are based on illustrations by Chicago Cartographics for the Minneapolis Bicycle Map, published by Hedberg Maps, Inc.”

New Year’s Eve was a tease of a day. The temperature got up over 50 and the cloud cover even broke up at times, bringing the warm sun flooding over the snowless landscape. And, then, the weather forecasters were promising more of the same on Sunday! So, even though it was ridiculously late to announce an event, I emailed the invitations to a New Year’s Day bike ride around Ithaca. The idea was to do a similar loop to what we had done last year — visiting the waterfalls, the lake, the waterfront trail, and a place to Read the rest of this entry »

When we plan these “shortest rides on the shortest day” there’s always uncertainty about how it will come off so, when I rode down Cayuga Street toward Gimme! around a quarter after six on the day of the ride, I was really impressed and gratified to see a whole bunch of bicycles and people in yellow rain gear crowding around the front of the place.

Evidence of bicyclists gathered at Gimme!

By 6:30, we had about 18 people assembled and I thought we should leave — but was told that a couple others might still be on the way. It’s hard ever to know the exact count, but it seems we had a total of about 20 riders by the time all joined in — plus at least a half dozen who had decided to join the ride only in spirit but the brew-pub in body.

The most significant variable in such events as these is the weather and this year’s edition enjoyed another reprieve of nastiness for the duration of the ride. We’ve always been lucky in this regard, Read the rest of this entry »

For the past several years, a few cyclists have gathered on the winter solstice to do a short ride ending at a warm place to sit, get warm, and shoot the breeze with friends. This “Shortest Ride on the Shortest Day” brings together people who are used to year-round riding with occasional cyclists and enables us all to share in the beauty of the city, the utility of bicycles, and the warmth of community. Today will be the fourth year of this event. If you can make it, do join us at the start (Gimme! at the corner of Cayuga and Cascadilla) or at the destination (Bandwagon breew pub on Cayuga near the commons).

From: David Nutter, member of Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Council, 20-year West Hill resident, parent, professional local driver, and pedestrian commuter through intersection

On November 21 at a West Hill Neighborhood Association meeting at LACS Tim Logue presented a plan to change the intersections of Elm Street, Floral Avenue, Hector Street, and State Street with a quarter million dollar state grant.

I support many aspects of the plan as presented: retaining the current intersection configuration, adding crosswalks, making crosswalks more visible, including mid-crossing refuges, creating a level landing at the base of the sidewalk on Elm, and replacing the substandard sidewalk on the west side of Floral between Elm and Hector connecting to crosswalks and to the stairs to Chestnut Hill Apartments.

I also hope some changes will be made. Read the rest of this entry »

Not Far From the Tree is an organization in Toronto that has formed to collect all the fruit that grows in the city where nobody picks it. But they’ve gone further to fashion a more sustainable life in the city.

Not Far From the Tree from Good Evidence on Vimeo.

It took us several decades to get a bike lane striped up East State Street and only one more year to get the lane extended along Mitchell St for a couple blocks. Apparently this last chore must have had some paint left over to create some rather mysterious stencils on the downhill portion of that route. I was driving home one day along those streets and was surprized and puzzled to see the standard bike-lane stencil in the gutter of Mitchell St and, again, on State Street. What explains those embellishments? Are they meant to be bike lanes? Are they meant to advise riding next to the curb? Are they in anticipation of striping a bike lane down that side of the street? Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been TWO YEARS — actually a month more than that — since local cyclist Ace crashed crossing the Clinton Ave bridge near the police station on a rainy day. Her injuries were very serious and, even after much treatment that she could ill afford, she is far from restored to the health she had a right to expect. Recall that we had a great debate to get at least some more prominent warnings posted — more than that was deemed inappropriate because the bridge would be completely rebuilt in two years. (See Andy Goodell’s summary of BPAC debate: BPAC debate re Clinton St. bridge and a more detailed description of the accident and problem: Cheese Grater Bridge.)

So, what are the plans? Is something about to be done, or is the matter forgotten?

This notice of an avaiable grant comes from the League of American Bicyclists. I’m sure there are lots of grants in the world and that civil servants in ithaca are toiling over applications. I just posted this here as a reminder of such things in general and also as a prod to think about the Floral/Hector intersection project more broadly than just one corner. There is so much possible in Ithaca; we really must move forward more.

Plan of roadway changes

A legacy of the old “Octopus” era has been the problematic intersection of Hector St., Elm St., and Floral Ave. It has been difficult for cars to turn safely into or out of Floral and passing through the intersection always presents possible surprises. But, the big problem has been for pedestrians and cyclists.

It’s an important bottleneck not only because the many residents of West Hill must pass through to get into the city, but the additional traffic to the Lehman Alternative Community School brings lots of youngsters into the traffic mix. After lots of planning and discussion, the final details of the solution have been provided by Tim Logue of the Ithaca Transportation Engineers office. Read the rest of this entry »