Four quarterly reports on the “sharrows” that were painted along the length of Cayuga Street are now available for review. A fascinating read (pretty large PDFs; sorry). See Sharrow Reports.

Steve,

I’m from the UK but I’m in a hotel in Long Beach California.  I want to go find an apple store and buy an iPad.

So I search on the web for the nearby apple stores and that works well and for each one it says “click here for driving directions.”  I travel with a great folding bike called a Bike Friday tikit. There’s a GREAT metro here.  Obvious way would be jump on the metro to the nearest station to a shop then cycle from there to the shop.  Does the apple web tell me where the nearest Metro station is ? Nope.  It gives me only driving directions. That’s c..p.  It means to cycle it I would have to do a lot of work on the web to find the nearest station and the line to get there. Read the rest of this entry »

Walk and Roll is a really great website and a great idea; here’s their main principles –

Walk+Roll works to encourage and remind people to walk and bicycle in their daily lives by:

• - Organizing human-powered neighborhood events that combine fun with active living, learning and participating.
• - Advocating with politicians and community leaders so that they consider cyclists and pedestrians in public policy.
• - Promoting biking and walking through press releases and outreach to the media.

Walking and cycling rather than driving – particularly for short distances – saves money, improves physical and emotional health, decreases smog, improves neighborhood safety and encourages social interaction which builds community.

Most of their ideas are things we’ve kicked around here in Ithaca as well; some of their events are worth emulating. All in all, much food for thought.

The Alliance for Biking and Walking has issued a new “benchmarking” report, the results of a nationwide survey of bicycling and walking practices, policies, and implications.

As this report shows, where bicycling and walking levels are higher, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes levels are lower. Higher levels of bicycling and walking also coincide with increased bicycle and pedestrian safety and higher levels of physical activity. Increasing bicycling and walking can help solve many of the largest problems facing our nation. As this report indicates, many states and cities are making progress toward promoting safe access for bicyclists and pedestrians, but much more remains to be done.

Check out the report on their website: Benchmarking

Yikes! it’s May already and we need to make plans for the bike month, bike week, and bike-to-work day! A couple years ago, Bikeithaca.org kicked off with a quickly-organized plan. We had groups of people sign up to ride together to common destinations on Bike to Work Day. This was the most successful city-wide event of the kind that we’ve had, so we should try to improve on it this year. I’ll try to get the supporting stuff — maps, chat pages, etc., — ready in a few days so that we can turn to recruiting people and matching them up for the ride.

The questionnaire is now closed. We’ll publish an analysis of results as soon as the information has all been analyzed. If you’re curious, we had about 165 respondents. Good to hear from so many of you.

In May of 2009 the City of Ithaca installed sharrows (aka Shared Lane Markings) along most of Cayuga Street. Over this past year, the Engineering Office has been conducting a study Read the rest of this entry »

The second annual Earth Hour Night Ride was enjoyed by over 25 participants on a crisp, clear evening along the Waterfront Trail in Ithaca’s Cass Park.

Adding vitality to the group this year were some 7 or 8 youngsters whose energy was a bit more than the  slow pace of the ride could fully engage. But, they coped with their impatience by riding back and forth within the peloton and found time to agree that the scene was truly beautiful.

Following the official Waterfront Trail loop, most of the group continued on toward the Commons. We emerged as an enormous-seeming train of bicycles with bright front lights and blazing rear blinkies, easily holding our place in the very light traffic of State/Martin Luther King Street. At the Commons, we all dismounted and walked across to Aurora Street to get some hot beverages at College Town Bagels.

It felt like a good Ithaca tradition was being set in place.

The reconstruction of the famed Octopus on the West Side left a really bad intersection where the State St bridge leads to Hector St with Floral and Elm go left. It’s awkward for cars but seriously a hassle for bikes and downright dangerous for pedestrians trying to get anywhere. Fortunately, there’s been attention given to the problem, grants written, and proposals submitted. Right now, I’m pretty sure there is no firm decision what will happen but it will probably be close to one of the plans. I’ve uploaded PDFs of what the different options look like.

• Rt 79, 13A, Elm Safety – Oct 14 2008 Meeting Notes
• 13A-79 Option A
• 13A-79 Option B_1
• 13A-79 Option_B_2
• 13A-79 Option B_3_ with mid-block ped signal
• 13A-79 Option C

The options are full of fine details and apparently meant to be printed on very large format printers. But, after staring at it for a bit, it became clear what was intended.

This year’s Earth Hour Night Ride will take place on March 27.

Meet at about 7:45 pm near the Cass Park Turtle.

After getting acquainted, adjusting our lights, blinkies, and reflectors, and checking in on why we’re doing it, we will take a leisurely ride around the Waterfront Trail. When we get back to the Turtle, those who want to extend the evening (and who have lights and skills for riding at night through the city) will take the path over to State/Martin Luther King Street, and ride to the Commons. There, we’ll assemble for some more schmoozing and beverages — the precise location TBA.

Earth Hour 2010 printable flyer.

Last Year’s Ride

Well, it was a year ago that we did our first Earth Hour Night Ride. Steve Powell shot a bit of video of us all riding out of the parking area, but I never figured out how to post it. So, here goes. By the way, as far as I can tell, everybody has a light. Let’s get a lot more people out there this year!

A reply from the British Columbia Minister of Transportation

Last summer (2009) I had some unpleasant experiences with rumble strips in British Columbia while doing a bike tour around the Glacier and Waterton national parks. For an interminable part of the route in BC, we were caught in a narrow, hazard-ridden path between a ferocious rumble strip on the left and some even worse hazard on the right. It was possible to ride, but it made me nervous and on occasion demanded that I face the bucking of the rumbler. When we got to Fernie, we got into a conversation with some local folks who turned out to be cyclists and, on the topic of rumble strips, they begged us to write to their authorities to register our complaints. They were particularly despondent because their main annual ride had been canceled because too many of the participants felt the roads were too hazardous. (The photo shows a rumble-stripped stretch at its very best.) Well, I wrote various government agencies and officials — including, impudently, the premier of the province. Yesterday, I got a response from the BC Minister of Transportation, Shirley Bond.  Read the rest of this entry »