Governor Paterson has signed two bills intended to make streets safer by giving law enforcement greater leeway to bring charges against reckless drivers. The first creates a new, easier to prove, category of offense called “careless driving”; the second prescribes a 6-month loss of license to anyone who causes an injury while violating a traffic law. Read the rest of this entry »

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 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 news comes from the New York Bicycling Coalition newsletter. Jimminy Peak is located just across the eastern border of New York State. Traditionally, bike racers make an early season weekend of it by racing at Jimminy Peak on Saturday and then coming to do the Hollenbeck Classic on Sunday here in Virgil. About 50% of the mileage of the Virgil race is on state highways that would probably be designated for the rumble treatment.

Jiminy Peak Road Race Cancelled Due to Added Rumble Strips

The highly popular Jiminy Peak Road Race, regarded as a spring classic in New England and regularly drawing racers from all over the Northeast–including professionals and amateurs from some of America’s top teams–has been cancelled due to State DOT installation rumble strips on SR 7. Divots and deflectors added to the center line were also cited: “The feeling is that the safety additions for cars make it unsafe for bikes.” Read the rest of this entry »

2009 Ithaca Green Building Open House
FREE Bike Tour!!

Saturday, Oct 3 only, 10:00 am (no rain date)

Visit a selection of sites on this year’s tour by bicycle with local architect Ernie Bayles as your guide.  Tour leaves from Gimme! Coffee, 430 N. Cayuga St. in Ithaca at 10:00am and will cover approximately 20-25 miles at a relaxed pace. Riders will need road worthy bikes and helmets, and should bring a lunch. Although the tour is free, please call 607-272-2292 and register in advance so we know how many folks to expect!  For more information on the event, visit: http://ccetompkins.org/environment/greenbuildings/tour.htm

This is a video that shows what the “cyclovia” looks like in Bogota — it’s not just an event or facility, but a whole reorientation of city life toward the well-being and cohesiveness of the community. How much of this could we do in Ithaca?

It was a wonderfully busy summer, for all of us I guess, and attention to these cycling matters was channeled through actual bike riding rather than posting on a website. Time to return to community concerns.

Here’s an interesting snippet  about Gil Penalosa, Executive Director of Walk & Bike for Life in Toronto. He’s worked on cycling infrastructure and innovations all around the world, including the famous cyclovias of Bogota. This brief interview has some info on cyclovia and a lot of inspiration to change. It’s not long.

http://community.bikefriday.com/5qq/gilpenalosa

Sure, I have a Bike Friday “tikit” too, so that got my attention.

The Bike and Walk for Life site has tons of thought-provoking and informative stuff on it.

The Ithaca Festival this year was the most successful in a number of years,  probably owing to the great weather throughtout the weekend. And with success comes traffic congestion, so the people who opted to bike to the park and use the free valet parking really got the full benefit of our favorite mode of transportation. I helped park and retrieve bikes for a few hours and it was busy just about without interruption. By 6:30 the number of people who had used the service was atound 280; still waiting to hear the final tally.

In the past couple weeks we’ve taken some long-coming steps in Ithaca. First the new bike lane for climbing up East Hill along State Street; then the “sharrows” along the length of Cayuga Street, giving cyclists a visible claim to riding that thorofare through the heart of town. (Also, see “Sharrows — Ithaca FAQs.)

The first photo (from Kent Johnson) shows that the sharrows will keep a cyclist clear of opening car doors.  “– if parked cars are not present,” Kent adds,  “it would probably be good form to move to the right.”

Safe position in lane

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This shows that, by riding along the line indicated by the sharrow, a cyclist would be out of the door zone.

December 21, 2008, 10:00 am
Ithaca High School to the Commons

Meet in front of Ithaca High School at 10:00 am. If you need to drive to the ride, there is plenty of parking available there.

• The shortest bike ride on the shortest day of the year.
• Bring your studded tires and your balaclava
• Don’t let the snow keep you off your trusty steed.
• We’ll end the ride at CTB at Seneca & Aurora for coffee, doughnuts and snowy conversation.

Why? We want to let Ithaca know that winter does not keep us off our bikes.  Many of us have made alterations and developed special methods to keep the rubber side up as well as our body temperature.  This is a chance to showcase our innovations and adaptations and to promote cycling as an effective mode of transportation.  Come on out and join us.