Tag: bicycles

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News Transportation

Queen City Bike wins $10k grant to implement Bicycle Friendly Destinations Program

The Greater Cincinnati Foundation has awarded a $10,000 grant to Queen City Bike to develop a Bicycle Friendly Destinations Program. Once in place, the new program is expected to help grow the number of bicyclists locally by creating a registry of bike friendly employers, retailers, government agencies, and cultural organizations.

Program administrators will reportedly work with area businesses and institutions to make it easier for people to access and use their respective facilities by bicycle. The hope is that by improving the overall environment and bicycle culture, that more people will take to the streets on their bikes.

According to Queen City Bike president Gary Wright, the new program fits perfectly into the non-profit organization whose mission is to promote bicycling as a safe and healthy means of transportation and recreation in the Cincinnati region.

“Getting more people to use bicycles for everyday transportation benefits everyone,” Wright said. “It reduces pollution, cuts down on traffic and parking congestion, and is good for your health.”

The grant money will kick off the new program just as the City of Cincinnati has been implementing a variety of new measures from bicycle parking requirements, new safety laws for motorists, and additional bike lanes and sharrows. Many of the new changes have been sparked by a recently adopted Bicycle Transportation Plan that, in part, calls for 445 miles of on- and off-street bicycle facilities to be installed by 2025, and double the number of people using bicycles for everyday transportation within the next five years.

According to Wright, the idea for the program originally came from a project lead by Brad Hunkler in the Leadership Cincinnati Class 33. In that project Hunkler identified the program as a “key priority” for local employers looking to attract and retain talented professionals.

“The city is committed to making our streets more bicycle friendly, and we hope that many area businesses and organizations will match that commitment by participating in the Bicycle Friendly Destinations Program, “ Wright said. “More and more cities are realizing that supporting bicycles is important for their future, and I am proud to say that Cincinnati is one of the places that gets it.”

Queen City Bike will publicly recognize those that succeed at earning the Bike Friendly Designation in May 2011.

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Development News Transportation

City adding bike lanes to Central Parkway, Spring Grove Avenue, Linn Street

As summer draws to a close, Cincinnati city officials will be installing several miles of new dedicated bike lanes and sharrows. According to the Cincinnati Department of Transportation & Engineering (DOTE), crews have already introduced bike lane symbols along Spring Grove Avenue, between Crawford Avenue and Mitchell Avenue, and will be completing the separation line later this week.

Other city streets to be improved later this summer include Central Parkway, between Brighton Place and Hopple Street, and Linn Street from W. 6th Street to Gest Street.  In total, the projects account for approximately two-and-a-half miles of new bicycle facilities.

“We know that Spring Grove Avenue is already a major bicycling corridor, and we hope that the addition of bicycle lanes will encourage even more people to try using a bicycle for casual trips,” said Curtis Hines, Spring Grove Avenue project manager.

According to Hines, the timing is perfect as all of the streets receiving the new bike lanes and sharrows were already scheduled for routine maintenance work.

“We’re committed to building streets with all users in mind, so we plan to continue incorporating bike lanes in as many street improvement projects as possible.”

The new bike lanes and sharrows come shortly after Cincinnati City Council approved dramatic new bicycle policies that include new safety regulations, parking requirements, and a comprehensive Bicycle Transportation Plan that calls for 445 miles of on- and off-street bicycle facilities to be installed by 2025.

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News Politics Transportation

New Cincinnati bicycle safety ordinance to be one of strictest in Midwest

In addition to the progressive Bicycle Transportation Program unanimously adopted by Cincinnati City Council last week, Cincinnati policy makers also approved safety ordinance that will be one of the most comprehensive of its kind in the region, and even stricter than what is found in Chicago.

“What this plan really does is not add additional transportation infrastructure,” said Gary Wright, President, Queen City Bike. “It adapts the existing transportation infrastructure to new needs in a cost-effective way.”

The new safety ordinance approved 8-0 by Cincinnati’s City Council requires motorists to maintain a three-foot distance when passing bicyclists. The ordinance also makes driving or parking an automobile in a bike lane illegal, and places extra responsibilities on drivers when opening doors as to avoid endangering bicyclists.

“This bike plan can help turn this into the 21st Century city that we all want it to be, one that can look forward to more streets, shops, cafes, and parks filled with people, where people will want to be,” Wright concluded.

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News Politics Transportation

Cincinnati to Vote on Massive Bicycle Policy Reforms

In a bold effort to make Cincinnati more bicycle friendly and inviting for anyone to ride, the City’s Department of Transportation & Engineering has partnered with Queen City Bike and community members over the last 10 months to develop a Bicycle Transportation Plan that, in part, calls for 330 miles of new dedicated street lanes and 83 miles of off-street bike paths in addition to the 33-mile collection of bike paths that exist presently.

Cincinnati City Council’s Livable Communities Committee will hear these recommendations at their meeting today where a large number of bicycle advocates are expected to appear in support of the plan.  The meeting will be held at City Hall (map) at 6pm.

Recent efforts have included the addition of new dedicated bike lanes, sharrows, bicycle racks, on-street bike parking, and a new regulation requiring the inclusion of bicycle parking inside parking garages.  Progress also continues to be made on the Ohio River Trail which will eventually tap into the Little Miami Scenic Trail and provide a continuous bicycle route from Cincinnati’s eastern suburbs to downtown Cincinnati where it will terminate at the new Bicycle Commuter Station currently under construction at the Cincinnati Riverfront Park.

In cities like Vancouver, Portland, Seattle, Washington D.C., New York City, and San Francisco even more is being done to accommodate bicyclists as the number of those utilizing the carbon-neutral form of transportation continues to rise at a rapid pace.

Such efforts being made in these cities include separated on-street bike lanes, enhanced signage, signal timing, and bike boxes which are all intended to make bicycling safer and more accommodating.  As a result, Vancouver has seen a ten fold increase in the number of bicyclists using the Dunsmuir Viaduct since its bicycle improvements were made.  Bicycling there also represents the fastest growing form of transportation in Vancouver with more than 60,000 bicycle trips each day.

In May 2010, Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls highlighted Portland, OR’s use of bike boxes as a best practice citing that the new bike boxes at intersections throughout Portland help to eliminate dangerous “right hook” collisions.  The bike boxes in Portland are colored green boxes on the road with a white bicycle symbol inside that offers a visual clue to motorists to expect bicyclists at the intersection while also positioning bicyclists in front of motorists so that they are not in the motorist’s blind spot.

Those interested in speaking at the Livable Communities Committee meeting tonight are asked to arrive by 5:50pm to fill out a comment card.  Free bicycle parking is available at City Hall which can also be accessed by Metro bus service (plan your trip).

Categories
News Politics Transportation

Bicycling and walking trips up 25% since 2001 according to new study

According to a 15-year status report released by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), both bicycling and walking trips have increased 25 percent since 2001 across America. Walking trips have more than doubled from 18 billion in 1990 to 42.5 billion in 2009, and bicycling trips have increased from 1.7 billion to 4 billion during the same time period.

The National Bicycling & Walking Study was commissioned to gain an understanding of how USDOT would increase bicycling and walking trips while also improving safety. The original legislation funding the study in 1991 specified five tasks to be accomplished by the $1 million study.

  1. Determine current levels of bicycling and walking and identify reasons why they are not better used as a means of transportation;
  2. Develop a plan for increased use and enhanced safety of these modes and identify the resources necessary to implement and achieve this plan;
  3. Determine the full costs and benefits of promoting bicycling and walking in urban and suburban areas;
  4. Review and evaluate the success of promotion programs around the world to determine their applicability to the role required of the USDOT to implement a successful program; and
  5. Develop an action plan, including timetable and budget, for implementation of such Federal transportation policy.

The original goals established by the Federal Highway Administration and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 1994 set out to double the percentage of total trips made by bicycling and walking from 7.9 percent to 15.8 percent of all travel trips while also reducing the number of bicyclists and pedestrians killed or injured in traffic crashed by 10 percent. While the total trips goal has not yet been achieved, the goal of reducing fatalities and injuries has as they have reduced by 22.3 percent and 14.7 percent respectively for bicyclists and 12 percent and 17.8 percent respectively for pedestrians.

“This report demonstrates what we’ve been saying here at the Department,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Americans want and need safe alternatives to driving. And by making biking and walking safer and more accessible, we’ll be able to provide Americans with more choices and help foster more active, livable communities.”

Since the study began in 1994 a wide variety of policy efforts have been made at local, state and federal levels to make communities more livable and encourage more people to utilize bicycling and walking as a means for travel trips. In Cincinnati this has been seen through the recent efforts to bolster the city’s bicycling population, and initiative by Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls to introduce a Complete Streets policy.

According to the study, since 1971 through 2009, there have been 121 Complete Streets policies adopted by various agencies. In 2009 alone it is estimated that 45 jurisdictions across the country adopted their own policies, with another ten jurisdictions doing so thus far in 2010.

In addition to the groundswell of policy changes taking place at local jurisdictions, Secretary LaHood has announced a policy change to promot bicycle and pedestrian opportunities that encourage transportation agencies, like Cincinnati’s OKI Regional Council of Governments, to go beyond minimum standards and provide safe and convenient facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists through the Surface Transportation Program (STP), Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Program, the National Highway System fund, and Federal Lands Highway Program.

“We are proud of the work we’ve done to integrate walking and bicycling into people’s transportation options,” said Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez. “But we won’t stop working until we find ways to prevent fatalities and create more livable communities across the country.”