Cycling Friendly Community

[Melalvai]

I got to visit Bloomington this weekend for my sister's graduation from law school. The last time I visited was in 2006 before I became a cyclist, so I saw it differently this time.

Anywhere I go now, I'm aware of how many cyclists and pedestrians I see. There were plenty--but it is a college town, so I would expect that. My sister lives down the street from the biggest park in town. All weekend we saw dog walkers heading there. Even during the cloudy rainy part of the weekend I saw cyclists regularly. When we walked to the luncheon we 2 bikes & a car pass so we could cross a street.

Perhaps more revealing than how many cyclists & pedestrians you see on a nice weekend in a college town is the infrastructure. On the one-way street that we waited for the bikes to pass: Concrete curbs divide it into a bike lane and a regular lane. The curbs don't run the entire length of each block, only the last few feet before each intersection. The regular lane is narrow which causes vehicles to slow down as they approach. These curbs look like they've been there a while. I thought this was a clever design and it proves that Bloomington has been taking its bicyclists seriously for some time. There were also plenty of bike lanes, bike routes and sharrows. We didn't go many places in town, but where we did walk there were sidewalks. I did see one bike lane that includes parked cars and is a risk for getting doored.

I wondered who provides the purple Bicycle Friendly Community signs? The reason I ask is because they are the same as the ones I saw in Lawrence, KS, and Lawrence is only bronze while Bloomington just got its silver. I can't remember seeing them in Columbia, MO yet and it got silver last year. I mention it because I'd like to see it as a big deal for cities to announce on every major road that enters the city, the way Ernie Pyles was announced repeatedly as we drove through some part of Indiana. I don't know who Ernie Pyles was but he was clearly important to the area! (I just wiki'd him--he was a WWII journalist.) Anyway cities should be very proud of the designation and should be able to proclaim their silver or bronze status.

The road we came in on (Hwy 46) looked like one cyclists might take, in fact we passed two scooters, but I can easily see a serious injury or fatality happening on it. Half-shoulders "invite" the scooters & cyclists to ride there but they aren't really wide enough for them. I suspect in the surrounding areas are probably some great roads for recreational or training rides, and Hwy 46 is not one of them, but those who live on that road may be hoping for some improvements, given that some of them are riding scooters.

In my brief visit I could only see a couple's of the E's, but from what I did see, it seems further ahead than Lawrence (a bronze BFC--at least it was a few years ago) and at least on par with Columbia (a silver BFC). So my impression is that it merits its silver status.

[Melalvai]

By the way--I got to meet Mr. Bloom this morning as a great end to our visit to Bloomington. So I actually did get a little more insight into what Bloomington is doing to earn its BFC status than just what I saw. Bloomington has a great advocate working for it in Mr. Bloom!

[Mr. Bloom]

It was great meeting you and your family! DD was a sport! I can also vouch for the fact that your dad has a VERY PRECISE cyclists' tan line on his sleeve!

I wondered who provides the purple Bicycle Friendly Community signs?

Since we just got upgraded, I imagine they're ordered and on the way...it will takes months before we see them everywhere.

The road we came in on (Hwy 46) looked like one cyclists might take,

Yes, you won't see many using it...but on the Hilly Hundred weekend, most people will park at their hotels in Bloomington and ride 46 into Ellettesville. Most of this highway is in the county...but the county is placing a priority on "interconnectedness"...there are multiple, lower traffic routes that are frequented...

In my brief visit I could only see a couple's of the E's

Education is one that you wouldn't see...but it's a big deal here...but lots more that we can do...particularly with the "invincible" college students


Let's look forward to riding together sometime!

[Melalvai]

Dad's doing Bike Across Kansas. He "retired" in December, meaning he is still teaching & taking care of Granddad, the only thing he stopped doing was his full-time job, but he has a lot more time for biking, especially once his class ended. I was really surprised at how much weight he has lost already. He said he weighs about the same, it's just shifted from body fat into leg muscle! He's been putting in a lot of miles.

I'll be picking your brain about bike advocacy as our efforts in Kirksville get underway. Well, actually before then...but after we move!

[TrekTheKaty]

Thanks where I went to college--Kirksville

[Geonz]

I'll be sharing that
When I came to C-U in 1999, there were lots of people on bikes then... but genuinely Crappy and Dangerous so-called paths through campus.
I found some other people interested in making CHampaign County a really good place for bicycling, and we (mostly they) researched and brainstormed about how other "change your community" campaigns had succeeded ... lots of people did lots of work, and we're still doing it. People found grant funds; people went to city council meetings and found allies... when people write letters to the editor about bicyclists 'playing car' and not behign Good People and riding on the sidewalks, there's a small barrage of replies. And yes, we find things like the LAB's "bicycle friendly community," and politicians like to have their towns have those labels even if they aren't sure what a bicycle looks like. Then we have tow ork like crazy to make sure the execution is actually functional -- but very, very happily we have people who do the planning who *do.* Jennifer Selby ROCKS. Unfortunately, too often community leaders who really don't know biking infrastructure will do things that look good on paper, but when executed sometimes do more harm than good. We're lucky -- When a property owner downtown does a little campaign of her own so she can go to council and say "Look at all these business owners who don'tw ant bike lanes on Main Street -- it's just not safe for the bicyclists!" and presents her case effectively... unless you actually know the facts... they know to reply with the facts... and the other owners at that meeting end up pretty much changing their minds, especially when the real issue -parking spaces - was addressed.
That said, it's a *constant* fight. Even here, with a ton of bike riding students and people from countries where biking is part of the culture, Car Culture Rules. So the guy that actually painted the sharrows on my street has them hugging the right gutter... when we had a fatality and critical injury involving two bicyclists who were on sidewalks, a Champaign council man got on the news saying that cyclists needed to ride as close to the curb as possible... and oh, yes, if you get flat out run over by somebody downloading ringtones or looking at maps, gosh, that's a shame, you're dead, but it's "improper use of lane."
And, of course, a lot of the peopel who sometimes ride bikes are still imbued with car culture and/or are "guerrilla riders" who make their own rules. We're working on a campaign to put signs in busses and around the community to emphasize the importance of visibility and predictability -- but also emphasizing the fun and practicality of cycling.
I took a survey from "bikesbelong.org" and one of the multiple choice radio button questions had two choices: I rode on the street regardless of conditions or traffic or b: I would ride if there were separate facilities or bike lanes. No middle ground. Oh, and what kind of events did I participate in -- races of this length or that? Not a single option for good old centuries.
The Internet has been a huge help -- f'rinstance, when I blogged about a bike path and had pictures of some pavement problems, they were patched inside of two weeks. (Yes, I updated with thanks.) We have an active discussion board so we can bounce ideas around and prioritize where we're focusing our energies. It means that when, say, that business owner posts her views online we can have somebody ask her reasonable questions that point out the flaws in her logic (such as "you have said that cycling on the sidewalks endangers your customers; wouldn't bike lanes help that?") without getting silly or ugly.
Still, our IDOT people f'rinstance don't want to add pedestrian or cycling facilities to any of the ways to get over interstates, which means it's ***hairy*** to get out of town... or to the quickly developing parts of the community just over those overpasses. They've frustrated our local planners with their refusal to even support their attempts to get grants. They simply don't believe that people should even consider something besides a car to get across town -- that's for the hippie fringe or something. Sigh.