‘Ghost bike’ plans lose momentum / LJWorld.com

Lawrence’s Bicycle Advisory Committee no longer is pursuing plans for placing “ghost bikes” across Lawrence this month, instead choosing to focus on education and information to support the cycling community.

Eric Struckhoff, the committee’s chairman, said the move toward creating “ghost bike” memorials — riderless bikes that would be painted white, each with a plaque memorializing a cyclist who had died while riding on a public street — had lost momentum since earlier this year, when city officials had expressed support for the concept.

A friend of Rachel Leek had proposed displaying a ghost bike to honor his late friend, but plans for that particular memorial were dropped at the request of Leek’s family, Struckhoff said.

Now, he said, the committee is planning to have new bike route maps printed and distributed in the area, part of an effort to raise awareness of bicycle rules and resources in the area.

Today, I want to announce a sea change. People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning. This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized. We are integrating the needs of bicyclists in federally-funded road projects. We are discouraging transportation investments that negatively affect cyclists and pedestrians. And we are encouraging investments that go beyond the minimum requirements and provide facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities. To set this approach in motion, we have formulated key recommendations for state DOTs and communities: * Treat walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes. * Ensure convenient access for people of all ages and abilities. * Go beyond minimum design standards. * Collect data on walking and biking trips. * Set a mode share target for walking and bicycling. * Protect sidewalks and shared-use paths the same way roadways are protected (for example, snow removal) * Improve nonmotorized facilities during maintenance projects.

merrill 2 years, 12 months ago

What a Bicycling Paradise Looks Like 5/19/2010

by Danielle Maestretti Tags: Environment, bicycling, bikes, cities, Utrecht, Feministing, Danielle Maestretti

Feministing hipped me to this amazing video from Utrecht, a city of about 300,000 in the Netherlands, where one-third of all trips are made by bicycle. The video shows a busy—but never too gummed-up!—intersection during rush hour. Utne’s hometown of Minneapolis is a great city for cycling, but this bike-happy glimpse of Utrecht made me drool:

http://www.utne.com/Environment/What-a-Bicycling-Paradise-Looks-Like.aspx?utm_content=05.20.10+Politics&utm_campaign=Emerging+Ideas-Every+Day&utm_source=iPost&utm_medium=email

Ray LaHood: “This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.”

When the Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood stood on a table at the National Bike Summit to thank the crowd and show his support for bicycling and walking, he was just getting started.

Today, he announced his new Policy Statement on Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodation Regulations and Recommendations. It is simply the strongest statement of support for prioritizing bicycling and walking ever to come from a sitting secretary of transportation.

On his blog, he writes:

boothillbilly 2 years, 12 months ago

Hey Merrill, why don't you also: give sunshine and lollipops to everyone who rides a bike build a time machine to go back to the 1870s (or 1960s) when "Island Communities" were a viable concept, thereby making bicycle transportation a viable concept to fulfill the transportation needs of Americans

-to "treat walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation models" implies distances of less than or equal to fifteen miles (bike) or three (walking), thereby making an hour long commute. That is simply not feasible for many people. -to "ensure convenient access for people of all ages and abilities" sounds pretty darn discriminatory against people with physical disabilities who find themselves unable to walk or ride -to "go beyond minimum design standards" sounds like marketing hogwash, as it is a phrase that means nothing -to "collect data on walking and biking trips" sounds like farcical grandstanding. I must have seriously overestimated you Merrill if you believe this is feasible.

The rest sounds great, but at what cost? Maybe rather than walking or riding bikes, you could come up with feasible solution, rather than cutting and pasting blog postings?

SFBayhawk 2 years, 12 months ago

Bikes will make more sense when: 1) The price of gas is sensibly what it should be without the standing army and squander. 2) When sensible people ride, not in the dark, down one way freeways.

consumer1 2 years, 12 months ago

along with this program educate bikers about safety. When to ride, how to ride, lights, laws etc. And... start having Law Enforcement start ticketing cyclist who run stop signs, pass other vehicles on the right, and careless operation of a vehicle. All of us need to obey the laws, not just some of us.

OonlyBonly 2 years, 12 months ago

Does anyone wonder why there's such a push (lately) to get Americans to ride a bicycle instead of driving? Like maybe a "hidden agenda?"

come on consumer1, don't you know that most cyclists possess a raging sense of self-entitlement that allows them to break whatever laws are inconvenient to them ;-). Seriously though, bicycle education and ticketing could do wonders.

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