Ride Boldly! || Bicycle Safety, Advocacy & Events in Minnesota

January 14, 2011
by julie
Comments Off on Minnesota Bicycle Summit – February 28

Minnesota Bicycle Summit – February 28

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The inaugural Minnesota Bicycle Summit, at the Capitol in Saint Paul, is open for registration.

The event will take place on February 28 and is an excellent chance for bicycle advocates from throughout Minnesota to get together and talk about the issues facing cyclists throughout the state, and meet with the new legislature to educate them. The Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota will be facilitating sessions on issues and advocacy.

Guest speakers include Mayor RT Rybak of Minneapolis, and Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede – both of whom preside over designated Bicycle Friendly Communities as evaluated by the League of American Bicyclists.

This is sure to be a pretty awesome event, and it’s only $15 for non-Bicycle Alliance members ($10 for members, which. c’mon, be a member).

January 8, 2011
by julie
Comments Off on Employment Impact of Bike/Ped Infrastructure Investment

Employment Impact of Bike/Ped Infrastructure Investment

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A study recently published by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst asserts that building bike lanes, bicycle boulevards, and pedestrian access create more job per million dollars spent than road repairs and road resurfacing. The probable reason for this differential is the specialized skills and labor intensity of related tasks within these projects versus those in a typical road resurface job.

Bicycle advocacy organizations, as you may imagine, are going agog over this study. In my opinion, the level of excitement is out of proportion to the study.

The study published is a case study of a single city – Baltimore. While single-city studies are good pilots and provide good data, they are not always universally extensible. Specific projects may vary in cost regionally, as may labor costs and skill availability, for instance.
Such statistics remain arguments for discretionary projects. Let’s face it: If your bridge is borked or your roadway is a complete mess, you’re going to invest in resurfacing or road/bridge repair, regardless of this kind of statistic. Explicit need is going to trump improvement projects in almost all planning situations.

Many road construction projects benefit cyclists as well, which also needs to be considered. Specific striping, lanes, or other markings are not always required to improve conditions for cyclists. Sometimes, simple road widening projects, pothole repair, and shoulder paving – all of which would fall into the ‘traditional’ road project category – can be really sweet for cyslists as well as for motorists.

I fully expect to see this study abused and selectively quoted by people both for and against investment in cycling infrastructure.

January 8, 2011
by julie
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Nature Valley Bicycle Festival 2011 Schedule Announced

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Save the date(s)! The organizers of the Nature Valley Bicycle Festival have announced the 2011 schedule and race locations. This year’s event will go from June 15-19 and have similar stages to last year’s event:

June 15: ITT in St. Paul during the morning, with a crit in Lowertown St. Paul during the evening. The Lowertown crit is highly recommended – parking is pretty easy, and there are some good places to grab a bite or a brew nearby.
June 16: Cannon Falls road race.
June 17: Evening crit in Uptown Minneapolis. This was new last year – the crit used to be downtown. I heard mixed reviews of the parking situation, and dining in Uptown on a Friday evening is always a challenge. Good viewing is easily accessible via the Midtown Greenway, however, which opens up more options for some people.
June 18: Menomonie road race. This was also new last year. The roads near Menomonie are really good fun for cycling, and certainly not flat. Several circuits through downtown Menomonie offer an opportunity to watch in a civilized setting.
June 19: The big Stillwater Crit, always a crowd pleaser. The racers end up having to do Chillkoot Hill repeatedly, which is an evil little climb. Biking into Stillwater is a good option for viewing this stage as well.

The Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic, a companion event, will take place June 10-12 at the National Sports Center Velodrome. The track racing at the Velo is a lot of fun (every Thursday all summer!) and this is another nice event to check out. Kids especially seem to love the track racing, as they can see all the action, and they sell ice cream at the concessions shack.

The NVBF web site hasn’t yet been updated with the 2011 dates, but all the information will be there eventually, I am sure. They’re also on Twitter and Facebook. They always need some volunteers (and host families for racers) as the event nears, so it’s good to keep an eye out if you’re interested in becoming more involved with this great opportunity to see quality bike racing in Minnesota.

Update 1/12/2010: As Hugh points out, it’s year 3 in Uptown. I’m still calling it a parking nightmare and not going with a toddler in tow!

January 7, 2011
by julie
Comments Off on Plymouth Avenue Bridge Reopens for Cyclists

Plymouth Avenue Bridge Reopens for Cyclists

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Yesterday, the Plymouth Avenue bridge in Minneapolis reopened for cyclists and pedestrians only.

Plymouth Bridge - Minneapolis As I expected when I wrote about this bridge and its corroded cables in October, the reopening for cyclists does have some plowing dependencies. While Minneapolis is on its ‘new’ plowing budget for 2011 after completely blowing the budget for 2010 with all the November snow emergencies, running plows over the bridge is not a budgetary or safety priority. (Hey, plows are heavy.) As a result, cyclists are being asked to walk their bikes over the bridge via the sidewalk. The shoveled walkway is not wide enough to support simultaneous cyclists and walker use.

As I also would suspect, pedestrians and cyclists were using the bridge anyway, despite signage.

This situation is expected to be extended, although come spring the snow/walk restrictions will obviously be a non-point. Minneapolis hopes to get help to fund the bridge repair, which includes both replacing the corroded cables and relocating the drainage pipes contributing to the corrosion. If funding is procured, repair would take place “late next year,” whatever that means.

January 5, 2011
by julie
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In-Car Search: Ouch

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Several car manufacturers offer some form of in-car navigation system as a built-in. Mobile devices and GPS systems provide other drivers with similar options. Today, Bing (Microsoft’s search engine) announced a deal to be the in-car search provider for Toyota’s new in-car navigation and mobile system. It’s got an in-dashboard touch-screen as well as voice capabilities.

Really, until we have good robot cars, I do not like these systems. We talk a lot about distracted driving, and banning mobile phone use and texting in cars, but these units sit in a grey area so far as those laws go. While studies show that even using hands-free units diminishes driver capacity, few laws restrict device use via voice command/hands-free systems.

And don’t kid yourself. These systems aren’t always going to be being used by the person riding shotgun, or pulled over in the mini-mart parking lot. Even when there is a non-driver using such an in-dash system, they are bright and colorful and eye-catching.

I suspect that as these dash units spread into more cars, we’ll be seeing more chaotic driving as a result. Since tracking of distracted-driving accidents tends to rely on user report – in other words, the driver has to admit what was going on – I don’t expect to see solid statistics on this any time soon.

I do intend to continue my habit of assuming all drivers on the road are crazy, whether I am driving or cycling, however.