Daytona Bicycle to Work

2011-06-04T14:55:00.000-07:00

2011-06-04T10:51:00.001-07:00

My NYC Biking Story: Marcus Woollen from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Bicycling Firefighter!

2011-05-07T09:51:00.001-07:00

My NYC Biking Story: Sarinya Srisakul from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Critical Mass Comes to Daytona Beach

2010-10-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

There's the story in the Hometown News .

Meeting the DBBC

2010-08-05T17:48:00.001-07:00

I met some really nice members of the Daytona Beach Bicycle Club this evening at their August meeting in Port Orange. There may be an opportunity for improving local roads for bicycling (good shoulders, for example) near Daytona Beach if the Halifax Heritage Byway is approved by the next year.

Good consistent shoulders on local roads appeals to both road bicyclists coming through town and slower riders who just want to get around town. I would certainly agree with one of the members who said the county and state need to live up to their own rules and regulations regarding improving the roads for bicycle riders.

The Florida Bicycle Facilities Planning and Design Handbook:

Currently the FDOT site only links to Section 5 and no printed copies are available when I inquired with the State, but all sections are still available in PDF form.

Section 1: Introduction

Section 2: Planning

Section 3: Safety

Section 4: DESIGN On-Road

Section 5: DESIGN Shared Use Paths

Section 6: Supplemental Facilities

Utility Corridors as Bicycle Paths

2010-05-02T17:15:00.001-07:00

This on-line story in the News-Journal (May 2, 2010) reports that the Port Orange City Council will not pursue (by a vote of 4-1) turning a Florida Power & Light east-west utility corridor into a bicycle path connecting Port Orange City Center with Nova Road. Security concerns are the issue, apparently people are waiting to ambush bicyclists along the path. The answer is more bicyclists, more eyes on the path. Florida DOT would pay for 75% of the $106,000 cost, but the council said no. The council did vote for $38,500 for turn-lane construction. Will these turn lanes take into account the crossing of the car traffic across present or future bicycle lanes? I hope so. Port Orange has some of the best, albeit limited, urban path systems in the area. I hope they take up this issue again soon. The bicyclists won't come if they don't build the paths.

Long Range Transportation Plan Survey

2010-03-13T13:06:00.000-08:00

This survey from the Volusia County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VCMPO) asks about bicycling and public transportation.

I suggested fare-free Votran bus service and improvements for an urban bicycle network. Take the survey.

Imagine Fare-Free Votran

2010-01-23T19:11:00.000-08:00

Votran's new routes 18 and 19 look like a good start at loop routes that circle the whole area and provide access between Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach from the main land and beach sides. Will more people take the bus? A fare-free ride help encourage ridership.

The annual operating budget of Volusia County's public transit system is such that 15% of the budget is recovered at the fare box, at least in 2006. Local funding covers 50%, State funding 14%, Federal funding 14%, and advertising 7%. Imagine a fare-free Votran system with no fareboxes.

Bus travel time reduced, no waiting for passengers to pay.

Use the front or back door to enter the bus, speeding up bus entry.

No exact change needed. No coins to count, bills to count, no fare cards to print and distribute.

No fareboxes to fix.

Bus drivers can focus on driving, not fare collection.

More people will use the bus if there is no fare.

Fewer people in their cars, less CO2 emissions from cars.

Can this be done? There are many fare-free success stories in the US. Votran could be next.

Passenger Rail Coming to Daytona Beach in 2012?

2009-10-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

It appears that in 3 years Amtrak trains will be coming through Daytona Beach and that we'll get a new unmanned station in town. I found this out reading a Jacksonville transportation blog and tracked down an article on the new station being planned for St. Augustine. I recently got a cool folding bicycle, prefect for taking on the train. I'm ready for the train to come to town! The map is from a 469-page proposal for Federal Stimulus funds I found on a Florida Department of Transportation website. On the left is the location of the proposed station, very near the original one on Orange Ave and Ridgewood Ave. Another proposed location is between ISB and Mason (see top figure). On the right is the City of Daytona Beach Resolution supporting the proposal, dated September 9th.

When will we know if the federal government OKs the proposal?

Clyde Morris bike path gets high priority

2009-07-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

On page 12 of the Volusia County Metropolitan Planning Organization

Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) meeting minutes for June 2009 a list of prioritized bike/Ped Enhancement Projects is presented. A Clyde Morris bike/ped path for 2.2 miles from ISB to Beville RD makes it into the top 4, with a priority ranking 2. It appears tied to FDOT Financial Management (FM)# 4081781, the crazy project to add 2 more lanes to Clyde Morris. Cost estimate 32.7 million. I appears the County spent 3.8 million during FY 2008-2009 to study the widening, all money from the federal gas tax it appears.

New bicycle route maps from the County

2009-07-12T12:31:00.000-07:00

The County has a new bike route map for East Volusia. The maps gives you some idea of the speed of the traffic on the routes selected. It would be valuable to have information on which streets/roads have shoulders, but that is not provided. On very busy roads like ISB, riding on the shoulder seems OK, but when the shoulder suddenly disappears, for example when crossing Clyde Morris, ISB is a little too busy to ride on with zero space between the lane and the curb. I want to "take the lane", but on ISB this is pretty scary.

Taken for a Ride

2009-05-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

An excellent documentary about the how General Motors put all the street cars out of business and left us the public transportation system (mostly infrequent buses) that we have today. As GM goes through bankruptcy, my wish is that they will turn from making cars to making light rail cars to atone for past sins.

Bicycling the beach

2009-01-18T15:29:00.001-08:00

For bicycle commuting beach side, nothing beats firm sand with no cars or stop lights for 4 miles! Access from mainland via Orange Ave (Silver Beach Ave) then up the beach all the way to Plaza Blvd for groceries. This is my first iMovie film via a JVC miniDV camcorder. I plan to make street films about Daytona Beach to help document current conditions and work to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists. Video update!

Buffer Area Bicycle Path

2008-12-12T22:37:00.000-08:00

In the summer of 2006, this sand road and other trails through the Daytona Highlands buffer area didn't have NO TRESPASSING signs. These went up later that year and have prevented my commute through the buffer area from my home in the Highlands to my job at Embry-Riddle Areonautical University. A recent news article suggests things may change in the buffer area. Let's not have more parking lots please. How about a bicycle-pedestrian trail that gets people out of their cars and onto bicycles.

Bicycle Infrastructure in Boulder, CO

2008-12-12T20:38:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of biking around Boulder for two weeks in July 2008 and it was a great experience. Imagine cycling across town without stopping, passing under or over all the major roads. It is wonderfu. This is what a bicycling community looks like. With some vision, we can do it here in Daytona Beach and we don't even have to worry about plowing the bike lanes during the winter! See more great films at STREETFILMS.

Letter to the Editor: A little help for cyclists

2008-10-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

My debut as a letter-to-the-editor writer this morning in the News-Journal. The editor was kind enough to give me the lead letter and a very appropriate sentence of my argument at the top of the page. Click on the image for a better view.

Bicycle City

2008-09-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Plans are afoot for a new community development, but one with a difference, it'll be car-free. Check out the plans
at Bicycle City.

D.C. Launches Bike-Sharing Program

2008-09-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

Public Bicycle Systems

2008-09-17T21:00:00.001-07:00

Wed1415.Systems.Curran.pdf

From: TCC08, 1 month ago

Wed1415.Systems.Curran.pdf

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: tcc08 safety)

Public Bicycle Systems in the North American Context

* Andrew Curran and Gavin Davidson, TransLink, Vancouver, BC

SlideShare Link

Building Streets as Places

2008-09-17T20:45:00.001-07:00

Thurs0900.Places.Espiau

From: TCC08, 2 months ago

Thurs0900.Places.Espiau

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: building community)

Streets as Places: Building Better Communities Through Transportation

* Renee Espiau, Senior Associate, Project for Public Spaces, New York City

SlideShare Link

What If We Built Our Streets as Places?

2008-09-17T20:34:00.001-07:00

The Project for Public Spaces gave an exciting presentation (see post above)at the CarFree Cities Conference this summer. Pages 58 and 59 of the presentation point out how bad cul-de-sac neighborhoods are for getting from A to B and the loss of capacity with the same amount of road money. The "Sprawl Factor" positive feedback loop that brings more traffic and wider roads and more traffic and wider roads can be found on page 72. This is happening locally. Look at the Williamson expansion to 4 lanes: wider roads, but no bike paths to get people out of their cars, just more lanes for cars. As the cars speed up, no need to treat the area along the road as places, why bother when you see it at 45 mph. Why can't cars take I-95 north-south, while slowing traffic on Williamson and adding bike lanes?

Avoid cul-de-sacs, look for gridded streets, low traffic volume

2008-09-07T07:15:00.000-07:00

Getting from A to B in the city on a bicycle isn't always easy, especially through newly developed sprawl the that lacks throughways. An article in today's print addition of the News Journal describes realtors in Portland, OR helping homebuyers find bicycle friendly communities. Gridded streets allow bicyclists to travel on low traffic volume streets which parallel busy streets. In well-developed bicycling cities, these low traffic volume streets are called bicycle boulevards.

The best local example I know of is along S Pametto Ave which parallels Ridgewood Ave (US 1) to the east between roughly Big Tree Rd and Bethune Blvd. For east-west travel, the two-lane Bellevue road should serve the same purpose, keeping bicycle commuters off the very busy Beville Rd and International Speedway Blvd. Unfortunately, even through Bellevue was just repaved, no bike lanes.

Another problem is heading north from Daytona Beach (mainland side) up to Ormond beach west of Nova Road. After some route finding, you can make your way up the street grid has far as Hand Ave. After this, you are forced onto Nova Road or Cylde Morris Blvd as you enter the land of cul-de-sacs. Hand Ave is two-lanes, ready for expansion to four, and there is no shoulder for bicyclists heading west. In an effort to keep out all through traffic, the cul-de-sac communities force their bicycle commuting neighbors on to streets with high traffic volume and frequently no bike lanes or shoulders.

Gas Prices Got You Back on Your Bike?

2008-09-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

Today I learned about the League of American Bicyclists. They have a nice page on bicycle commuting basics here.

Letter to the News-Journal: Bike tails, not autosprawl

2008-08-28T05:01:00.000-07:00

Nice to see community support of alternative transportation in today's paper.

Bikes, not cars, for Freshman in Coral Gables

2008-08-25T06:01:00.000-07:00

I like the idea of providing bicycles to students, with the bikes in school colors. But why sell the bikes to the students, how about a loan program. Bike parking is far cheaper than asphalt parking lots.

A bicycle friendly community!

2008-08-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

Andy Singer has some terrific cartoons about bicycles and the problems caused by cars and highways. Several years ago he was kind enough to send me a CD with many of his cartoons from his book CARtoons. Thanks Andy! This is one of my favorites.

“Get on the sidewalk!”

2008-08-18T14:32:00.000-07:00

I've heard something like this from more than one local motorist. In every state, including Florida, cyclists have the same rights as motor vehicles. I've only been shouted at a few times for being on the road, but I know riders who have been hit by debris thrown by motorists. It can get ugly out there. This recent story in the NY Times discusses cyclist/motorist confrontations which are apparently on the rise as more people start riding. Yesterday, I was quoted in an nice article in the local paper.

Better Bicycling Infrastructure for Daytona Beach

2008-08-12T07:13:00.000-07:00

Last year I volunteered as a researcher for the Daytona Beach Vision Infrastructure Action Team. The final draft of the Daytona Beach Vision Plan is available here. The infrastructure section (which begins on page 20) lists twenty-three strategies to improve Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety, Street Improvements, and Mass Transportation. According to Action Team leader Derrick Henry, the City has voted to adopt the plan. We now need to encourage the City to implement the plan.

A document worth reading

2008-08-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

Does the State of Florida know what a good bicycle commuting system looks like? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. Check out the Florida Bicycle Facilities Planning and Design Handbook. The implementation of these designs would vastly improve bicycle commuting in our area.

Daytona Bicycle Commuters Unite!

2008-08-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

I've been commuting to work by bicycle nearly everyday for two years in Daytona Beach and regularly do errands by bicycle in surrounding Port Orange and Ormond Beach. While the State of Florida has sound bicycle laws and Volusia County has plans to extend and improve the bicycle paths in the area , many more improvements are needed to make Daytona truly bicycle friendly and safe. Bicycling is for more than just recreation and needs of bicycle commuters need to be considered as more people seek alternatives to automobiles. In this blog I'll comment are what I've learned bicycling the area and how bicycling might be improved. I welcome your comments.