Friday, December 12, 2008

Buffer Area Bicycle Path



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



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.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Letter to the Editor: A little help for cyclists

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.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Bicycle City




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.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

D.C. Launches Bike-Sharing Program

Public Bicycle Systems


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


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?

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?

Sunday, September 7, 2008

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

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.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Gas Prices Got You Back on Your Bike?

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

Thursday, August 28, 2008

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

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




Monday, August 25, 2008

Bikes, not cars, for Freshman in Coral Gables

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.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

A bicycle friendly community!



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.

Monday, August 18, 2008

“Get on the sidewalk!”

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.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Better Bicycling Infrastructure for Daytona Beach

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.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

A document worth reading

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!

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.