A few overdue updates

If you ride in downtown Greenville, you have most likely seen the new bike lanes going in on  North Main. For those of you who haven’t seen the redesign, take a look at this picture on Greenville Daily Photo.  The view from the Academy Street intersection shows the preliminary bike lane layout with turning lanes and on street parking. After a few recent setbacks, it is great to see this expansion of the city’s on-street bicycle network underway.

Another bit of good news in the upstate is the success of Spartanburg’s B-Cycle bike share program. The Spartanburg Herald-Journal reports that, since the system was launched this summer, the 14 bikes have been ridden more than 9,000 miles. The demand has exceeded expectations, and Spartanburg is considering adding a third B-Cycle station in the near future. Greenville has recently been considering a bike sharing program as well, so let’s hope that city leaders will take note of the success of the program in Spartanburg.

Unfortunately, not all of the news I have to share in this post is positive. The PCC blog recently pointed to another Herald-Journal article which pointed out that South Carolina roadway fatalities are up for first time since 2007.  The article states that “the number of people killed in vehicle wrecks actually went down in 2010, from 591 to 559. But the number of pedestrians killed in South Carolina has gone up nearly 20 percent since last year, with 110 pedestrians killed so far in 2011, compared to 89 last year.” That is a disturbing trend, and one that those of us who care about complete streets and bicycle/pedestrian issues should be very concerned with.

What can we as concerned citizens do to improve the bicycle (and pedestrian) friendliness of our communities though? Frank Mansbach, the new advocacy chairperson for the Greenville Spinners, points out this excellent article from Mia Birk titled, “50 Keys to Transforming Communities and Empowering People, One Pedal Stroke at a Time.” The list might seem overwhelming at first, but if many people are involved, we really can transform our community. If you are not already a member of the Greenville Spinners and the PCC, I encourage you to join both organizations and get involved. I would much rather post good news here than bad news, so let’s work together to continue making Greenville a great place to live and ride.