A 19th century solution

Last Saturday, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2776, the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007, which will, among other things, defines the bicycle as a form of transportation covered by the qualified transportation fringe benefit. The Bike Commuter Act provision, originally introduced by Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, calls for a $20 monthly benefit for bike commuters.

Unfortunately, Patrick McHenry, a republican representative from neighboring North Carolina, argued against the plan saying that bicycles are a “19th century solution to a 21st century problem.” You can read additional excerpts from Congressman McHenry’s statement on this post at Bike Portland. You can also watch a video of his statement on YouTube or even on the Congressman’s own website. I understand that Representative McHenry would like to see funding for completely new alternative forms of energy. Fine, but to completely discount the bicycle as a form of transportation is just absurd. Perhaps, instead of his poster featuring a vintage photo of a couple posed on an antique quadcycle, he should have, as one of the Bike Portland commenters suggested, shown a highway congested with gridlocked cars at rush hour. Bicycles may be old technology, but human powered transportation can be a viable component in a comprehensive solution to our energy problems. In addition to saving energy, transportational cycling addresses the growing problem of traffic congestion (a problem that alternative energy sources alone will never solve). Also, it is worth mentioning that Congressman McHenry represents a state that has an adult obesity rate of 24.7 percent; yet another problem that the “antiquated” solution of bicycle commuting can help to solve.

I know that a few people in North Carolina read this blog. If you do live in the 10th district, or anywhere in the state for that matter, I strongly encourage you to write Representative McHenry and let him know that you do not appreciate his complete dismissal of the bicycle as a form of transportation. I realize that bicycles are not the sole solution to all of our transportation problems, but they certainly can play a bigger role in this country than they do now. Most bicycle commuters that I know aren’t trying to get everyone out of their cars and onto bikes. We just want complete streets that are designed for all types of road users so that all citizens can get around safely no matter how they chose to do so. Can someone please explain that to Congressman McHenry, who apparently opposes any funding for pedestian and bicycling enhancements?

Future bicycle/ped developments in the City and County

I have a couple of pieces of information that I want to pass along today. First is an announcement from City Manager Jim Bourey that construction is soon to begin on a new 1.5-mile long section of Greenway Trail. The RiverWalk trail, which will connect Cleveland Park to Greenville Tech, will be 13 feet wide with 8 feet of asphalt and 5 feet of rubberized asphalt for runners. The trail will run along the Reedy River and will connect to the Swamp Rabbit trail as it goes through town. Read more about the new trail on the City’s news release document here.

I also want to let you know about an upcoming public presentation of the proposed GPATS (Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study) Regional Transportation Plan. The presentation, which will cover proposed highway improvements as well as mass transit, bicycle, and pedestrian improvement plans, will take place at 1:00pm on Tuesday August 21st at the Carolina First Center (formerly the Palmetto Expo Center). A drop-in open house will follow the presentation from 2-6. I encourage all of you who are interested in bicycle transportation to attend this event. You can find out more about it by following the “transportation planning” link from the Greenville Planning website. I would also encourage you to check out the Pedestrian and Bicycle section of the proposal document. A pdf of that section can be downloaded here. It is a large file, but it is full of great information and is worth reading before attending the presentation. This is definitely something that will be worthwhile for those of you who have expressed interest in bicycle projects in the county. I hope to see some of you at the Carolina First center in a few weeks.

Greenways Master plans

Click on the image to the left to view a draft map of the City of Greenville’s Greenways Master plan. Working with the city, Greenways Incorporated developed this plan based in part on feedback from interested citizens at a public meeting in April. You may notice that there are few prominent greenway “dead ends” at the city limits. That is where the county’s Greenway master plan will come into play.

If you want to find out more about the Greenville County Master Plan, which is currently in the proposal phase, come to the next Spinners advocacy meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for August 15th at Coffee Underground (update: the meeting has been rescheduled for Monday August 20th at 7:00pm) . Ty Houck will be available to discuss the plan and to hear your comments at this early stage. I will post again with details about the meeting, but for now, mark your calendars and plan to attend.

Contact your Congressional Representative

See the urgent request below from an LAB email. Click here to find contact information for your South Carolina Congressperson or click here to identfy your Representative using your zip code.

Support the Priorities Established in SAFETEA-LU

Oppose the Mica Amendment to H.R. 3074

Sorry for the extremely short notice, however we just received word that Congressman Mica, (R- FL), will be offering an amendment to H.R. 3074, the fiscal year 2008 Transportation-HUD Appropriations Act, that strikes a provision that is necessary to ensure that rescissions of unobligated highway contract authority are implemented in a manner that does not undermine the priorities established in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users ("SAFETEA-LU").

In implementing previous rescissions, some States have consistently chosen to target specific programs for disproportionate cuts, programs such as Transportation Enhancements, and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality, which are both major sources of funding for bicycle related projects.

For those of you who have a chance, please call your Congressional Representative immediately to oppose the Mica amendment to H.R. 3074.Thank you in advance for your efforts.

Trail Work days at Paris Mountain

A lot has been happening on the bicycle advocacy front lately, including preliminary work on a bicycle parking ordinance for the city of Greenville. I have received quite a few ideas for new bicycle related projects from readers of this blog and I greatly appreciate all of them. Keep the ideas coming with comments or emails and, as always, let me know if you are interested in getting involved with local advocacy efforts.

As I suspect is the case with most of you, the type of riding that I do varies from day to day. I commute to work by bike a few days a week, but I also enjoy recreational road riding and mountain biking on the weekends. The latter is what this post is about.

A recent article in Bike Magazine pointed out that Chattanooga is building 100 miles of singletrack trail within 10 miles of the city limits by 2010. That is an ambitious goal, but SORBA Chattanooga is on track to complete the trail network in that time frame. The goal is to turn Chattanooga into “a world class destination” for mountain biking on par with destinations like Moab or Whistler. The effort is not only great for mountain bikers in the area; it is also part of the city’s overall plan to become bike friendly. In the League of American Bicyclists’ 2006 Bicycle Friendly Communities case study document, Chattanooga’s “Singletrack Mind” initiative is listed as one of the highlights that led to the city’s Bronze BFC designation.

Like Chattanooga, Greenville is geographically located in an area that is perfect for mountain biking and hiking. Adding to our existing trails network is just another piece of the puzzle in turning Greenville into a world class cycling town. You can help right away. Paris Mountain State Park urgently needs volunteer help and donations to match the current trail building grant. I encourage all of you who ride at the park to show up for at least one of the scheduled trail work days. See the message below from the park for more information and to sign up. Paris Mountain has a great system of trails that many of us enjoy riding, so this is a great opportunity to give back. I won’t be able to make it the first weekend, but hope to see some of you out there on the weekend of August 11th and 12th.


Hello Friends,

The final stage of our trail grant is approaching here at Paris Mountain State Park. We are going to need a lot of help in building this new section, as well as meeting our projected deadline of September 30th. Your help in meeting this match will help ensure that trails in the South Carolina State Park system continue to grow. Above all you will be able to become part of the legacy of Paris Mountain State Park.

This legacy includes the hardworking members of the Civilian Conservation Corps that built this park in the 1930s from the natural resources found on the park. Our trails are built in the same way, and by getting your hands dirty you become part of this growing legacy.

Bring your family and friends. Trail work is also a great teambuilding exercise for companies.

Our trail work days are:

Saturday July 28 and Sunday 29, 2007
Saturday August 11 and Sunday August 12, 2007

We will be meeting at the Park Center parking lot (2nd lot on the left) at 8am. We will be breaking for lunch and heading back out around noon for anyone who wants to work in the afternoon – admission is free for all volunteers. Be sure to wear boots, pants and work gloves.

To sign up for a work day, or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at 244-5565 or e-mail the Trail Crew Boss, Shawn Llewllyn at splspokes@hotmail.com.

Come out and take advantage of this opportunity to be involved in the completion the Paris Mountain State Park trail plan that has been 4 years in the making.

Come to Tour Tuesday

It’s already Tour time again and Greenville’s own George Hincapie will be competing in the race for the 12th time. Come out next Tuesday night, July 10th, to watch the day’s stage commercial free at Caesar’s restaurant in McAlister Square. The showing starts at 8:00 and all are welcome to attend. Click on the flyer above for more details.

The Greenville news has already started its coverage of the Tour. Check out the special Tour de France section of the website to see all of the articles together. Also, you can follow Rich Hincapie’s blog as he chronicles his brother’s race this year. He talks to George often during the Tour, so his blog offers an interesting perspective into the race.

Meet Ty Houck, Greenways Director

You may have seen the latest article in the Greenville News this morning about the Swamp Rabbit Tram Trail, which will soon run from downtown Greenville to Travelers Rest. Ty Houck, the newly hired Director of Greenways for the county, is one of the people quoted in the article. For those of you who don’t already know Ty, I want to take this opportunity to briefly introduce him.

Ty recently moved to the Greenways Director position after serving12 years with the South Carolina State Park Service. Many of you in the local cycling community already know him because he served nearly six of those years as Park Manager of Paris Mountain State Park. Two of Ty’s top priorities in his new position will be getting the Swamp Rabbit Tram Trail built and creating a Greenville County Greenways Master Plan. The Swamp Rabbit will create the first greenway link with a paved trail from Travelers Rest to the greenways inside the city limits of Greenville.

Ty feels fortunate to have another opportunity to be involved in quality of life improvements in Greenville. If you are interested in being involved or if you just want to be kept up to date on the progress of the Greenways plan, send Ty an e-mail at ty@gcrd.org.