Salters Road widening project

Salters Road, between Verdae and ICAR, will be resurfaced and widened soon by the SCDOT. According to the handout from a public information meeting that was held earlier this month, the “proposed project would widen the existing roadway to four 12-foot travel lanes and include a grassed median, bike lanes, and sidewalks.” A new wider and longer bridge would be required over I-85 as part of the project, which would also include bike lanes (and I assume a taller and safer guardrail).

I have been out of the loop on this project, but from everything I have seen the proposed road layout sounds great. You can read more about it in the SCDOT document mentioned previously and this article in the Greenville News (do a Google search for “Salters Road project may include bridge replacement” to see the full article if you are not a Greenville News subscriber). When the redesigned road is complete, it will be a great bike friendly connection to ICAR, but it is a major project that will take up to 12 months to complete. During that time, Salters Road will be closed completely with the detour shown above as the suggested alternate. Verdae and Laurens are not ideal roads for cyclists to use as an alternate route to ICAR, so Spinners advocacy chairperson Frank Mansbach has proposed a few good ideas that could make the detour safer for all users during the year of construction :

1) Adding share the road and /or bicycle route signs on Verdae Boulevard from Rocky Slope to Laurens.

2) Reduced speed limit on Verdae from current 45 mph.

3) Re-striping all or part of Verdae to add bike lanes or shared lane markings (sharrows).

Rather than turning from Verdae onto Laurens, Frank suggests that the designated bike detour would cross to Parkins Mill, then left on Ridge Road and left on Fairforest to get to ICAR (signage and/ or sharrows would be required on Ridge Road and Parkins Mill as well).

I personally think these are great suggestions that should be considered by the SCDOT as this project is being planned. They have opened the project to public comment until February 24th (this Friday), so if you agree that a safe alternate detour for cyclists is a good idea, contact SCDOT Program Manager Tommy Elrod at (864) 241-1010 or elrodjt@scdot.org to express your support for the ideas above and any others that you might have.


Switching gears, I want to mention an event that is taking place this weekend. The BMW Performance Center and the Greenville Spinners Bicycle Club are hosting a special showing of the movie “Chasing Legends” at the BMW Zentrum this Saturday, February 25th at 6:30pm. “Chasing Legends” Director Jason Berry will there, so don’t miss your chance to see the film, meet the director, and possibly win some great prizes. You read more about the event, and purchase tickets, at Go Green Events. All proceeds from the evening are going to the United Way of Greenville, so it’s for a good cause as well. I am looking forward to it, and I hope to see you there.

 

 

 

Where is the outrage?

February has been a terrible month for bicycling fatalities in South Carolina, and I was sickened to hear of another senseless tragedy over the weekend. Obviously, one person killed on our roads is one too many, but David William Welty’s death in Anderson over the weekend was the fourth fatality that I know of in the first two weeks of the month. A couple weeks ago, 70-year-old James Premmer Frazier was killed here in Greenville while riding on Highway 183 at Old Buncombe Road. The following day, a 7-year-old girl was killed while riding a push scooter in Liberty, and just a few days after that Gerald Hooker was killed in Aiken when the tandem he was riding with his wife was struck by a driver who tried to pass as they made a left turn.

It is not hard to understand why the Alliance for Biking & Walking ranked South Carolina 49th among states for bicycling safety in their recent Bicycling and Walking in the U.S.: 2012 Benchmarking Report. The safety record on our roads is atrocious, and if this month is any indication, perhaps the problem is getting worse. I believe that the reason for the increase in fatalities (not just in SC, but nationwide) stems from the attitude that we as a society have about the use of our roads. Despite the fact that roads were not built for cars, many Americans tend to believe that drivers have a greater right to use the roads than those who are not in motor vehicles. The idea that “streets are for people”, not only people in cars, is a common attitude in places like the Netherlands and Denmark, but here in the U.S. there are many who believe that a pedestrian or cyclist is “asking for it” if they are hit by a car, particularly if the “accident” occurs on a major road. Drivers are rarely charged when they take the life of another due to impatience or negligence on their part. On top of that, there are those who use each and every cyclist/pedestrian death on our roadways as an opportunity to blame the victim by bringing up the same old (false) arguments about who pays for the roads. The comments left on any online news story about the death of a cyclist are as predictable as they are sickening, but I am afraid that those attitudes are also increasingly becoming accepted by a growing element within our society- those who actively oppose the very idea of cycling and walking as forms of transportation.

I just wonder where the outrage is sometimes…even among people who never walk or ride a bike to get anywhere. On average, 40,000+ Americans are killed by motor vehicles each year, but the majority of those deaths are simply dismissed as “accidents”.  Hundreds of Americans die on our roads every day, but it seems like there are very few people really are actually willing to call for a change. I truly believe that holding people accountable for their actions behind the wheel is the only way that we will ever see a substantial decrease in the traffic fatality rate. A driver who kills another person (on foot, on a bike, or in another car) while chatting on the phone, playing with the radio, talking to a passenger, or just daydreaming, should be held responsible for the death that resulted from that act of negligence. The operation of a motor vehicle requires complete and undivided attention to the road, and anyone who fails to do that should be prepared to face consequences if they hurt or kill another road user. It’s all about accountability…and unfortunately that is lacking on the roads of South Carolina, and the U.S. as a whole, at this point in time. What can we do to change that?

Spinners advocacy and a call to action

Photo credit: Brad Allen

I have mentioned before that I don’t get the chance to update this blog as often as I would like. Part of the reason for that is that I am not as heavily involved in local bicycle advocacy issues as I once was. I am still an active Bikeville member and volunteer, but due to other commitments, I find it harder to keep up with all the bike related issues in the city and county. The good news though, is that there are other great sources for local bike advocacy news. I have mentioned Biking the Upstate and The PCC’s Palmetto Spokesman blog in previous posts, but today I want to point you toward another source of information that I am excited about- the Greenville Spinners Advocacy page. Frank Mansbach, who recently took over the Spinners advocacy chair position for 2012, plans to post monthly updates on the Advocacy page. His first update outlines his goals as the new chair, covers some advocacy news, and provides links to a few good resources. I am looking forward to his monthly updates, and I encourage all of you to keep an eye out for his future posts as well. 

If you are a League of American Bicyclists or Palmetto Cycling Coalition member, you have seen the urgent messages yesterday and today about The American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, a House bill that threatens to eliminate federal funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects. I wrote it about it on my Bicycle Design blog this morning, so I won’t repeat all of the same points here. Suffice it to say though that as citizens of a state that ranks 49th for bicycling safety, we should be very concerned about this bill. I hope that you will take a minute and contact your Representative about this today.

Moving Beyond the Automobile

“Moving Beyond The Automobile is a 40-minute series of documentary film shorts that highlights real-world solutions to address America's dependence on the automobile. The film series explore strategies that integrate active living and effective multi-modal transportation.”

UpstateForever and The Mary Black Foundation will be showing Moving Beyond the Automobile this Thursday, Jan. 26^th at Spartanburg Community College from 6 to 7 pm.  The event is free, but space is limited, so RSVP to Upstate Forever in Spartanburg if you wish to attend. More information and contact information can be found here.

Speaking of real-world transportation solutions, read about this plan for a superhighway for cyclists in Sweden. Interesting, but the last paragraph is what really grabbed my attention. Perhaps if Sweden goes ahead with this project, America will revive its superhighway system for cyclists. I won't hold my breath...but it COULD happen in my lifetime.

Update:  One more event that some of you may be interested in attending this week is the City of Greenville's Green Ribbon Advisory Committee Public Workshop. The workshop will take place tomorrow, Jan 24th at 6:30 pm in the Hughes Main Library. See the City's Sustainability webpage for more information.

What can bicycle advocates learn from The NRA?

Yeah, that headline got my attention too. Bike Advocacy from the NRA Playbook is the title of an interesting new post at Commute by Bike written by corporate attorney and bike commuter Tom Bowden. I definitely agree that the various subcultures within the cycling world can sometimes be counterproductive to the goal of getting more people on bikes.  I also believe that bicycle advocates (perhaps myself included) tend to get preachy and somewhat condescending when discussing the virtues of pedal powered transportation. Instead of standing on a soapbox and telling people about the health/environmental/financial benefits of riding a bike, we need to remember to sell them on the fun factor. Almost everyone remembers the joy of riding a bicycle as a kid, so tapping into that feeling is the best way to convince those who haven’t ridden as adults to give it a try. As the article suggest, “don’t paint (cycling) as extreme, radical, hip or too intellectual. Just ride.” If we ever want cycling to truly be a mainstream activity, that’s a basic idea that we need to keep in mind as we communicate with others in our communities. Riding a bike is fun…and all of those other benefits are just a bonus.

Thanks to Richard at Cyclelicious for pointing me to the Commute by Bike post. I recommend that you add both of those blogs to your feed reader if you haven’t already.

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.  

Bikes can save us, so contact Senator DeMint now

This blog has been quiet lately, as I have been very busy with work and personal projects. I don't get the chance to post updates here as often as I would like, so I want to remind you all to also follow some of the excellent (and more frequently updated) local bike blogs that I have linked in the sidebar like the PCC blog, Rusty Rides, and Biking the Upstate. 

This morning on Design Taxi, I noticed an excellent infographic titled "How Bikes can Save Us" (click the image at the link to see the full graphic).  The graphic points out that, although inactivity related diseases are the biggest killer in the US after tobacco, "90 % of Americans drive to work, and 0.6% ride their bikes—despite the fact that 70% of the car trips are shorter than two miles." I know that I am preaching to the choir here, but the graphic is full of other interesting facts presented in a visually appealing format. I encourage you to check it out and share it with others. 

If you support bike transportation, now is the time to voice your opinion to Senator Jim DeMint. He is a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and will be voting tomorrow morning at 10 am on an amendment to S. 1950 by Alaska Senator Mark Begich to provide safe and adequate accommodations for all users in all federally-funded street projects. You can reach Senator DeMint's office to leave a message of support by calling the Senate Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Read more about this proposed amendment at the LAB blog, but don't forget to call before the end of the day.