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ALRC NEWSROOM: In The NewsNEW ALRC FACT SHEET TOPIC: BICYCLE STAIR RAMPS & CHANNELS -> NCBW recently added a new Fact Sheet to its Active Living Resource Center (ALRC) library. This one deals with a topic missing from most facility design manuals, particularly those published in the United States. In communities where bicyclists have been allowed to take their bicycles on transit, there is often a daunting barrier: stairs. But in a growing number of communities, transit agencies have solved the problem by installing small ramps at the sides of the stairs. With these, bicyclists can take the stairs and roll their bikes up and down at their sides. According to NCBW's John Williams, "While ramps and channels don't solve all problems, they do one thing pretty well." In addition, they can be useful in other settings than transit systems. Saskatoon (SK) uses one to get trail users up to a high river bridge and San Jose (CA) uses one to get bicyclists from a parking lot up to a levee path. Los Angeles installed one to allow bicyclists to use a pedestrian underpass. Nearly 40 colleagues from around the U.S, Canada, Denmark, the U.K., and Australia contributed ideas, resources, and comments to the project. For more info and to download the Fact Sheet, go to: http://www.activelivingresources.org/index.php HOUSTON LIGHT RAIL'S BICYCLE HOURS EXPAND -> According to a July 19th KRTK story, "METRO is trying to make it easier for bicyclists to travel on light rail. Starting today, bicycle hours on METRO light rail will be expanded. Bicyclists are not allowed on light rail during rush hour Monday through Friday, but can take bikes on trains at any other time." "METRO defines rush hour as 6:30am to 9am and 3pm to 6pm. Only two bikes are allowed per railcar. However, that could change when the city gets new equipment. 'Given the physical constraints, this is a good policy, the best we can do until we get better equipment,' said Peter Wang with Bike Houston..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/25b9nzu And check out the Fox video here: http://tinyurl.com/35stdg4 LEGALLY-BLIND MARYLAND BLOGGER WORKS TO IMPROVE PED SAFETY -> According to a July 13th Wash. Post article, "The great irony for William Smith is that the worse his vision becomes, the more he sees. There is the bus stop on Fenton Street in Silver Spring, encased by a concrete wall so close to the street that it's nearly impossible for a blind or disabled person to get to. There's the crosswalk where Georgia Avenue forks onto Veirs Mill Road in Wheaton that could pass as a maze." "And don't even mention the construction zones that frequently block sidewalks. Smith, 46, notices such things mainly because of his inability to see them. The stay-at-home dad is legally blind. He has a progressive eye disorder that inhibits his central vision. But that hasn't stopped him from walking the streets of his Silver Spring neighborhood, camera in hand, to document each and every obstruction..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/22qnoky HALIBURTON, CANADA, BUILDS ACTIVE TRANS CAPACITY -> According to a Federation of Canadian Municipalities announcement, Haliburton County (ON) won a 2010 "Example of Excellence" award for its work on active transportation. "Working together and with other community groups, the County of Haliburton and the district health unit ventured into new territory in the summer of 2009 by spearheading a project that applied transportation demand management (TDM) principles in a rural setting. The goal was to improve conditions for commuter cycling in this rural central-eastern Ontario region, and to help more people recognize and choose cycling as a valid way to move from place to place." "The project’s summer-long 'Share the Road' public awareness campaign included newspaper articles, radio interviews, brochures and bumper stickers, and featured a commuter cycling challenge that built on an earlier pilot project. Weekly radio ads, featuring the voice of a community police officer, and newspaper ads ran from July to September. With the support of the local municipalities, the county erected almost 100 roadside signs and organized bike safety courses with local elementary school students. The roadside signs will be taken down and stored each winter, and will reappear on county roads each spring..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/3yrawqv NYC - A GENTLER PLACE TO GROW OLD -> According to a July 18th NY Times article, "New York City has given pedestrians more time to cross at more than 400 intersections in an effort to make streets safer for older residents. The city has sent yellow school buses, filled not with children but with elderly people, on dozens of grocery store runs over the past seven months." "The city has allowed artists to use space and supplies in 10 senior centers in exchange for giving art lessons. And it is about to create two aging-improvement districts, parts of the city that will become safer and more accessible for older residents..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/37z2gbp TRAILS SPROUTING UP IN JACKSON (MS) SUBURBS -> According to a July 11th Clarion-Ledger article, "Biking trails zig-zagging through Jackson's suburbs provide cyclists with more than two dozen miles of smooth pavement in the great outdoors. But that's just the beginning, say officials in Ridgeland, Madison and Rankin County. They plan to hammer out more paths that will provide greater connectivity among communities and boost quality of life." "Ridgeland's $4.5 million trail system crosscuts the city from the reservoir to Highland Colony Parkway with multiple legs jutting out from the main path that runs alongside the wooded Natchez Trace Parkway. New trail connections under construction -- including a leg along N.E. Madison Avenue that will tie into that Jackson Street shopping district -- will add to more than eight miles of existing multi-use turf..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/2ftenon ELLSWORTH (KS) BIKE RECYCLING PROGRAM BENEFIT KIDS -> According to a May 27th Tribune article, "There are some things that just say, 'summer' in America. And one of those is the freedom a bicycle brings to a young person. Sadly, especially in today’s struggling recession-strapped economy, a lot of young people come from families that can’t afford a safe bicycle, but that problem is being addressed with the help of a couple of unlikely sources in Kansas. One is the local landfill and the other is a penitentiary. Thanks to the watchful eyes of the Barton County Landfill staff and there efforts to save, load and transport cast-off bikes, a lot of kids around Kansas will be on the streets this summer season. Landfill Manager Mark Witt reported recently that his staff has taken another load of bikes in for the recycling program." "'The Barton County Landfill transported 128 bicycles to the Ellsworth Correctional Facility for recycling/refurbishing,' Witt reported. 'The bicycles are refurbished by inmates and then provided free of charge to individuals and organizations.' Some of the bicycles are saved out of trash, and others are dropped off by patrons who know about the recycling program, Witt added. Anyone can donate a bike for the effort, no matter the condition, because even bikes that can’t be ridden in their current condition can be used for parts. 'The landfill accepts bicycles free of charge from the public for this program,' Witt noted..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/28ctx2d Via Kansas Cycling News: http://tinyurl.com/27rnxsb REDWING (MN) OFFICIALS PUSH FOR 'COMPLETE STREETS' -> According to a July 8th Republican-Eagle article, "Crossing Highway 61 in downtown Red Wing as a pedestrian can be a bit like playing the classic video game 'Frogger' -- you try not to get squashed. Now a group of city officials and community leaders, who are working to promote walking and biking, are asking residents and business owners to give their two cents on how to make downtown's intersections safer. 'Those intersections in our downtown have been a concern for a lot of people for a longtime,' said Red Wing Planning Director Brian Peterson during a meeting held at City Hall Tuesday." "Tuesday's meeting was aimed at 'kicking off' an effort to form conceptual ideas on ways to make downtown friendlier for walkers and bicyclists, Peterson said. The group that sponsored the meeting - comprised of the city's complete streets policy taskforce, Live Healthy Red Wing and Downtown Main Street -- is planning to meet again in early August. At that time they plan to propose some conceptual designs for improving intersections, which they'll ask the community to support..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/2b4owh8 Via Minnesota Active Living Network: http://tinyurl.com/2ce99xk A NEW KIND OF MARCH ON NYC'S UNION SQUARE -> According to a July 15th entry in Transportation Alternatives' StreetBeat blog, "Union Square, historically a park of protest -- home to every rally from the fight for the weekend to the fight for the end of the war -- is about to see a return of marching masses. In the coming months, it'll be transformed from a traffic trap into a pedestrian paradise. What may be the DOT's most innovative street design to date -- an overhaul of the north side of Union Square, complete with car-free hours, a pedestrian plaza and New York's first contra-flow bike lane -- was approved by Manhattan's Community Board 5 last week in a vote of 24-1-1. For months, Transportation Alternatives has been working with community leaders and residents to find a secure foothold for this bold design. We stood with some towering neighborhood institutions that supported the plan, from the Flatiron BID to the Union Square Greenmarket, and provided the fodder needed to win. Even a few of our esteemed board members spoke before the final vote..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/26lo4ub MINNEAPOLIS COMBINES 6 $$ SOURCES FOR TRAIL PROJECT -> According to a July 12th Minneapolis Park & Rec Board announcement, "A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the recently-completed West River Parkway bike and pedestrian trail is scheduled for Wednesday, July 21, at 11:30am.The reconstruction of the 3.5 mile bike and pedestrian trail between Franklin Ave. and Godfrey Parkway upgraded the trails to meet current design and safety standards. Work included a new bituminous surface, Mississippi River bluff stabilization and enhancement, separate bike and pedestrian trails where possible, landscaping, signage, lighting, water fountains and benches." "The $2.2 million project was funded with a combination of Federal TEA-21 transportation funds, Met Council funds, a Mississippi Watershed Management Organization (MWMO) grant, City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. West River Parkway is part of the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway that blends a natural habitat in an urban setting. The seven-mile parkway winds along the river from Plymouth Ave. in downtown Minneapolis to Minnehaha Park. The parkway includes picnic areas, observation areas and parking..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/22lomed STUDY: OBESITY PREVENTION WORKS BEST W/KIDS UNDER 5 -> In a July 13th WSJ Health Blog entry, Katherine Hobson wrote, "Given that it’s so tough for the already-obese to shed weight, prevention would appear to be the key -- and kids have been the primary focus of those efforts, including the White House’s own plan. But a study presented at an obesity conference in Sweden suggests the kind of community-based interventions that involve schools, parents and health-care institutions really work best in kids under age five. After that, it gets a lot tougher." "The study compared three demonstration projects in Australia, each targeting thousands of kids in different age groups. The three-year program for the under-5s, delightfully called 'Romp & Chomp,' cut the prevalence of overweight and obesity by about 3% compared to a control group. A program for primary schoolers reduced the weight gained by about 2.2 pounds compared to the controls, but didn’t budge the prevalence of overweight and obesity. Finally, a program aimed at adolescents 'had virtually no impact on weight gain,' the study abstract says..." Source: http://tinyurl.com/245vtk7 Via RWJF Childhood Obesity News Digest: http://tinyurl.com/2drzs55 |
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