Simplified Planning for Bike/Ped Facilities.

. . To improve bicycle and pedestrian facilities in your home town the first place to start is with a plan and design. In a recent survey of Tennessee cities Bike Walk Tennessee found only about 5% had any form of Bicycle and Pedestrian plan for their community.

. . Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB) in consultation with the Virginia (VDOT) and Fairfax County departments of transportation have prepared an award-winning new guide that outlines ways bicycling proponents can get involved in the process of designing, approving, building, and retrofitting roads to accommodate bicycling. Although geared for Virginia, many of the ideas contained in the report could be applied to Tennessee.

. . Their 28-page Guide to Reviewing Public Road Design and Bicycling Accommodations for Virginia Bicycling Advocates simplifies and streamlines the confusing road design process with easy-to-follow flow charts, handy check lists and explanations that make sense to folks who don't have a masters degree in urban planning.

The importance of integrating networks

For a given amount of bike/ped improvements, it's most useful to integrate the pieces into a large network, as opposed to having smaller disconnected pieces. The reason is that a larger network makes a larger number of trips possible through bike/ped, and the growth curve is non-linear, with increasing benefits for every little additional piece tacked on.

A technical illustration follows:

Advocacy Advance

Advocacy Advance is a partnership between the League of American Bicyclists and the Alliance for Biking and Walking to research issues critical to the bicycling community. The Advocacy Advance Team has created a series of reports to help Alliance member organizations access Federal funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects.

Tennessee State Bike Route Survey

. . The Tennessee Department of Transportation is currently gathering information for an update to the state bike route network, and is inviting citizens to complete a short online survey regarding their experiences bicycling Tennessee’s highways.  Input from the survey will help guide the department in developing a comprehensive bicycling network that will assess state routes with respect to bicycle suitability and determine future action items pertinent to the furtherance of the goals of TDOT’s Bicycle and Pedestrian plan.

. . In 2005, as part of PlanGo, TDOT’s Multi-Modal Long Range Transportation Plan included a Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan element that recommended a statewide bicycle system.  Since that time, the department recognized that changes in infrastructure and data collection necessitate an update to the existing bicycle route network.  In order to provide meaningful connections to cyclists’ destinations, TDOT invites the public to participate in the online survey by new deadline October 30, 2010.  Below is a link to the survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TNBikeSurvey

Chattanoonga Bike/Ped Plan Adopted

The Chattanooga-Hamilton County/North Georgia Transportation Planning Organization has adopted the new 2010 Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan as part of its 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan.  Built around the concept of creating complete streets to provide safe and convenient travel options for all road users, this plan highlights:

ü  Regional Sidewalk & Bikeway Recommendations

ü  Project Evaluation System

ü  Policies & Programs

ü  Funding for Sidewalk and Bikeway Improvements

ü  Design Guidelines

Plan documents include an Executive Summary and 5 Technical Memoranda which can be found at http://www.chcrpa.org/TPO/Plans_and_Projects.htm.

Philip Pugliese, Bicycle Coordinator

Outdoor Chattanooga

Making Neighborhoods Back into Neighborhoods

While this article is long and rambling - I found it interesting that even in Seattle - people struggle to find that sense of community within their own neighborhoods. But by making neighborhoods more more walkable, sociable, sustainable, and safe - maybe - just maybe we can get that freedom back that you and I had as kids. read more by clicking here:

I think David Roberts hits the nail on the head with his wrap up statement: 


"..one of the biggest challenges in years ahead, as we attempt to densify and green our communities, will be retrofitting existing neighborhoods to increase walkability, sociability, sustainability, and safety. It's worth a minute of anyone's time to ponder how they could make their own surroundings more amenable to spontaneous, non-commercial, human-scale social interaction."


Isn't that what we are ultimately trying to accomplish through Bike Walk Tennessee? More greenways, green spaces, connectivity within our neighborhoods - be it with footpaths, bike paths, or safe roads for cycling.