Iowa Bicyclist Winter 2010
IOWABICYCLECOALITION.ORG
IN THIS ISSUE: Iowa Bicycle Summit Schedule Bike Use Full Lane Sign Approved RFP: Safe Routes to School Workshops
The Iowa Bicycle Summit and RAGBRAI Route Announcement Party is made possible by:
R
Route Announcement Party Benefitting the Iowa Bicycle Coalition
Saturday, January 30, 2010 7-10pm Hy-Vee Hall, Downtown Des Moines $30 Join us for a special night of FUN as the RAGBRAI XXXVIII overnight communities are revealed!
Featuring live music with a special performance by The Nadas! Acoustical duo by Jason Walsmith and Mike Butterworth.
World of Bikes - Iowa City Bikes To You - Grinnell
Creating Great Places
Only 500 tickets available!
www.IowaBicycleCoalition.org for ticket information
Sponsorship Opportunities are still available. Contact Mark Wyatt, mark@iowabicyclecoalition.org call 515 309 2867 for more information.
The Iowa Bicycle Coalition builds partnerships, educates Iowans, and helps to establish safe and enjoyable bicycle transportation and recreation networks throughout Iowa. The Iowa Bicycle Coalition’s core beleifs are: 1. Community Design - City and county governance need to incorporate services, planning and regulations that encourage and facilitate development of equitable, accessible, quality multi-modal transportation services and facilities 2. Facility Design and maintenance – Public roadways are transportation corridors that need to safely and efficiently accommodate multiple motorized and non-motorized modes of transportation. 3. Cyclists have legal rights and responsibilities. 4. Public Policy can and should support safe and enjoyable cycling. The Iowa Bicyclist is published quarterly by the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, P.O. Box 5562, Coralville, Iowa 52241. Creative Commons licensing, Attribution, No Commercial Use, No Derivatives, Share Alike. Subscription is included with the price of a $25 or more membership. Please see the application later in this publication. Opinions expressed by writers are are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, Inc.
Advocacy News
By Mark Wyatt - mark@iowabicyclecoalition.org I need to start by announcing some additions to our Iowa Bicycle Coalition team. As many know, Janelle Rettig was appointed to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors and now is running in a special election for the open seat. Taking over the reigns of the Development Coordinator is Heather Stoltzfus. She has worked with the Corridor Business Journal as well as several local non-profit organizations in marketing and development. Heather has a BA from the University of Northern Iowa and considers herself a recreational rider. Kelly Trettin also joins our staff as the Iowa Bicycle Summit communications intern. Kelly is helping to build our media kit and work with the event promotion and sponsorship. Kelly is from Rockford, Iowa and is a senior at the University of Iowa. As we go to print, 300 seats have been reserved for the RAGBRAI Route Announcement Party. This is going to be an extraordinary event. We have attendees from Oregon and Arkansas traveling to Des Moines to hear the overnight towns announced. If you are interested in attending the Iowa Bicycle Summit or RAGBRAI Route Announcement Party, fill out the form below and return it to the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. Be sure to mail it in soon before the event sells out.
Questions? Contact bikeinfo@iowabicyclecoalition.org or call 515.309.2867
Name:
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Lisa Hein - President Forrest Ridgway - Vice President Jeri Neal - Secretary Joe Connolly - Treasurer Steve Schurtz Heidi Soliday Wayne Fett Stephen Schnitker Cassandra Kessler Charlie Smith Kay Snopek STAFF Mark Wyatt Executive Director Heather Stoltzfus Development Coordinator Molly Gable Safe Routes To School Program Director IowaBicycleCoalition.org
Address: City/State/Zip: Email:
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Phone: Friday Iowa Bicycle Summit Registration ($140) Saturday Iowa Bicycle Summit Registration ($25) Friday & Saturday Iowa Bicycle Summit Registration ($155) Late Friday Registration, After January 1, 2010 ($155) Late Saturday Registration, After January 1, 2010 ($30) Late Friday & Saturday Registration ($165) RAGBRAI Route Announcement Party Tickets ($30) Please list guests if purchasing more than one registration or ticket:
Make Payment Payable to the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. Mail to: Iowa Bicycle Coalition, P.O. Box 5562, Coralville, IA 52241
Iowa Bicycle Summit
January 29 & 30, 2010 Iowa Events Center Des Moines Friday Bicycle Facility Design Workshop Saturday Grassroots Bicycle Advocacy Sessions The sixth annual Iowa Bicycle Summit features great presentations on the best practices in bicycle advocacy, but new this year is an expanded format, RAGBRAI’s Ride Right sessions, and a new location at the Hy-Vee Hall. The Summit is dedicated to producing low-cost and accessible education to build better communities.
“People who ride bicycles have been asking for better bicycle facilities, and this workshop provides the tools for the technical staff to build bicycle facilities,” says Mark Wyatt, Executive Director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. John LaPlante is going to give us a great midwestern perceptive from his experience in the city of Chicago.”
John LaPlante will lead the bicycle facility design workshop on Friday, January 29. John LaPlante is currently Director of Traffic Engineering for T.Y. Lin International. Prior to joining the firm in 1992, Mr. LaPlante had been with the City of Chicago for 30 years in various transportation engineering positions, including Chief City Traffic Engineer and Acting Commissioner of the new Department of Transportation. He is involved in several national committees and was principal author of the 1999 AASHTO Bike Guide. Continuing education hours are available for this session.
The Saturday, January 30th, session features an expanded panel format that will allow for more presentations than before. Twenty speakers will present information during the Saturday sessions. Session topics include Bicycle Facility Design Innovations, Safe Routes To School Successes, Improving Bike Safety, New Marketing Ideas for Bikes, and Urban Dirt. Attendees can register online at www.IowaBicycleCoalition.org or by calling (515) 309-2867.
May 11 - 15, 2009
RAGBRAI® RIDE RIGHT Winter Meeting You are cordially invited to attend the RAGBRAI/RIDE RIGHT Meeting for Clubs and Teams. This is the annual January meeting of the RAGBRAI club and team representatives, but interested individuals may attend as well. The meeting is scheduled for Saturday, January 30, at the Iowa Events Center’s Hy-Vee Hall in downtown Des Moines (730 3rd Street). The meeting will be from 3:00 p.m. To 5:00 p.m., and there is no fee to attend this meeting.
The purpose of the Meeting for Clubs and Teams is to improve safety for the event and to make the ride more enjoyable for all. The meeting will be comprised of presentations as well as an open forum session. We cannot improve RAGBRAI without the help and input of our clubs and teams. This meeting is an opportunity to express your thoughts and concerns about RAGBRAI. The feedback generated from these meetings will lay the groundwork that can be implemented to make RAGBRAI safer and more enjoyable on the road and in the towns that we visit. It is our hope that you will share this information learned with the rest of your team members.
2010
Iowa
Schedule for the 2010 Iowa Bicycle Summit
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Design Innovations Adrian Holmes, P.E., 100-Year Bike Plan A solid, well conceived master plan has become all but required in order to receive state and federal trail construction funding. This workshop style session will provide non-engineers enough information to be able to go back to their communities and either create their own trails master plan or at least know what to expect when working with a planning consultant.
Brian Keierleber, P.E., Railcar Bridge Innovations Any bridge can be expensive to build. Bridges on trails are difficult at best. Buchanan County has found an innovative way to convert retired rail cars into bridges – not just for people on bicycles, but for motor vehicles too. Learn how Buchanan County is leading the way with bridge innovations at a fraction of the price of a conventional bridge.
Jeff Geertz, GreenStreets Green Streets promote public health, energy efficiency, water conservation, smart locations, operational savings, and sustainable building practices. As a result, the strategies enhance affordable housing, community facilities, town centers, and communities as a whole.
Safe Routes To School Melissa Stovers, Imagine Grinnell Grinnell-Newburg School District joined schools from around the world to celebrate International Walk-to-School Day with a district-wide contest encouraging all of the district’s families and students to take a break from driving and walk or bike to school.
Lynette Anderson, NE Iowa Food and Fitness
Ken Sherman & Bill Rosebrook, Cycling Safety in Iowa
The five county region is on the ground floor of a movement to improve the policies, practices, and systems that determine how food arrives on our tables and how NE Iowa communities can grow opportunities for physical activity for all.
While the debate rages over whether cyclists should continue to be allowed on the highways of Iowa, serious cycling accidents on our roadways continue to grow in both number and severity; and the circumstances of these tragedies seem to be getting more and more egregious, including recklessness, serious driving impairments, impatience (road rage?), distraction and even unprovoked and intentional violence directed at cyclists who ride our roads.
Traci Kepley, Go The Distance Day Go The Distance Day is a FREE one-day event for Iowa Schools! Its purpose is to show Iowa youth that physical activity is fun and makes them feel good; increase public awareness of youth physical inactivity; and inform the public that physical education programs are needed in our schools!
Patty Guevara, Bookin' on Bikes A little more than a year ago, I wrote and received a grant from the Michael Jordan Foundation (yes, MICHAEL Jordan of the Bulls) to start up a bike club at Scavo Alternative High School. We have no physical education program at our school. We have a lot of students with major obstacles to overcome in order to just GET their education. With some help from the Bike Collective and other great cycling souls, "Bookin' on Bikes" was born! We do quite a bit more than cycling.
Cycling Safety Julie Engeman, Drivers Ed Presentations Julie and Steve Engeman have presented “Share The Road” sessions at drivers education classes across central Iowa. Their objective is to show younger drivers that a real person operates a bicycle. They use letters and photos from victims and personal stories to make an impact.
This presentation explores what may be behind the deplorable situation outlined above, and it addresses what might be done to improve cycling safety on the streets and highways of Iowa.
New Marketing Ideas Nannette Rodriguez, Social Media and the Latin Consumer TBA Lee P. Jones, B-Cycle B-cycle is the only "next"-generation bike-share program. Integrated data tracking will automatically capture information such as your distance traveled, equivalent calories burned, and carbon offset after each ride. It will then upload this data to your personal user profile on Bcycle.com. B-cycle is the future of bike sharing, and it's available to your city now.
Ryan Hanser, Building Cycling Community Through Social Media TBA Urban Dirt TBA
Iowa Bicycle Summit Success Stories By Kelly Trettin
Cedar Falls Named "Bike Friendly" After Learning at the Iowa Bicycle Summit The League of American Bicyclists awarded Cedar Falls the prestigious “Bicycle Friendly Community” distinction in May 2009, making it the first Iowa community ever to receive this recognition. Kim Burger, Manger of the Cedar Falls Tourism and Visitors Bureau said, “It’s a big deal to us because we really are a bicycling community. We have 106 miles of hard surface trails in the metropolitan area and our population really values bicycling. It was the people’s advocacy and encouragement that helped build our trail system.” Cities applying for the “Bicycle Friendly” distinction are judged on five different factors: engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement and evaluation. A Bicycle Task Force was appointed by the mayor to help push a strategic plan forward to meet all the standards. Burger noted that bike lanes, Share the Road signs, sharrows (or, shared lane arrows), and new bike racks were installed throughout the city, and key cycling routes were identified.
Safer Cycling from Coralville, Iowa City Summit Attendees Bicyclists in Coralville will now find new pavement markings when they ride along 5th Street. Sharrows, or shared lane pavement markings, were installed in May and show where bicyclists should ride when using a city street, as well as alerting motorists to bicycle traffic. They are commonly used in urban, bicycle-friendly communities. Sharrows look like two arrows on top of a bicycle and are painted a couple feet from the curb. They are an alternative to bike lanes.
After a city has received the “Bicycle Friendly” distinction, they are re-evaluated every four years. Since there are four levels of recognition (platinum, gold, silver and bronze), cities are encouraged to improve their standings at each evaluation. Cedar Falls “It’s a visibility factor for both motorists and bicyclists,” said Sherri Proud, Director of Parks and Recreation in Coralville. “It was awarded the bronze, and the Bicycle Task Force hopes to makes motorists aware of people on the road, and bicyclists achieve gold status in the future. aware of where they should be riding.” The Bicycle Task Force in Cedar Falls has been working toward the “Bicycle Friendly” distinction for several years, but their work Sharrows are intended not only to increase safety on the roadways, but also to encourage more people to bicycle to work is far from over since the City of Cedar Falls recently adopted a or school, and for recreation. Complete Streets Policy. The task force has worked with the Active Transportation Alliance (formerly the Chicago Bicycle “Sharrows definitely allow bikers to feel safer when they ride. I Federation) and the Iowa Bicycle Coalition to develop their do think people who were nervous before will feel more plans. comfortable now,” said Proud, also pointing out that beyond About 30 volunteers from all over the community comprise the saftety, the sharrows will help direct Coralville’s bicycle trail Bicycle Task Force. Burger says the task force will soon be set up traffic where trails cross through city streets. as its own city commission, which will lend legitimacy to the The City of Iowa City also made improvements to its roads last group, as well as allow it to have an on-going influence in the summer. Sharrows were painted on Market, Jefferson, and community. College Streets. Portions of Market and Jefferson Streets will also have bike lanes painted on. The sharrows were a result of a nine month development process to create a Metro Bicycle Master Plan. The City of Coralville participated in the process, which was part an effort led by the Johnson County Council of Governments. Proud says the City of Coralville will continue to look into creating safer roadways for cyclists as 1st Avenue is redeveloped.
New MUTCD Released The 2009 Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices has been released. Part 9 covers signs, pavement markings, and highway traffic signals specifically related to bicycle operation on both roadways and shared-use paths. There are some additional signs and signals for bicycles. The new manual will make it easier for cities to integrate the new signs and signals. One of the regulatory signs you might see is R4-11, Bikes May Use Full Lane. The manual specifies two options for this sign: 1 The Bicycles May Use Full Lane (R4-11) sign (see Figure 9B-2) may be used on roadways where no bicycle lanes or adjacent shoulders usable by bicyclists are present and where travel lanes are too narrow for bicyclists and motor vehicles to operate side by side. 2 The Bicycles May Use Full Lane sign may be used in locations where it is important to inform road users that bicyclists might occupy the travel lane.
Request for Proposals: Regional Safe Routes to School Workshop Locations The Iowa Bicycle Coalition's Safe Routes to School Program is requesting for proposals from communities across the state who want to be a model community and host a free Regional Safe Routes to School Workshop. Safe Routes to School is a world wide movement focused on a goal to increase walking and biking for physical and environmental health benefits and improve unsafe walk & bike conditions along routes to school. The program is built on the five E's, Education, Encouragement, Engineering, Enforcement, and Evaluation. The Coalition's Safe Routes to School Program will do one workshop in each of the six Department of Transportation districts. The workshop is highly beneficial for communities who want to improve safety on routes to school and increase numbers of walkers and bikers. It will include a picture-rich presentation regarding the five E's, a hands-on session for generating solutions to problems unique to the school/community, and create an action plan for a local Safe Routes to School task force. View all information at: http://www.iowabicyclecoalition.org/node/261
MAY USE FULL LANE
The Iowa Adult School Crossing Guard Trainer Course launched in November 2009. The course topics include hazards and safety issues at your post, Iowa laws pertinent to crossing guards, techniques for specific crossings, and policies and proceedures. Photographed is the guard trainer course in Ames, the officer is displaying the proper way each guard should begin their crossings, by educating the 'children' (other guard trainees) about proper pedestrian safety skills before stopping traffic.
Iowa Bicycle Coalition
P.O. Box 5562 Coralville, IA 52241 www.iowabicyclecoalition.org (515) 309-2867
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People are lining up for the Iowa Bicycle Summit and RAGBRAI Route Announcement Party on January 29 & 30 in Des Moines at Hy-Vee Hall. More information and registration at www.IowaBicycleCoalition.org
Iowa Bicycle Coalition
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