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HomeMy WebLinkAboutIowa City IA BFC Feedback - Fall 2009 Feedback on Iowa City’s application to be designated a Bicycle Friendly Community The League of American Bicyclists has designated Iowa City as a Bicycle Friendly Community at the bronze level. Reviewers were impressed with the potential and commitment to make Iowa City a great place for bicyclists. This is especially demonstrated in high bike commuting rates, passage of new Metro Bicycle Master Plan, Complete Streets ordinance and encouragement efforts such as the Iowa City Bicycle Library and annual Mayor’s Ride. The BFC review team expects great things in the future given the good local support through engaged cycling community and political leadership. The two most important items reviewers felt your community should work on are: • Expand bicycling education offerings to youth, adults and motorists across the board. Set targeted annual increases in the number of Traffic Skill 101 and other Smart Cycling courses offered each year. Consider hosting a League Cycling Instructors seminar. Both adult and youth classes can be taught by LCI’s. Having additional local instructors will enable the community to expand cycling education, to be cycling ambassadors, to deliver education to motorists, provide cycling education to adults, and have an expert to assist in encouragement programs. http://www.bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/seminar_schedule • Continue to increase the number of arterial streets that have wide shoulder or bike lanes. Expand the bicycle network and increase network connectivity through the use of bike lanes, shared lane arrows and signed routes. On-street improvements coupled with the expansion of the off-street system will continue to increase use and improve safety. Reviewers also provided the following suggestions to further promote bicycling: Engineering • Ensure that new and improved facilities to accommodate bicyclists conform to current best practices and guidelines provide through Iowa DOT and the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities. • Promoting the bicycle coordinator full-time position can greatly increase the amount of work that gets done. The coordinator can oversee the implementation of the city’s planned infrastructure as well as educational and encouragement efforts. • Continue to provide opportunities for ongoing training on accommodating bicyclists for engineering, planning staff, and law enforcement. Host a Smart Cycling course for city staff to better understand cyclists’ needs, behavior, and their right to use city streets as well as multi-use paths for transportation. Consider a membership to the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals www.apbp.org for city Bicycle and Pedestrian Staff. Training opportunities and the listserv provided by this organization are excellent resources. • Continue to increase the amount of secure bicycle parking throughout the community as an inexpensive and effective means to both accommodate and increase the visibility of cyclists. Education • Work to get bicycling and motorist education messages added to routine local activities such as tax renewal or inserts with utility bills. Article in community bulletins and letters to the editor are effective, affordable ways to spread information on safely sharing the road to motorists and cyclists alike. • Continue to use your local cable access channel to run PSA’s. Create new ones explaining new bike facilities like were done for shared lane markings. See a new motorist education video at http://bikelib.org/video/index.htm It is vital to make motorists and cyclists aware of their rights and responsibilities on the road. Also, use the valuable information from the League’s Ride Better Tips in your outreach education and encouragement efforts. See the Ride Better Tips pages at http://www.bikeleague.org/resources/better/index.php . • Expand in-school bike education programming until all 13 schools participate. Create a district wide challenge for Bike/Walk to School Day. Encouragement • Expand Bike to Work Day events in the city. Consider hosting a Corporate Commuter Challenge. Record participation and set targeted growth rates each year. This is a great way to encourage others to commute by bike; distribute safety information and messaging; and document the effects of the city’s other infrastructure and programs. See examples and learn more in our National Bike Month Guide: http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/bikemonth/pdf/national_bike_month_gui de.pdf • Consider offering a ‘Ciclovia’ or ‘Summer Streets’ type event, closing off a major corridor to auto traffic and offering the space to cyclists, pedestrians and group exercise events. • Continue to promote and grow non-competitive cycling events in your community. Continue to grow the Mayor’s Ride each year as a way to highlight growth in the bicycle network, while providing routes of various lengths to encourage cyclists of all abilities to participate. Enlist other politicians and leaders in your community to participate. • Create a Smart Trips/Travel Smart transportation demand management program to encourage short trips to be made by bicycle. Encourage the University to take part as well. Such programs have proven successful in increasing bicycle mode share in targeted areas. Learn more about Portland, OR’s successful program here: http://www.walkinginfo.org/library/details.cfm?id=3961 • Consider expanding the Iowa City Bicycle Library to offer short term bike share in addition to their long term loaner fleet. Create a similar bike fleet system for use by city staff to encourage bicycling for short trips during the day and to help reduce city owned auto fleet costs. Enforcement • Ensure that police officers are aware of the Share the Road message and have general knowledge regarding traffic law as it applies to bicyclists. Consider hosting Enforcement for Bicycle Safety seminar http://www.bicyclefriendlycommunity.org/popup/enforcement.htm . This is a great continuing education opportunity for law enforcement. • Encourage police officers to use targeted enforcement to encourage motorists and cyclists to share the road. These efforts should be as educational as punitive, with offering share the road information or safety tip cards. • See the video put out by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/menuitem.810acaee50c65 1189ca8e410dba046a0/ Here are some Law Enforcement Products Law Enforcement's Roll Call Video: “Enforcing Law for Bicyclists” Enhancing Bicycle Safety: Law Enforcement’s Role (CD-ROM Training) Evaluation/Planning • Continue to collect data on bicycle usage and crash statistics. Use this data to prioritize improvements to the bicycle network and to target enforcement and education efforts to reduce crashes. • Create performance measures to track the progress of the new bike master plan’s implementation, and conduct regular counts to show growth in mode share as a result. • Continue to integrate the development of the cycling network into larger land use planning and development projects and plans.