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Bikes Belong, a national organization sponsored by the U.S. bicycle industry with the goal of putting more people on bicycles more often, is accepting applications for Community Partnership Grants. The grants are designed to foster and support partnerships between local governments, nonprofit organizations, and local businesses working to improve the environment for bicycling.
Grants of up to $10,000 will be largely will be awarded to fund the construction or expansion of bicycle facilities such as bike lanes, trails, and paths. The grants committee also will consider advocacy projects that promote bicycling as a safe and accessible mode of transportation.
To be eligible for a grant, a partnership must include collaboration between at least one city/county government office or department; one nonprofit organization with a mission specific to bicycling, trails, or recreation; and one local business.
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As published in the Detroit Free Press on April 8/2010.
Detroit is embarking on an ambitious plan to create bike lanes on roads across town, giving cyclists like Jon Koller designated space for riding as city leaders and community groups rethink street and land use in a shrinking city.
It’s a big change. Although the city is starting with about 30 miles in a handful of neighborhoods this year, there eventually could be as many as 400 miles of bike lanes in Detroit.
“I think it’s going to encourage more people to get out there and take biking as a serious form of transportation,” said Koller, 25, who lives in the city’s Corktown neighborhood and commutes by bike to Wayne State University, where he’s a doctoral student in transportation engineering.
Read the rest of this story at www.freep.com
Just posting a friendly reminder as a follow-up on our post from last week regarding tomorrow’s Virtual Lobby Day in support of the Active Community Transportation Act, H.R.4722. Tomorrow the League of Michigan Bicyclists is leading a delegation of 13 Michigan cycling advocates to lobby for Complete Streets and more funding and federal support for bicycling in Michigan. We have a full day of meetings scheduled with Michigan Congresspeople and are asking you to back up our face to face efforts with phone calls from back home. Specifically, please help us generate support for H.R. 4722 (Act Act).
Learn more about the ACT Act here.
Download Issue Paper on ACT Act (and Complete Streets Bill) here.
TAKE ACTION
For those Michigan complete streets advocates not attending the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC, please participate in the Virtual Lobby Day on Thursday March 11. In conjunction with the National Bike Summit we ask that you call your representative at the same time that over 700 Summit participants will have in-person meetings in congressional offices. The combination of face to face and phone communications in support of this bill will demonstrate a strong and unified Michigan voice next week on Capitol Hill. The Virtual Lobby Day is being organized by our cycling friends at America Bikes.
We encourage you to use the talking points below to send your own alert encouraging your members to participate.
TALKING POINTS
Please call your representatives on March 11th to ask them to co-sponsor H.R.4722: “The Active Community Transportation Act.” Tell them:
- Bicycling and walking are part of the solution. Half of all trips in the United States are three miles or less, yet the majority of these short trips are made by car. Shifting more of these short trips to biking and walking would not only reduce congestion, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and our dependence on oil, but will also improve physical activity, safety, and livability.
- Investing in bicycling and walking infrastructure works. Commuting by bicycle has increased 43 percent since 2000 - and by 69 percent in designated Bicycle Friendly Communities that have invested in infrastructure improvements.
- Please co-sponsor the Active Community Transportation Act (H.R.4722).
Here are the phone numbers for all the Michigan Congress people:
- Senator Carl Levin (D- MI) 202-224-6221
- Senator Debbie Stabenow (D- MI) 202-224-4822
- Representative Bart Stupak (D - 01) 202-225-4735
- Representative Pete Hoekstra (R - 02) 202-225-4401
- Representative Vern Ehlers (R - 03) 202-225-3831
- Representative Dave Camp (R - 04) 202-225-3561
- Representative Dale E. Kildee (D - 05) 202-225-3611
- Representative Fred Upton (R - 06) 202-225-3761
- Representative Mark Schauer (D - 07) 202-225-6276
- Representative Mike Rogers (R - 08) 202-225-4872
- Representative Gary Peters (D - 09) 202-225-5802
- Representative Candice Miller (R - 10) 202-225-2106
- Representative Thaddeus McCotter (R - 11) 202-225-8171
- Representative Sandy Levin (D - 12) 202-225-4961
- Representative Carolyn Kilpatrick (D - 13) 202-225-2261
- Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D - 14) 202-225-5126
- Representative John D. Dingell (D - 15) 202-225-4071
Don’t know who your Congressperson is? Visit http://capwiz.com/lab/home/ and enter your address to find out.
March 27th - 11:00 - 11:45am
In the past year many exciting developments have occurred around Complete Streets in Michigan. A panel discussion at the 2010 Michigan Bicycle Summit will provide updates on these developments and provide suggestions on ways your community can go about adopting your own Complete Streets policy.
More Details/Registration:
http://www.lmb.org/index.php/events/mi-bike-summit.html
Michigan Department of Transportation, in collaboration with Michigan Department of Community Health, and Michigan Housing Development Authority, is pleased to offer several opportunities for you to attend an AASHTO Bicycle Facility Design Training.
This is a training course on the planning and design of on-road bicycle facilities. There will be a two hour class instruction on the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities, an on-road bicycle ride to analyze the different types of on-road facilities, and a discussion period regarding bicycle facility design options. There will be many stops during the ride to point out potential facility types.
Training Wheels Registration Form
Course size is limited.
September 8, 2009 -Traverse City, MI 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
September 9, 2009 - Grayling, MI 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
September 10, 2009 - Ludington, MI 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
September 11, 2009 - Grand Rapids, MI 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
September 17, 2009 - Flint, MI 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
September 16, 2009 - Mt. Pleasant, MI 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
September 15, 2009 - Jackson, MI 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
September 14, 2009 - Lansing, MI 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
September 18, 2009 - Detroit, MI 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
PowerPoint dismisses liability concerns for constructing roadways that accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists
A must view PowerPoint for all Michigan road agencies, planners, engineers and politicians. Written by Ronald W. Emery (Transportation Division Dept. of Attorney General), Josh DeBruyn (Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator - MDOT) and Deirdre Thompson (Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Engineer - MDOT), this PowerPoint demonstrates through case law that NO liability risk exists for accommodating nonmotorized facilities users through bike lanes, road diets, mid-block crossings or signing rural roads/shoulders as bike routes.
Download Presentation: Ped Bike Safety and Liability
Questions on this presentation can be directed to:
Josh DeBruyn, AICP
Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator
Bureau of Transportation Planning
Michigan Department of Transportation
517-335-2918
Horatio Sawyer Earle (1855–1935) is known as the "Father of Good Roads" or simply Horatio "Good Roads" Earle.
How Michigan bicyclists paved the first road in America
The Good Roads Movement, led by the “Father of Good Roads,” Michigan’s own Horatio Earle, demanded better road conditions for the growing community of cyclists across the country.
The boom of the bicycle as an object of pleasure and a symbol of progress resulted in a natural desire by bicyclists for smooth, safe roads to ride upon. This led to organized efforts to clear the roads of mud, horse droppings, and hazards like crumbling cobblestones and an unpredictable crisscross of streetcar tracks.
The Good Roads Movement banded millions of American bicyclists together at demonstrations, rallies and other political actions. With a motto of, “Where there is a wheel, there is a way,” cyclists took their campaign for better streets to the streets, quickly gaining the ears of politicians across the nation. In fact, many of those cycling advocates successfully ran for elected office themselves on platforms focused on better road conditions.
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