Our MPO is in the process of updating its 30 year long-range transportation plan. Things in the plan can be built — new bike lanes, paths, bridge access for bikes. If it doesn’t make the long-range plan, it can’t make the short-range plans that are implemented.

So, if you provided comments in the meetings at the MPC building recently, fantastic! If not, a new online version is available now through July 22. See below for full details.

Hello bicycle and pedestrian stakeholders and interested parties:

The Coastal Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (CORE MPO), which is the transportation planning entity for the Chatham County area, invites public participation in the development of the Non-motorized Transportation Plan, covering all of Chatham County. This plan will identify projects and policies that are needed to encourage walking, bicycling, and other self-powered methods of transportation. Types of projects included in the plan may be facilities such as sidewalks, bike lanes, or multi-use paths, but may also be streetscaping or other amenities to create a more human-scaled environment in certain areas. Learn more about the Non-motorized Transportation Plan at: http://www.thempc.org/Transportation/Non-motorTranspPlan.html.

The following options for participation are available through July 22, 2010, on the transportation pages of the MPC website (http://www.thempc.org/transportation.htm):

• Online, interactive mapping of issues and preferences. (This collects the same type of information as the on-paper, in-person mapping exercise that some of you attended at MPC this past spring. If you marked our paper maps earlier, there is no need to re-enter this information on the online map.)
• Survey on Bicycle Planning.
• Survey on Pedestrian Planning.

In addition, Chatham County residents may contact MPO staff directly to share comments or to take the surveys over the phone.

There will additional opportunities for input and feedback during the development of the Non-motorized Transportation Plan, over the course of the next year approximately.

The Non-motorized Transportation Plan is one element of the CORE MPO Total Mobility Plan, a long range, multi-modal transportation plan, which is simultaneously under development.

Please contact Jane Love, at 912-651-1443 or lovej@thempc.org, for additional information about the Non-motorized Transportation Plan. For more information about the overall Total Mobility Plan, contact Mark Wilkes, at 912-651-1451 or wilkesm@thempc.org.

Campaigners!

We’re closing in on the event of the year — the second annual Midnight Garden Ride is Saturday, September 4! Last year, the first Midnight Garden Ride brought together 400 locals and visitors for a pedaling party through the night streets of Savannah.  It’s back by popular demand, and we want you there, because this year it will be bigger and better!

More riders, more costumes, more music and more fun for you.  Registration is required, so don’t forget to register — it’s Saturday, September 4 — Labor Day weekend — a huge weekend for bikes in Savannah with the Savannah Century’s rides Saturday and Sunday morning as well.  The Midnight Garden Ride will have 6 and 12 mile options like last year with some great prizes for the costume contest, and tons of great raffle items at the Good and Evil Party to follow — SBC members and Savannah Century participants will enjoy the discounted rate just like last year.

All the details are at midnightgardenride.com, so check it out, register for yourself and text, call, email, tweet and facebook all of your friends.  You won’t want to miss it!

If you get the print copy of the Sunday Savannah Morning News, make sure you save your copy of the Accent section.  In it, Chuck Mobley profiles our own dedicated Executive Director Frank McIntosh with a whopping portion of the front page.

The electronic version lacks the same impact, though it includes some great Frank factoids (in his riding, Frank has tallied 46,000 miles since his first bike to work in 1993).  One particularly fine Frankism is also found within:

It’s imperative that cyclists wear their “brain bucket” when riding, McIntosh said. “My helmet has only really hit the ground twice in all the riding I’ve done,” he said. “But I’m real glad I had my helmet on when it did.”

Y’all keep your brain buckets strapped, and let’s send up three cheers for Frank!

As many of you are aware, some time ago non-resident cyclists were banned from riding on weekdays from Hunter Army Airfield, normally a staple of local recreational road riding.  The reasons behind it are not entirely clear.  Nevertheless, following a meeting between the base command and local cyclists including Vikki Graham and John Arney of Coastal Bicycle Touring Club and our own Frank McIntosh, the privilege of weekday riding on base has been restored!  We are grateful to Garrison Commander LTC Jose Aguilar for this change in policy, and look forward to developing a closer relationship with the base.

There are some rules cyclists will need to follow however, and we all need to keep in mind that this privilege was gained with effort, and can be lost if cyclists ignore the directives within.  Let’s be sure we can police ourselves on these:

• If arriving on bicycle, use the Montgomery, Stephenson, or Rio gate. If arriving by car, you must use the Montgomery or Stephenson gates and have State Driver’s License, Proof of Insurance, and Vehicle Registration.
• Photo ID is required for entry at the gate.
• Cyclists must obey all traffic regulations and signs on the installation.
• Riding in residential areas is not permitted.
• Bicycles will be ridden in single file.
• You must always wear a bicycle helmet and reflective belt or vest.
• During limited visibility hours (defined as 30 minutes prior to sunset until 30 minutes after sunrise), you must have an operational front (white) light and red rear reflector or combination red light and red reflector.
• Each pedal will be equipped with reflectors. The reflector on each pedal shall be so designed and situated as to be visible from the front and rear of the bicycle during darkness. If pedals do not have reflectors, reflective straps will be worn around the ankles.

CYCLING ROUTES AND TIMES: The best time to ride on Hunter Army Airfield is the weekend. Perimeter Road is the preferred ride for most cyclists. However, during certain times on weekdays, it is extremely hazardous based on competing with traffic and Soldiers conducting physical training. On weekdays, all cyclists will ride on the bike path on South Perimeter Road and Rio Road during the hours 6:00 A.M. — 9:15 A.M. and 3:00 P.M. – 6:00 P.M. for your safety and to allow unimpeded flow of motor vehicle traffic. Violation of this policy may result in a six-month suspension of riding privileges on Hunter Army Airfield.

Best bet for cyclists is to park outside the gate and bike in. If entering at the Stephenson gate, it is advised not to park at the Baldino’s area, as businesses have complained about extra cars parked in that lot.

Follow the rules, and we can all maintain access to riding some of the lowest traffic roads close to town. Don’t follow them, and access may be restricted once again.

Over 3 days in April, cyclist data was collected from 4 major intersections in downtown Savannah by a group of community volunteers — thanks to the awesome Campaigners who joined in this effort! This was second annual Bike Census, so we have for the first time data to compare against the previous year.

The most striking statistics were changes in helmet usage and gender balance. The proportion of total cyclists observed wearing helmets doubled over 2009 figures, although the share of these cyclists is still only ~10% of the total observed riders. The gender balance of observed riders also demonstrated a significant change, with a 33% increase in the proportion of women cyclists over the 2009 share. This brought the female share of observed cyclists to ~24% of the total. This brings Savannah up to a position above the national average of 21.3% female cyclists. Way to go, bicycling ladies — let’s see if we can get that number even higher!

The headline statistic is that there was an observed increase of 110% in total cyclists over the four intersections combined from last year, although a few factors made this year’s total higher than last year.

• First: SCAD wasn’t almost on Spring Break during this count as they were last year.
• Second: in contrast to the unseasonably cold March days on which we counted in 2009, the weather was fairly nice during this count.
• Third: the greater number of volunteers this year allowed this year’s total to be chiefly observed, rather than extrapolated over the course of the 10 hour study window.

This means that this year’s data was probably a more representative count than last year’s; or more simply, last year’s count was almost certainly artificially low.

Still, a win’s a win, and this is a huge increase, not only in total number of riders observed, but also very importantly in the proportion of women and the proportion of riders protecting their noodles with lids. Stay tuned for the next census, as we hope to see those trends continue.

Last Saturday, with much fanfare, the block around Tiedeman Park next to Savannah Arts Academy was opened to bike and pedestrian traffic only for the dedication of the newly finished Washington Avenue bike lane.  LCI’s led bike safety games for kids, Perry Rubber Bike Shop provided some minor repairs, and also gave away 2 kids bikes and helmets to a couple of lucky winners!

In addition to the opening of the 1.6 mile east-west bike lane on Washington, which we have covered already, we at your SBC, together with the City of Savannah and Perry Rubber Bike Shop are proud to be the recipient of a Specialized Bicycle Components (the other SBC) Advocacy Grant which provided 10 kids bikes and 40 kids helmets, together with a 10 foot utility trailer provided by the City of Savannah, for use by LCI’s to provide bike education to kids in local schools, youth organizations, and neighborhood associations.  This is an excellent resource, and including the local match the total value of this project is around $7500, so our thanks go out in a big way to Specialized, the City of Savannah, Perry Rubber Bike Shop and, as always the support of our members who know that bicycles make Savannah better.