Mark your calendar: Walkable Communities Forum

walkable-savannah

Dan Burden, a national leader in developing livable communities through his work in the State of Florida and now as director of  the nonprofit Walkable Communities, will be giving a workshop on improving conditions for all road users on Wednesday September 2.  It’s an interesting selection of location for this topic, out near the Savannah Mall, but will undoubtedly be a scintillating discussion of all the topics we campaigners like to hear about.

Thanks to the City of Savannah for bringing him here.  We hope to see you there!

Who are you gonna be?

It’s always fun to dress up!  Prizes for the costume contest are confirmed for the Midnight Garden Ride.  We’ll be giving out prizes for the top 2 group themes, and top 3 best individual overall and top 3 individual lighting setups.  You are constrained only by your imagination and good taste.  Top honors will get you some nice gear, so be sure to head over to midnightgardenride.com to check them out!

While you’re there, be sure to register for the ride if you haven’t already — only riders preregistered by August 31 will be guaranteed their own Midnight Garden Ride organic cotton tee.  Prices at late registration go up to $25, so there are at least two great reasons to register now!

some good lighting points for the Chinese lanterns...
some good lighting points for the Chinese lanterns...

Board of Directors meeting tomorrow night

After our July break and August retreat, we are back on track for our usual meeting time, 6pm on the third Tuesday at Moon River.

Topics for consideration include Midnight Garden Ride logistics and volunteer opportunities, Coastal Georgia Greenway, and potential grant opportunities from the Alliance for Biking and Walking and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.  As always, all are welcome to attend, so we hope to see you there!

Mid Morning Live with David and Drew

Last minute warning: set your DVR (or go to wtoctv.com later today) to check out David Acuff and Drew Wade’s appearance on WTOC’s Mid Morning Live with Sonny and Jody today at 10am. We’ll post the interview here later today. We’ll be talking about what the Campaign is up to, and promoting the Midnight Garden Ride on September 5!

2 Wheels 2 Work: Bike Commuting Convoy

At our board retreat this weekend, we changed the name of our Dump the Pump bike commuting convoys to 2 Wheels 2 Work! As Dump the Pump is a program of the American Public Transportation Association, we felt it better to let them have their name back and use these monthly first Friday events to focus on those things that make bike commuting a great strategy for job-related mobility:

  1. Replace traffic-induced stress with exercise-induced endorphins.
  2. Save money.
  3. Save time.
  4. Save parking for customers and visitors bringing money into our local economy.
  5. Save yourself from an inactive lifestyle predisposing to diabetes AND/OR fees to and time spent at a gym.

This coming Friday, August 7 will be the first 2 Wheels 2 Work convoy under the new name. The new setup will be a mass start from Habersham Village at 8am. We will pick up additional riders at their convenience at points on Habersham Street north to Victory Drive from 8am to 8:10, or on Lincoln Street from Victory to Liberty from 8:10 to 8:20. We finish at Ex Libris bookstore on Martin Luther King, Jr Blvd for coffee compliments of our friends at Jittery Joe’s, probably some time just before 8:30.

UPDATE:
Typical hot August morning, good turnout. See the photos below — we’ll catch you all next month on September 4.

CDC on Complete Streets

Ok. Time to collectively put down the chips and switch off the TV.

Such are the recommendations of this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), the widely read public health journal of the Centers for Disease Control. Specifically, this issue of the MMWR outlines strategies for combating obesity from a local policy perspective, and wouldn’t you know it, many involve improving communities’ amenities and policies with respect to bicycles and pedestrians.

MMWR logoCDC logo

The article has also been summarized here by the National Complete Streets Coalition:

The suggested measure for communities to use is as follows:
Local government has a policy for designing and operating streets with safe access for all users which includes at least one element suggested by the National Complete Streets Coalition (http://www.completestreets.org).

This measurement assesses whether a community has a policy for all-user street design, such as the Complete Streets program. Specific elements of the measurement are based on Complete Streets policy.

The other recommendations include:

* Enhance infrastructure supporting walking.
* Enhance infrastructure supporting bicycling.
* Improve access to public transportation.
* Zone for mixed-use development.
* Support locating schools within easy walking distance of residential areas.

And another represents the way many communities are pursuing complete streets:

* Participate in community coalitions or partnerships to address obesity.

We could not agree more, and will continue to push for Complete Streets policies to be adopted by the county, MPO, cities and the state, not only for the public health benefit, but for the benefits to quality of life, economic development and safety.

Transportation Plan Comment Meeting

We need you again, campaigners!

The next public comment session on the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) update is scheduled for tomorrow, July 21 at 6pm at the MPC at 112 E State Street. The planners need to hear what we have been calling for early and often —

  1. Comprehensive Bike Master Plan including targets for completion and identified funding sources. This also needs to include both on road bikeways and off road multi-use paths, enforcement, evaluation, and education.
  2. Evaluation and update of bridge access for bicycles including, importantly, a look at safe access between Savannah and the Tybee beaches.

core-mpo

Anything else that needs to be part of the process? Let us know in the comments!

Midnight Garden Ride Registration is Open

Sample the nocturnal sights and sounds of the streets of Savannah from behind your handlebars on the inaugural Midnight Garden Ride.

The Midnight Garden Ride is a non-competitive, nighttime charity bike ride through Historic Downtown Savannah, a fundraiser for the Savannah Bicycle Campaign! 6 and 12 mile options will wind through historic Savannah under the live oak canopy and a full moon — check out midnightgardenride.com for further details and registration!

Midnight Garden Ride GraphicDon’t let that be the end of your cycling weekend, either. Join hundreds of others for rides on Saturday morning, September 5 and Sunday morning, September 6 for the Savannah Century.

Start – The Distillery in Historic Downtown Savannah
Our ride begins and ends at the Distillery at W. Liberty St. and Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, a beautifully restored 1904 building opened initially as a whiskey distillery, now home to a new restaurant. The ride will begin at 8:00 p.m.

Goodies
* Shirt – the first Midnight Garden Ride T-shirt.
* Food & Fun – snacks & music at Midnight Snack Stops & the Good & Evil Party!
* Costume contest – prizes for best individual, best group theme, and best lighting.
* Raffle – for some amazing prizes!

So, if you love fun and you love bikes, register today — go to midnightgardenride.com!

A Roadmap to Bicycle Friendliness

As you all know, the City of Savannah has garnered an honorable mention in the most recent Bicycle Friendly Community ratings awarded by the League of American Bicyclists.  So, we’re not there yet, but we have a good start.

We now have the full feedback from the League, with suggestions from the local cycling community as well as experts in the field.  The full report is available here.  Some highlights:

Engineering:

  • Adopt a complete streets policy
  • Adopt and implement a comprehensive bike plan
  • Develop a designated east-west bicycling corridor
  • Develop a bridge access policy

Education:

  • Add educational message to utility bills
  • Continue to improve bicycling education opportunities for adults

Encouragement:

  • Consider a “Ciclovia” or “Summer Streets” event to open streets to nonmotorized users
  • Commuter challenge or bike to work pit stop for Bike to Work Week
  • Consider an ordinance to require larger employers to provide showers, bike parking, and other encouragement tools.

Enforcement:

  • Encourage police officers to use targeted enforcement to encourage motorists and cyclists to share the road, such as a tip card explaining each user’s rights and responsibilities.
  • Host Enforcement for Bicycle Safety seminar.

Evaluation:

  • Update the Bicycle Master Plan. The new plan should set targeted annual goals for implementation.
  • Continue to improve data collection methods on bicycle usage and crash statistics and evaluation of this data. Use this data to prioritize infrastructure upgrades or targeted enforcement efforts.