Cycle Guelph

Budget to approve the design of a new rail bridge over Wyndham St. were approved recently.

Side openings are for bicycles and pedestrians

Bridges can also be gates and here is one in our “Armories Style”

City of Portland creates new road markings to improve traffic safety on bike routes

http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/portland-green-bike-box/

When you mount thousands of bicycle tires on rims… your thumbs will get sore on the job. Bos’s Bicycle Boutique has the automated equipment to do the work right here in Guelph

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd0qzWNjE2Y

A new cycling map is available online at the city’s website

Here is the link:

http://guelph.ca/uploads/ET_Group/engineering/TDM/2008%20Cycle%20Map%20-%20MAP%20SIDE.pdf

Anyone who has tried cycling down Speedvale or Woodlawn knows how frightening and dangerous it can be to cycling alongside transport trucks.  I found this video today on streetsblog.org that gives a great video primer on how to cycle safely around trucks. 

I attended a full-day workshop in Fergus yesterday on Healthy Communities.  We were very fortunate to have two presenters from Boulder, Colorado to speak about their amazing bicycle and pedestrian facilities. 

Boulder is a great city to compare ourselves to, as they share many of the same characteristics as Guelph.  Boulder is home to the University of Colorado at Boulder, and has 30,000 students (Guelph has about 20,000 students).  The city is 65 km2, and is home to about 105,000 residents.  Guelph is approximately 80 km2 and is home to 120,000 residents.  Both cities are surrounded by ample greenspace and rural communities.  And yes, Boulder gets snow!

What is so unique about Boulder is their committment to cycling as a mode of transportation.  As early as 1989, they decided to intentionally fund all modes of transportation - not just cars and busses - and they adopted a goal to shift 15% of auto traffic to other modes of transportation.  In 2003, they designated ‘multimodal corridors’, and endeavored to provide facilities for ALL modes of transportation on every project they undertook. 

Boulder has developed a Comprehensive Plan that includes detailed financing guidelines and priorities for their transportation network up until 2025.  To date, they have 200 miles (322 km) of on-street bike lanes, and over 100 miles (161 km) of off-street bike paths and routes.  They have 74 grade-separated intersections, and a goal of building 2.5 new underpasses every year.  All of their bicycle facilities are plowed and swept with the same frequency as the rest of the roads.  As much as half of their road budget in 2008 was dedicated to ‘alternative transportation’ - not so alternative anymore, is it?

Boulder also has an incredibly detailed monitoring program to evaluate the effectiveness of their dollars spent on these facilities.  They measure everything from vehicle counts, bicycle counts, transit ridership, level of surveice, travel time studies (how far from point A to point B), type of weather and day of week that people bike, and much more. 

All of this amounts to a bicycle mode share of 9% and a pedestrian mode share of 10%.  That means that, on average, 20% of all transportation every day is done by sustainable, active transportation in Boulder.  In Guelph, that figure is roughly 7%. 

My next question for them is, where does the money for this come from?  Boulder is divided by the flood-prone Boulder Creek, and so some of their cycling infrastructure and maintenance money is from flood-prevention funds from the Federal Government. 

Another terrific example of an American best practice cycling city is Davis, California.  They have a 17% mode share in cycling and a long history of promoting cycling as a main form of transportation.  I could list the multitudes of neat, funky cycling infrastructure designs they have implemented, or you could just check out the link below.  Of course, being in California, they don’t have the same hills or weather challenges to contend with as Guelph or Boulder does. 

To see video clips of cycling facilities in these cities, visit www.streetfilms.org, and while you’re there, browse some of the other amazing clips and videos they have to offer about sustainable cities!

From the August 2008 IMBA Canada eNews letter:

We’ve been receiving lots of requests lately for clarification on IMBA’s Rules of the Trail, especially regarding guidelines for yielding and passing. With the proliferation of one-way, bike-only and downhill-specific trails, we’ve made a few adjustments to the language. The basics remain unchanged: mountain bikers should strive to be responsible, low-impact and friendly trail users.

The City of Guelph is developing the first FREE Guelph Cycling Map for residents and visitors! You can become part of the City’s efforts to make cycling more convenient and accessible by sponsoring a portion of the Cycling Map. The ad sales kit (pdf) has all the details for purchasing an ad. The deadline for placing an order is August 23rd. Ads will be sold on first-come, first-served basis.

The May 2008 issue of the Ontario Parks Association magazine has an overview (PDF) of the Wike Parks Pioneer cargo trailer. The Park Pioneer is a 25″ x 45″ bicycle cargo trailer that park management can utilize to increase the efficiency of park maintenance activities such as litter collection, mowing or graffiti clean up, while reducing green house gas emissions. Wike trailers are made in Guelph, Ontario.