Providence Bicycle Coalition (PBC)
| December 6, 2007 | ||
| 6:00 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
The Providence Bicycle Coalition holds a monthly advocacy meeting. If you are interested in bicycle advocacy, come join us and share your thoughts. This month, we will be meeting at the The Hub @ 6pm. We plan to have wireless access, so bring your laptop and learn how to post items to the website. Hope to see you there.
| December 6, 2007 | ||
| 12:00 pm | to | 2:00 pm |
Plan to join us for our 2nd Webinar on
December 6, 2007
12-2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
STPP and CNT are hosting the second “From the Margins to the Mainstream” Webinar to discuss integrating transit services into community planning and design in understandable terms for the non-technical person. Audience interaction will be a key part of this Webinar.
Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/406268508
The webinar will feature leading transportation experts as panelists, including officials from transit agencies, local land-use/planning agencies, and the developer community.
STPP’s and CNT’s goal is to give you the tools to participate more effectively in expanding and improving transit services in your community. Please plan to join us on December 6th.
Additional information about the webinar will be sent to you shortly.
The first webinar “Understanding the Transportation Models and Asking the Right Questions” is now available for viewing on STPP’s website www.transact.org. The presentations will be posted shortly.
These Webinars are made possible by support from the Federal Transit Administration, The Oak Foundation and AARP. You are receiving this e-mail as a service of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership.
System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro,
2003 Server, Vista
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.3.9 (Panther®) or newer
| October 25, 2007 | ||
| 6:30 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
The next meeting of the TAC is on October 25th. In case you missed the last meeting, here is a summary of comments. We were happy to see how many people, from a variety of backgrounds, were interested in better bicycle infrastructure. The Providence Planning Board site posted an amended transportation plan, including these latest comments.
This committee advises the State Planning Council on transportation planning and encourages public involvement in the process. The TAC reviews and provides input into the transportation planning documents that are the responsibility of the State Planning Council (notably the long-range Ground Transportation Plan and Transportation Improvement Program).
The Council established the TAC and other transportation planning and public involvement procedures by rule in 1994. The process has been found to meet the requirements of federal law and is subject to continuing review by USDOT.
The members include 7 local officials, 5 state agencies, 9 organizations representing a variety of transportation interests, and 5 citizens from different areas of the state.
Meetings are held at the RIPTA Operations Center, 269 Melrose Street, Providence.
| October 24, 2007 | ||
| 6:30 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
GARI (Greenways Alliance of Rhode Island) holds its monthly meeting on Wednesday Oct 24 at Gibbs College in Cranston from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.
| October 30, 2007 | ||
| 6:30 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
On October 30th Providence City Councilman Cliff Wood is leading a forum about energy use and sustainability, with sponsorship by the Providence City Council and participation and support from Mayor Cicilline. Daniel Lerch of the Post-Carbon Institute will participate in the discussions titled Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty.
Daniel Lerch of the Post-Carbon Institute
Tuesday, October 30, 2007, 6:30 p.m.
Roger Williams Park Casino
1300 Elmwood Avenue
More information can be found on the attached flyer and at http://postcarboncities.net//guidebook.
I hope you can make it. Please feel free to spread the word!
Here’s something to consider:
One of the reasons that many of Providence’s streets are such a disaster is that the utility companies, after digging then patching, don’t return to resurface after their patches have sunk. Recently I learned (I think from John Nickelson? Someone else on this list was there at the time and can correct me if I’m wrong) that there is a 2-year statute of limitations on utilities fixing the streets they have dug up. So although they are contractually obligated to return streets to the condition they were in prior to the beginning of their work, if 2 years pass and the city doesn’t get on them about it, they get a free pass.
I assume that this is because the city doesn’t have enough staff to afford someone to do the follow-up.
Perhaps this city needs a volunteer group who can work with DPW on this issue. If we had a database of upcoming street work, volunteers could take records (digital photos would be easy) of the area, then take pictures after the work is done and every 6 months (or whatever). Since DPW doesn’t ride the utilities hard enough on fixing poor patch jobs within the 2-year enforcement period, a volunteer group could take this on and provide gratis the evidence that DPW needs in order to enforce the terms of the contracts they sign with the utility or construction companies that are working on and under our streets. While we’re too late to save some areas where over 2 years have alrady passed, perhaps we can make a contribution toward saving roads in the future.
I’d be quite happy to volunteer the occasional morning to ride around the city with a digital camera if I thought it would lead to safer, smoother streets. I suggest that PBC consider taking this on as an ongoing project at our next meeting (assuming, of course, that DPW would be on board).
Thoughts?
Also, responding to Mark’s recent group email:
I agree re sharrows. This city is not likely to implement sharrows before they’re adopted by AASHTO and FHWA. But if we talk about them with city councilors, planning dept staff, RIDOT staff, etc, the idea of them may not seem so foreign when the time comes to propose their use.
Re potholes: would anyone care to take a ride some nice Saturday to paint potholes and unsafe sewer grates? I’ll buy the bright orange paint.
Eric
The cyclists over at Bike-To-Brown are tracking what could become a serious problem for cyclists traveling in and out of Providence to and from the East Bay area. As most everyone is aware, the Washington Bridge pedestrian walk way is closed and will likely remain so for many more years. This is diverting cyclists over the Henderson Bridge. RIDOT has now decided to start concurrent work on the Henderson Bridge, including lane closures. Don Rogers over at Bike-To-Brown members concisely stated:
If the single option remaining available to cyclists for crossing between Providence and the East Bay is to become a single lane shared on what many motorists consider to be high-speed freeway, then there can be little option other than large numbers of conflicts and very hazardous conditions for cyclists. There must be proactive and effective mitigation of these conditions to protect life and safety of cyclists and motorists alike.
This is a huge and very dangerous condition that RIDOT is setting up for transportational cyclists, the largest blow I’ve seen in the 10 years I’ve been cycling the Providence area. Close the Washington Bridge to bikes, and we can suffer the rerouting. But restrict the Henderson in this way at the same time, and now the action is effectively ruling that bikes are not a viable transportation alternative to travel between Providence and the East Bay. RIPTA is not a drop-in replacement by any stretch of the imagination.
We are working to determine who we can voice our concern with over at RIDOT and will let everyone know once we have this information.
The right sidebar on the Bike Providence site has an area highlighting the Upcoming Events. This section lists titles of the next thirty days worth of events we know about. If you are interested in events farther into the future, take a look at the full events page. This page lists all the upcoming events and full descriptions of the events. If you know of a bicycle related event of interest to Providence area cyclists that isn’t listed, please contact us with details so we can add it to our events page.
| October 21, 2007 | ||
| 2:00 pm | to | 4:00 pm |
| 4:00 pm | to | 7:00 pm |
That’s right, it’s been six years in Providence, and after a few months we’re more or less settled at the new space on Charles Street.
Come by on sunday and we’ll recall fondly our tales of road rash, homicidal drivers, tours de beer, and that time you got your cuff stuck in your crank and it pulled your pants off.
Oh wait that was me.
Garrett will be rocking out the fancy espresso drinks and I’m sure there will be beer and pretzels from Job Lot or something.
2 PM - weather permitting, come early with your bike and we’ll have a nice leasurely ride, maybe to Lincoln Woods or Blackstone or something.
4-7 PM This would be the actual event with the coffee and beer and stuff.
Tell your friends, bring your bike, and especially bring your Circle A if you have one, we’d love to get a good group grope. I mean photo.
523 Charles Street, just south of Branch Ave, walk past the garden and there we are. If you’re driving, park on Charles.
Questions, comments, etc, call us. 401 831 5221.
Thanks! Chris, Brian and Emily will be there too!
| October 25, 2007 | ||
| 8:30 am | to | 8:30 pm |
GETTING THERE: Transportation for a Prosperous, Sustainable 
Rhode Island
Meet Charles Hales, a strategic planner with a focus on livable communities, transit, innovation, and public-private partnerships. As a Commissioner of Planning and Transportation for the City of Portland, Hales established a record as a national leader in the integration of land-use planning and transportation project design, in pedestrian and transit-oriented development, and in innovative financing for infrastructure projects. His background includes leading the team that built America’s first new streetcar lines in 50 years (Portland, OR), as well as creating a wide variety of civic plans for many diverse communities.
Conference Updates:
Panel I – Mass Transit Panel
Moderator – Chris Wilhite, Executive Director, The Sierra Club RI Chapter
Panelists
- Mark Therrien, Assistant General Manager of Planning, Rhode Island Public Transit Authority
- Kevin Flynn, Associate Director for Planning, State of Rhode Island , Division of Planning
- John Sinnott, Senior Development Director, Struever Brothers, Eccles & Rouse
- TBA, Providence Department of Planning and Development
Panel II – Individual Transit
Moderator - Tom Sgouros
Panelists
- Ann Tate, Professor of Architecture, RI School of Design
- Chris Bull, Workshop Coordinator, Recycle-A-Bike
- Jack Madden, Owner, The Hub Bicycle Shop
Evening Session
The evening rally will gather on the steps of the Smith Street side of the statehouse at 5:30 pm, immediately followed by a bike ride/rally to Local 121 – scooters are welcome.
In the event of rain, go directly to Local 121.
Please be sure to check back for the latest panel additions and conference updates.
Please use public transportation by visiting RIPTA. Events are within 1/4 mile of Kennedy Plaza. Bikeracks are available.