07.20.09
Posted in Events
by Mark Dieterich at 12:18 pm
The RI Blueways Alliance is planning a bike ride to coinside with Governor’s Bay Day:
The RI Blueways Alliance is planning a land & water convergence at Governor’s Bay Day — next Sunday at Colt State Park. For a variety of reasons, our planning is off schedule and we didn’t do the outreach we should have. I apologize for the short notice.
I am leading a bike ride from Haines Park in Barrington, down the East Bay bike path to Colt State Park. Audubon is leading a walk from the Audubon Center to the celebration at Colt State Park. And Blueways (Keith Gonsalves) will have a short paddle.
The attached flyer provides a short description.
Contact information, should you have any questions, is included in the attachment.
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07.19.09
Posted in Advocacy
by Margherita at 11:54 pm
More fitness. America’s obesity epidemic curbed. Less gasoline burned, fewer carbon emissions. Safer streets. Improved access to public transit.
Those are just some of the reasons why biking and walking proponents say it’s time for the federal government to focus less on new and expanded highways, and far more on safe pathways and “complete streets” for our towns and cities.
Right now there’s a shadow over all transportation funding as gas taxes diminish, the Highway Trust Fund sputters on empty, and reauthorization of the overall federal support program almost assuredly faces a year’s postponement.
But maybe the pause is time to debate: Why should we seriously consider federal support for sidewalk widenings or new pathways for city dwellers and suburbanites?
Read the rest of this entry »
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07.14.09
Posted in Events
by Mark Dieterich at 8:28 am
From RIDOT:
Several dozen bikers and pedestrians will join officials from Quonset Development Corporation, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation and the town of North Kingstown for a ribbon cutting and inaugural pedal across the newly completed Quonset Shared Use Bike Path.
The new 2.5 mile Bike Path will be formally open on July 17, 2009 providing for unprecedented access from Post Road in North Kingstown to the Calf Pasture Point nature preserve. The new path, for the first time, creates access for bikers and pedestrians to the pristine waterfront preserve.
What: Quonset Shared Use Bike Path Ribbon Cutting
Place: Quonset Gateway Parking lot- (To the left of Dave’s Marketplace) Corner of Post and Gate Roads, North Kingstown, Rhode Island
Date: Friday, July 17, 2009
Time: 10:00 am
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07.08.09
Posted in Events
by Mark Dieterich at 10:48 pm
| July 13, 2009 |
| 6:00 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
Our monthly advocacy meeting, held the second Monday of every month, is just around the corner. As usual, we will be meeting @ 6pm at the offices of the US Open Cycling Foundation (269 South Main St, Providence).
I’ll ammend this post with an agenda when it is finalized. Everyone is welcome. Hope to see you there!
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Posted in Bike Commuting
by Mark Dieterich at 11:59 am
We were recently contacted with the following question
Could any of the seasoned bike to work group provide some suggestions on how they are dealing with this crappy summer weather?
I’m sure we all feel like we’ve been living in Seattle for the last month. So what are you doing to deal with it? Any tricks to keep your spirits up?
UPDATE: I received another email from this person and he is a new bicycle commuter and interested in pointers on how to keep it up, even though the weather is less than ideal.
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07.02.09
Posted in Advocacy
by Margherita at 7:44 am
Here’s the link to a report by Smart Growth America on how states have allocated their transportation stimulus funding. While Rhode Island did well in spending 100 percent of its total road allocation to “system preservation;” i.e., taking care of existing roads, it only provided a dismal 7.5 percent to public transportation and non-motorized projects. While that puts us in the top 10 states, it’s pretty pathetic that we didn’t do better.
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07.01.09
Posted in Advocacy
by Mark Dieterich at 2:04 pm
The RI House passed, what can now best be called an “Unsafe Passing Bill”, this past Saturday. You can read the entire bill (pdf format) online. Apparently, the bill was ammended on the floor of the House before passage, but, as of yet, we have been unable to determine what exactly these changes were.
In general, the bill introduces a fine should a driver of a motor vehicle fail to pass a cyclist without a safe distance, where safe is defined to be:
a distance that is sufficient to prevent contact with the person operating the bicycle if the person were to fall into the driver’s lane of traffic
Of interest though is one particular exception whereby this safe distance rule does not apply:
At a speed not greater than thirty-five miles per hour (35 mph);
Apparently, it’s okay to buzz or even hit a cyclist if you are driving under 35mph.
Now that the House bill has been passed, the status is listed as being forwarded to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Since the Senate is in recess, it’s unclear what this means. While it’s still possible to have the Senate act on a bill, even during recess, I believe it is unlikely that this bill will currently become law.
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Posted in Events
by Mark Dieterich at 11:40 am
| July 5, 2009 |
| 1:00 pm | to | 4:00 pm |
It’s time to start telling the rest of the nation what many of us already know… bicycling is probably the most energy efficient mode of transportation available today! This Sunday, July 5th, there is an Energy Independence Day celebration being held in Portsmouth, RI. It would be great if we could have a strong contigent of cyclists show up to support the event. Here are the details from Barry Schiller:
I hope the bicycle community will note the announcement below of “Energy Independence Day” on Sunday July 5 (not July 4) organized by Cool Aquidneck Island, an event being held at the Portsmouth High School, site of the new wind turbine. Though the wind turbine will no doubt be the centerpiece attraction, David Stookey, the event organizer, is well aware that much of our energy imports goes for transportation, we are working on setting up a table with transportation information. There can hardly be a more energy-efficient way to travel than by bicycle, so we want bicycling to be a real part of the event!
Thus I encourage all in the bike community to both come to the event if you can, and to let your contacts know about it by forwarding this e-mail (or an edited version!) I will have the new State Bicycle maps but anyone who has bicycle related handouts suitable for our transportation table, please reply to me so I can get the materials. David has the idea of a scavenger hunt for game for children, such as get answers to questions: Which bus line goes between Newport and the East Bay Bike Path is one of my examples which can be answered by the #60 bus schedules and the state bike maps.
Also, please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions about this please contact Barry Schiller, 353-6536, bschiller@ric.edu
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