DATA

caged growth

I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do. — Willa Cather, O Pioneers! (1913)

turning left

The Outspokin’ Cyclist: In their own words… new bike commuters speak out

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
November 22nd, 2005

DURHAM — I asked new bicycle commuters in the Triangle area whether they had any thoughts to share on their decision to ride. Boy, did they.

This week, I’m letting some folks who started bicycle commuting within the last year step up to the microphone. Morning motorists, city council, and even you, sitting on fence about whether you can rely on your bike to get you to work — take note; these folks are talking to you.

Mostly for the exercise, Joseph Maxwell started bike commuting about seven months ago. Three days a week, he rides from Durham to Sports Endeavors (SEI) in Hillsborough.

“I am one of two bike commuters in a company of about 450 employees. There are many physically active employees at SEI, but I assume most people don’t feel confident or safe riding into Hillsborough. But he says Highway 751 and Old NC 10 make for a a nice ride. A wider shoulder or bike lane on 751 (going out towards Highway 70) would be a great improvement. I see a lot of cyclists using this road. Obviously, bike lanes along my route to Hillsborough would make my commute easier. More than anything, I would just like for drivers to show more consideration towards cyclists.”

Rhonda Kaye, a teacher at Lowe’s Grove Middle School, started bike commuting when the new school year began in August.

Before then, she says, “I would drive to work by myself. I started riding for two main reasons: first, the cost of gas started to creep up and I thought riding would help my family save money. Then, after Hurricane Katrina, there was talk of a gas shortage, and I thought I would be a good citizen, and set an example for my students. So I started doing it 2-3 times a week.”

“Cycling on a teacher’s schedule can be a challenge. My work days starts at 7:15, so I don’t have a big cushion of time to get to work and be ready to teach,” says Kaye. “The one thing [sic] the city can do to make my ride easier is to add bike lanes on Sedwick Rd and Alston Ave.”

Dave Sokal would also like to see bike lanes or extra lane width on Sedwick and Alston. Sokal lives in Parkwood and bikes to work in Research Triangle Park, but he does not consider busy, narrow two-lane roads with no shoulders to be acceptable for safe commuting. His route to work is currently a mix of on-road riding with a shortcut on an unofficial trail he uses to avoid narrow, high volume roads.

Since she started riding in July, Kim Gray says that her biggest challenge has been negotiating with cars. “I think that the city could do more to educate its drivers through some sort of campaign.” Gray says that she was able to get cyclists’ rights pamphlets from Alison Carpenter, the City of Durham’s Bicycle and Pedestrian transportation planner, and get her employer to distribute them through monthly paychecks. “If more places did that I think that would help,” says Gray.

Tanya Jisa echoes Gray’s wish for more public education about cyclists’ rights. “There are lots of people who still don’t ‘get it’ that bikes have just as much right and reason to be on the road as cars,” she says.

Determined to commute by bike once she moved to Durham, Jisa sold her car before she ever left Decatur, Georgia. “Luckily I found a job with Duke just over 5 miles from my new home, so I made a few trial runs before my job officially began,” she says.

“I started riding for fitness and health benefits - working my exercise time into my commute to and from work is a big bonus. I also like the opportunities to transition to and from work on a bike. Rather than getting in a car and ‘fighting traffic’, I getto have an enjoyable bike ride at my own pace and take short cuts through neighborhoods that I probably would never notice otherwise. The physical effects of exercising right after work really help me to leave my work behind, and give me a burst of energyfor the rest of my day.”

“Commuting by bike does take a little extra time and effort, but,” says Jisa, “it’s worth it not only for the benefits to your own physical and mental health, but the health of the planet. It’s something you can be proud of every day.”

The Outspokin’ Cyclist: To pave or gravel part of biking trail under debate

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
November 10th, 2005

DURHAM — Chris Sevick would love to be able to ride the entire 23 miles of the American Tobacco Trail. Three things stand in his way right now, but he hopes that riding it will be a real possibility one day soon.

The first obstacle is a 1,000-foot gap between where the trail currently ends at N.C. 54 and where it will pick up at The Streets at Southpoint. A pedestrian and cyclist bridge over Interstate 40 is in the works and funding has been set aside by the federal government (and was fodder for John Stewart’s political humor a few months back — “$2.8 million for something called the American Tobacco Trail in North Carolina,” he joked on the Daily Show). In a few years Durham will provide safe passage for cyclists, joggers, and walkers from one side of the expansive freeway to the other.

The second is that there’s still is no trail south of N.C. 54 through Southpoint. The railroad corridor has been purchased from Norfolk Southern through the N.C. Department of Transportation’s rail program and construction could begin as soon as a year from now.

The third obstacle is that, even when finished, riders have long expected the southern sections of the ATT to remain unpaved and instead be graded and topped with a packed gravel screening. Gravel makes it hard for Sevick to ride, since the Durham resident rides a traditional road bike with tires less than an inch wide.

“Given the long distances that the trail connects, it would be more efficient to use a road bike on a paved trail,” he said in a recent e-mail to the N.C. DOT. And this, whether to pave the southern sections of the American Tobacco Trail, is the issue at hand.

Bob Morris, vice president of the mountain bike club NC Fats, says that if the existing Wake County section of the ATT is an example of how the rest of the trail might be finished, he wouldn’t want to ride it either. The loose, softer trail surface attracts equestrians, but the impact of the horses’ hooves contributes to the fairly steady erosion of the trail. The ATT is pocked with rough sections that, even on a “cushy” full-suspension mountain bike, leave the trail difficult to ride, Morris says.

Morris is not worried that paving the American Tobacco Trail means losing it as a mountain biking opportunity. The ATT follows a former railroad corridor originally built by the New Hope Valley Railroad. Its long, straight stretches and minimal elevation changes lack the technical challenge of singeltrack that typically draws mountain bikers out into the woods.

Rails-to-trails projects across the country are most successful when they serve as both transportation corridors and recreational outlets. “Multi-use trails should serve the greatest number of users and paving is the way to do that,” Morris says.

Tom Norman is listening. Norman works with the division of the DOT charged with completing the American Tobacco Trail. As director of the division of bicycle and pedestrian transportation, he wants to hear from cyclists how they might use the trail and what kind of trail surface they prefer.

To clear up some confusion, Norman says there really has never been a plan for what to do with the southern portions of the ATT — at least not an authoritative one. DOT, which is responsible for the final design of the ATT, is currently in the information gathering stage of the design process.

So, why is everyone thinking that the southern half of the ATT wouldn’t look like the signature paved section between Southpoint and the Durham Bulls Athletic Park?

In 1992, the Triangle Rails-to-Trails Conservancy commissioned Greenways Inc. to develop a Master Plan recommending designs for completing the American Tobacco Trail. This independent study suggested, based on then-current levels of residential development and population south of I-40, that the sections south of Southpoint could be left with just a gravel topping.

But, a lot has changed in southern Durham, Wake, and Chatham counties since then. Residential development and population in 1992 was “substantially less dense than it is today and what projections showed that it would be,” says Norman. “Current residential density levels need to be taken into consideration.”

Norman adds that funds for this project have come from federal and state resources slated for development of alternative transportation, so there is pressure to think of the ATT as a transportation corridor first, with resulting recreational opportunities as a bonus.

So, if like Sevick, you’ve ever wished that you could continue riding your bike the entire length of the planned 23 miles of greenway, now is your chance to be heard. Norman is currently accepting input on whether the southern portions of the American Tobacco Trail should be paved.

You can reach him at tnorman@dot.state.nc.us or by writing to him at this address: Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation, 1552 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1552.

dia de los muertos


print by José Guadalupe Posada (1851-1913)

spin fast, spin free

there really is something to the concept of spinning. if you get your pedal cadence up high enough, it’s pretty easy to keep it high — even on hills.