NYTimes: A Busy City Street Makes Room for Bikes
The New York Times ran an article over the weekend on New York DOT’s plan to road diet Ninth Avenue. A road diet is when transportation officials redesign an existing street by shrinking the number of auto lanes, making room for bicycle and other alt-transit lanes. The idea is that officials can insert new bike lanes without needing to widen a road — a practice useful in areas where roads cannot be widened.
Locally, Durham used the road diet technique on Duke University Dr. to create its new bike lane. (seen at right)
What’s unusual about in this New York example is that it’s what you might call an extreme road diet. From a 70ft-wide street, 18ft are being repurposed. 10ft adjacent to the sidewalk will become a new, broad bike lane. Then, an 8ft buffer zone with planters and bollards will separate the bike lane from a 10ft parking lane. The result is that cyclists will enjoy complete separation from the swift current of automobile traffic flowing down Ninth Ave.
How bikes will negotiate intersections is my only question, but I am assuming that the bike lane will be signaled just as the auto-traffic lanes. It’s an interesting idea and one that works in Europe. We’ll see how well it works in NYC. While we don’t really have streets in Durham wide enough to justify this kind of intervention, I am eager to see how New Yorkers (particularly the folks from Transportation Alternatives) respond to the new lane design.
A Busy City Street Makes Room for Bikes
By WILLIAM NEUMAN
Published: September 23, 2007
Cyclists and pedestrians never quite imagined it this way, but maybe there is a use for all those cars after all. The city is planning to remake seven blocks of Ninth Avenue in Chelsea into what officials are billing enthusiastically, perhaps a bit hyperbolically, as the street of the future.
Construction is not yet complete (neither planters nor structurally significant bollards are in place), but you can get a sense of the design here.
Analysis and diagrams at Streetsblog and Gothamist.
Duke, UNC both offer students collective bikes
Duke
Duke Bikes Grand Opening (from a press release)
Join fellow Duke students, faculty and staff for the grand opening of the new Duke Bikes program this Thursday, August 30th, 4pm on the West Campus Plaza. Snacks, free Duke Bikes t-shirts and other prizes will be given away to the first 100 visitors.
Duke Bikes is a new bike-loan program for Duke undergraduate, graduate and professional students. This collaborate effort provides students with no-cost options for exercise, adventure and campus commuting. It is a tangible example of several of Duke’s efforts to enhance the student experience and promote sustainability.
Duke Bikes works much like checking out a library book. All you need is your DukeCard. The loan period is up to five days, and the bike fleet includes 1-speed and 3-speed Trek Cruisers, equipped with locks, lights, flashers and baskets. Helmets are available, too.
More Info
http://transportation.duke.edu/bikes
(919) 724-6417
Tavey McDaniel Capps
Environmental Sustainability Coordinator
Office of the Executive Vice President
Duke University
tavey.mcdaniel@duke.edu
919-660-1434
Carolina
Blue Urban Bikes (from the SURGE website)
Thursday, 05 April 2007
Blue Urban Bikes is a community bike-loan project serving the Chapel Hill/ Carrboro community and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The mission of Blue Urban Bikes is to provide a reliable, clean, and affordable mode of transportation for our community amidst rising gas prices and growing concerns over global warming.
Background
Blue Urban Bikes ( or “BUB”), a community bicycle loan program, was created through a partnership of the ReCYCLEry and SURGE – Students United for a Responsible Global Environment – after several meetings with local community leaders in 2005 gave rise to the idea. This program is designed to provide a reliable source of clean and affordable sustainable transportation to Chapel Hill/Carrboro residents and visitors, as well as offer a healthy travel alternative and allow citizens to take an active role in lessening the environmental footprint of our community. Chapel Hill and Carrboro are renowned for their bicycle-friendly status, and bicycling proves to be an ideal form of transportation for many community members. Considering the time it often takes to find a parking space, riding a bike simply takes less time and leaves the rider feeling strong, able and healthy. Potential BUB users include Chapel Hill/Carrboro residents, UNC students and staff, commuters, transit and park & ride users, area tourists and visitors, recreational weekend users, and potential new bicycle commuters.
BUB Hub Locations
The BUB program goal is to site “BUB Hubs”, check-out stations for the Blue Urban Bikes, at local businesses throughout Carrboro and Chapel Hill and on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. Each BUB Hub will accommodate 5 bikes, or “BUBs.” Bike racks, provided through the BUB program, will be installed at hub locations to secure the BUBs when not in use (each locked to the rack with its own cable lock). The program goal is to locate BUB Hubs along the Franklin Street/Main Street corridor from East Chapel Hill to the western edge of Carrboro, as well as to place some north/south hub locations for member convenience. The Blue Urban Bikes program is seeking partnerships with local businesses for hub locations; the following sites have already been confirmed:
* Skylight Exchange – 405 ½ W Rosemary St, Chapel Hill
* 3Cups Coffeeshop – 431 W Franklin St, Chapel Hill
* Townsend & Bertram - 200 N Greensboro St, Carrboro (in Carr Mill Mall)
* Back Alley Bikes - 108 N Graham St, Chapel Hill (behind the Merch)
* Owens 501 Diner - 1500 N Fordham Blvd, Chapel Hill (near Eastgate Shopping Center)
Contacts
Alison Carpenter, SURGE: 919-960-6886 or alison@surgenetwork.org
Chris Richmond, ReCYCLEry: 919-932-1335 or chris@recyclery.info
More information is available online at www.recyclery.info/blue_urban_bikes
Paris
Paris recently launched its own collective bikes program — one of the most ambitious programs to date. More than 10,000 bikes became available in July, with more than 20,000 slated to be available by the end of the year. You can read more about it here or watch the video below to see some folks take the Parisian velos for a test ride.
atlanta at night
It’s good to get away, and it’s nice to be back in town.
Flores Mosqueto
Flores Mosqueto, en Santiago de Chile.
Oaxaca
In solidarity with the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, or APPO, I want to bring attention to their plight in Oaxaca. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, this Guardian article is a decent place to start.
I traveled to Oaxaca in the summer of 2005, and I can share some of my own pictures.
While I was there, it looked nothing like the scenes depicted in the above news photographs. It’s a beautiful colonial town in the southern Sierra Madres. If the APPO is right, then the current government of the state of Oaxaca is out of touch with the needs of its citizens. The governor, Ulises Ruiz, is another example of a democratically elected leader (well, ostensibly elected) who, once in office, distances himself from the average person whom he is supposed to represent and instead snuggles up to business interests.
The current conflict all started this summer when Ruiz did not respond favorably to an annual teacher strike. Teachers demonstrated for a pay increase, Ruiz sent in the police to break up the protest, and word got around that Ruiz thought he could brush the teachers aside so easily. The Zocalo and Alameda de Leon, two adjacent central plazas in Oaxaca, have since been the center of Mexico’s protest politics, where people are demanding a government accountable to the people.
Is that really so much to ask for in a democracy?
More from NYC Indymedia –
Brad Will was killed on October 27, 2006, in Oaxaca, Mexico, while working as a journalist for the global Indymedia network. He was shot in the torso while documenting an armed, paramilitary assault on the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, a fusion of striking local teachers and other community organizations demanding democracy in Mexico.
All we want in compensation for his death is the only thing Brad ever wanted to see in this world: justice.
* We, along with all of Brad’s friends, reject the use of further state-sponsored violence in Oaxaca.
* The New York City Independent Media Center supports the demand of Reporters Without Borders for a full and complete investigation by Mexican authorities into Oaxaca State Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz’s continued use of plain-clothed municipal police as a political paramilitary force. The arrest of his assailants is not enough.
* The NYC IMC also supports the call of Zapatista Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos “to compañeros and compañeras in other countries to unite and to demand justice for this dead compañero.” Marcos issued this call “especially to all of the alternative media, and free media here in Mexico and in all the world.”
Do you want to do something?
Call the Mexican Consulate in Raleigh at (919) 754-0046
Demand:
(1) An end to the Federal Police invasion of Oaxaca. Express your support for the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO).
(2) A full and complete investigation by Mexican authorities into Oaxaca State Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz’s continued use of plain-clothed municipal police as a political paramilitary force.
Devil’s Courthouse
Pictures from a backpacking trip to Pisgah a few weekends back.
The hike in…
The view the second day…
The view the third day…
Note the Blue Ridge Parkway near the top of the closest ridge.
St. Lawrence seaway
linville gorge
I’ll share a few pics from a gorgeous spring weekend backpacking Linville Gorge. We went ahead with the planned trip despite a predicted 90% chance of rain, and we really couldn’t have asked for better weather. Other than a brief (but intense) thunderstorm at 4AM Friday night and some drizzle on Saturday, the rain held off. The cold front that pushed the rain on by brought some colder temperatures for Saturday night and Sunday.
Hawksbill, as seen from Babel Towers.
Classic Linville Gorge — the boulders below are bigger than Chevy Tahoes. And cooler too.
In 2000, Linville Gorge suffered a pretty extensive forest fire, the remainder of which is still obvious. Much of the steepest parts of the western rim were affected. Approximately 5,500 (of the Gorge’s total 12,000) acres burned. The fire cleared out both the underbrush and many of the taller trees. As the affected plants’ and trees’ root systems died and loosened the soil, there’s also been a lot of erosion.
By Sunday morning, nothing but clear blue skies.
estoy esperando
Una bicicleta en calle Subercaseaux, circa de Cerro Santa Lucia.
Santiago de Chile
Andrew in Argentina
My brother Andrew is spending this year in Argentina working as a Young Adult Volunteer with the Presbyterian Church. His placement is in a homeless shelter for boys, El Hogar La Casita, in greater Buenos Aires.
Andrew has more than a big heart… he also has a talent for writing. A few of his thoughts on where he is –
After dinner tonight, I went with the older boys to collect old bread from the local bread shops. They lumber down the street as only teenage boys lumber, like a graceful stumble that says, I’m too cool to look like I’m actually trying to walk. The boys whistle at girls. ?Por favor, [expletive deleted].? They bum cigarettes from the people on the main drag. One picks through the trash looking for anything of use. One leans close to my ear and says, ?After tonight, you won’t eat the bread at the Hogar.? Some bread shops give us a lot, one gives us none. We finish and I head home for the night.
You can read more of his insights (and find information on how to support him) on his website, AndrewinArgentina.blogspot.com.
Andrew’s being there is a good reason to visit Argentina. So, over his January summer vacation, my folks and I flew down to visit.
From Atlanta to Buenos Aires is a 10 hour, overnight flight. Jack Daniels and Miles Davis help the night go by faster. Three hours into the flight, I could see the lights of Cuba below. It’s puzzling to think that 35,000 ft above the ground may be as close as I’ll ever get to Cuba. For most of the flight, we flew at 37,000ft (a Boeing 767) with 39,000ft the highest point of the trip — over Paraguay. At that altitude, the temperature outside the cabin was -68 degrees Fahrenheit. I thought skiing in Quebec was cold.
We crossed the Equator (to no fanfare or even notice) sometime between 2 and 3AM Argentina time. The sun rose while we were over Bolivia.
Buenos Aires, the Paris of the southern hemisphere, is a cosmopolitan city like I never knew existed in South America. Truly defined by its eclectic European influences, life in the porte?o city is a beautiful collection of French architecture and wide boulevards, Italian street caf? culture, German beer, and the Spanish language.
And as usual, traveling gave me the opportunity to take pictures of (and ride) some bicycles.
La Bicicleta Naranja, a bike rental place in barrio San Telmo, provides great bicycle maps of Buenos Aires. They rent bikes for 6 pesos (about 2 dollars) an hour.
La ciclista, by Oscar Manuel Dom?nguez. A painting in el Museo Bellas Artes.
I will be writing more about Buenos Aires later, but for now, enjoy the rest of the pictures.
About
nicomachus.net is the virtual representation of Phillip Barron, who is responsible for all of the writing and photography, unless otherwise credited. Want to know more?
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