Category: Bike Ped (Page 1 of 3)

Flipping the Script: Understanding Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety in Chapel Hill-Carrboro

May 20, 2022 / odrozd / 0 Comments

By Emma Vinella-Brusher, Angles Managing Editor

Each year, over 3,000 pedestrians and 850 bicyclists are hit by vehicles here in North Carolina, making our state one of the least safe states for walking and biking[i]. Last month, the UNC Department of City & Regional Planning and Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety were joined by Tom Flood of Rovélo Creative and Arleigh Greenwald aka Bike Shop Girl for a free, two-day workshop on addressing this crisis.

*A “ghost bike” sits at Franklin and Graham in Chapel Hill, in honor of cyclist Nick Walton who passed away earlier this year (Source: author)*

The April 22-23 Flipping the Script on Traffic Violence event featured a guided bike ride and walk, a facilitated discussion about marketing/storytelling, and a workshop to develop marketing content. Students, academics, professionals, and elected officials gathered together to learn how to better communicate the critical issue of traffic violence towards our most vulnerable road users.

Flipping the Script kicked off at 1 PM Friday with a casual bicycle ride through the streets of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and the UNC campus. Participants covered ~4.5 miles and stopped to photograph and discuss traffic safety concerns along the way. This was followed by a one-mile walking tour of downtown Chapel Hill, for another opportunity to identify safety challenges for pedestrians and bicyclists in the area. The day concluded with a facilitated debrief of both tours and discussion of opportunities to advocate for and improve local road safety.

*The bike route, starting at Wilson Park in Carrboro and ending at New East on UNC’s Chapel Hill campus (Source: author)*

*Walking tour participants critique a Chapel Hill pedestrian crossing (Source: Tom Flood)*

Day 2 of Flipping the Script consisted of an afternoon hands-on workshop, where participants practiced crafting effective media messages about road safety challenges. The group developed messaging around the safety concerns facing pedestrians and cyclists to share with the public and local elected leaders in the hopes of making our streets safer for all.

*Tom Flood shows participants the language used by the media to describe crashes resulting in injury or death (Source: Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety)*

Thank you to Tab Combs, Seth LaJeunesse, Tom Flood, Arleigh Greenwald, and everyone else in putting on this fantastic event!

[i] Watch for me NC, “Crash Facts.”

Featured image: Bicyclists participate in the 2022 Durham Ride of Silence to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways, courtesy of author

The Chapel Hill Inventory of Resources for Bicycles (CHIRB)

March 11, 2021 / odrozd

By Eli Powell

In May 2020, my supervisors on the Transportation Planning Team at the Town of Chapel Hill approached me about updating their bicycle parking inventory. It had not been touched since 2011 and the Planning Department wanted more current bicycle parking data in order to more thoroughly analyze how well developers were adhering to bicycle parking capacity requirements and design guidelines outlined in the Town’s Land Use Management Ordinance. I offered them one better: I wanted to create an interactive, Town-wide inventory of not only bicycle parking units (bike racks, bike lockers, etc.), but also bicycle maintenance units such as fix-it stations and air pumps, so cyclists who live, work, and play in Chapel Hill could more easily locate bicycle parking at their destinations.

Eight months of fieldwork later, I present the result: the Chapel Hill Inventory of Resources for Bicycles (CHIRB)!

To create this map, I personally scoured every reachable, public area within the Town of Chapel Hill’s limits for bicycle parking and maintenance units. I took a picture of every such unit and recorded the following attributes:

Type of resource: Is the unit a bike rack? Bike locker? Fix-it station? Air pump?
Type of parking: If this is a bike rack, what shape of bike rack is it? Grid? Wave? Inverted U?
Capacity
Condition
Lighting?: Is the unit located near a light? I was unable to return to the units at night to verify whether the lights worked, but the assumption was that most or all of them do.
Weather protection?: Would the unit stay dry during a rainstorm?
Accessibility: How many public building/street entrances are within 200 feet walking distance of the unit? Generalized on a scale from “Low” to “Super high”.
Visibility: From how many windows is the unit clearly visible? I defined “clear visibility” as that to the extent at which someone watching from the window would be able to identify someone stealing a bicycle from the unit, so some estimation was required. Generalized on a scale from “Low” to “Super high”.
Land use type
Distance to nearest bus stop: Measured by routing along the Town’s sidewalk network so the output was walking distance, not distance as the crow flies.

As of this writing, a few developments are missing from the inventory because they were unreachable while I was completing my fieldwork. Most notably, Chapel Hill High School was being renovated and the new Wegman’s was still under construction. I plan on adding these to the inventory in the near future!

My hope is that this interactive inventory will foster a more bicycle-friendly environment for the Town of Chapel Hill. Happy biking!

Find the map here: https://arcg.is/1WCKCe

Featured image courtesy of the Town of Chapel Hill

Eli is a second-year master’s student specializing in transportation at the Department of City and Regional Planning. Prior to arriving at Carolina Planning, he earned a B.A. in Geography with minors in Urban Studies and GIS from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. His professional interests include non-automotive transportation, traffic modeling, and planning for environmental protection. When he’s not planning, he can be found running, listening to indie music, or watching anything that could possibly be considered a sport.

Bike on a Budget: Affordable Solutions to Improve the Bicycling Experience

October 2, 2020 / odrozd

By: Pierce Holloway

Making your bike more comfortable can shift your biking experience from granny to great – And many of these solutions can be done for $20, or even free!

First step: bicycle fit. Perhaps the easiest way to improve your riding experience is to make sure your saddle (seat) is at the right height. To check the height, enlist a friend to stand over your front tire and hold the bicycle steady as you sit on it with your feet resting on the pedals, with one pedal rotating one of at the 6 o’clock position (closest to the floor). Ideally, your knee should be slightly bent in this position. This may feel too high, but actually puts you in a position to achieve maximum force when pedaling while also avoiding knee and hip pain from a too-low seat. Feel free to lower your seat slightly to feel comfortable getting on and off your bike, but keep in mind that this will comprise some of your pedaling efficiency.

Setting up your bicycle fit
*Image Source: BikeGremlin*

Along with saddle height, another important aspect of bicycle fit is the position of that saddle. Some bicycle seats allow for a few inches of adjustment forward or backward in order to improve the fit. If you find yourself feeling stretched out over the bike, check to see if you can shift your saddle forward an inch or so to help you feel more confident and comfortable while also as avoiding back and shoulder discomfort! Preferably you will be able to sit leaning slightly forward with some bend in your elbows when gripping the handlebars.

Next: bicycle multitools. Investing in these small gadgets can empower you to perform nearly all the maintenance you’ll want to do. While you can find multitools priced upwards of 60 or 70 dollars, you can also spend 20 dollars and have a solid tool for life (I’ve had the same one for 10 years). Additionally, a small bottle of bicycle chain lube and a tube of grease can greatly extend the life of your bike and help you avoid squeaks and creaks.

Also: tire pressure. If you have access to a pump, keeping your bike inflated to the recommended pressure can instantly change how your bicycle ride feels. If the pressure is too low, you will be working much harder than you need to and might be more susceptible to getting a flat tire. The recommended pressure is printed on the sidewall of your tire, but often in fine print so take your time locating it.

And finally: education. Another great way to improve your cycling experience is to spend some time watching basic bicycle maintenance videos on YouTube. You’ll be amazed at how much of a confidence boost you can get from a 15 minute video for fixing bike issues if they arise!

Now that you have some knowledge on bike fit and basic maintenance, go forth and enjoy the beauty of biking! While this post attempts to provide a brief overview on these concepts, I encourage you to seek out more information and experiment with what works and feels right for you! Below is a short list of recommended tools and gear to get you started:

Helmet
Bike Multi tool
2 Tire Levers
Chain Lube
Bicycle Grease
Rag for Cleaning
Extra Bicycle Tube
Tire Pump

Pierce Holloway is a first-year master’s student at the Department of City and Regional Planning with a focus on Climate Change Adaptation. Before coming to Chapel Hill he worked as a geospatial analyst for Urban3, working on visualizing economic productivity of communities and states. Through his coursework he hopes to explore the nexus between adaptation for climate change and community equitability. In his free time, he enjoys long bike rides, trail running, and any excuse to play outside.

Edited by Emma Vinella-Brusher

The Future of Biking Across the United States

April 18, 2019 / odrozd

If you have ever felt compelled to confront the importance of planning in your daily life, try biking on the rumble strip of a highway. The discomfort of being distinctly out of place reveals underlying structures in the way things are built. In the summer of 2015, I biked across the country 4,295 miles from Portland, M.E., to Seattle, W.A., with the organization Bike the US for MS. Unexpectedly charmed by the extreme temperature fluctuations, chronic soreness, and eating peanut butter on the side of the road, I decided to bike from Yorktown, V.A. to San Francisco, C.A. in 2016.

On a cross-country bike trip, most of the roads are not designed with bikes in mind, and you face that challenge mile after mile. You spend a lot of time in weather you have no business being in. The promise of 55 mile per hour headwinds is not a sign to stay inside, but to head out at 4 am. And you have not experienced immense stillness until you are literally the only person in the middle of a Nevada desert. The tension of participating in a form of transportation far beyond what roads were designed for is what led me to transportation planning.

Yes, that is a road going straight up a mountain (Milford, Utah).
Source: Libby Szuflita

But if soul-searching about mobility amidst speeding trucks is not for you, how do you go about accessing this amazing travel experience? The opportunity to witness every last inch of the country, exposed to the wildly varying climates and powering every elevation change, is something you don’t get on a road trip. Local routes guide you to places rarely visited by tourists, inviting you to experience the unique daily life of small towns across the country. A safer, more accessible route across the country is on the horizon thanks to an upcoming project led by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC). The Great American Rail-Trail Project seeks to develop a coast-to-coast cycling (and walking!) path that is separate from vehicular traffic.

City Hall, Oxford Junction, Iowa
Source: Libby Szuflita

Planning the Great American Rail-Trail

How does one go about planning for an inter-state trail separated from vehicles? I spoke with Kevin Belanger, a Trail Planner with RTC, to learn more about the process of converting disused rail corridors to trails.

RTC is a DC-based nonprofit founded in 1986, with a mission to convert former rail lines across the U.S. to multi-purpose paths. The organization promotes trails through three channels – policy, communications, and development. Their policy team works at the national level to increase federal funding for trails, and expand the conditions under which trail development is permitted. The communications team builds enthusiasm about trails, and motivates people to advocate for them locally. The development team monitors potential trail corridors, and assists localities interested building a trail with technical assistance (including feasibility studies, concept plans, and railbanking applications) and coalition-building.

“Railbanking” is what makes former rail corridors great candidates for trails. The policy was introduced in a 1983 amendment of the National Trail Systems Act. According to RTC, railbanking is a “condition allowing a railroad to “bank” a corridor for future rail use if necessary. During the interim, alternative trail use is a viable option.” A railroad company can voluntarily sell or donate the property or easement rights of a disused rail corridor to a local agency or organization for the purpose of developing a trail. If the railroad decides to reactive that corridor, it has the right to repossess the land with fair compensation to the trail organization. This policy reduces proliferation of abandoned rail corridors, encourages the development of a community amenity, and allows for the preservation of rights-of-way for rail (1).

On a cross-country bike trip, most of the roads are not designed with bikes in mind. Leoti, Kansas. Source: Libby Szuflita

The Great American Rail-Trail project seeks to fill in the gaps of an already robust nation-wide network, to create one continuous vehicle-separated trail between Washington, DC and Washington State. That being said, RTC does not “force” localities to implement a trail. The trails are designed, constructed, and maintained by the municipality, after all. But RTC does work to get areas excited about the possibility of being connected to this vibrant network, and provides professional guidance and technical assistance to help them do so.

RTC will be releasing official details of its preferred route on May 8, 2019. You can preview the map of some of the existing trails that RTC plans to link, here.

Featured Image Source: Libby Szuflita

About the Author: Libby Szuflita is a 1st year Master’s student in the DCRP program specializing in Transportation and pursuing the Natural Hazards Resilience certificate. When she’s not learning about active transportation, she’s participating in it. You can catch her biking around Carrboro or walking with helmet in tow.

References:

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. “Railbanking.” Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. https://www.railstotrails.org/build-trails/trail-building-toolbox/acquisition/railbanking/.

Urban Freight Challenges with the Rise of E-Commerce

March 21, 2019 / odrozd

This piece was originally written by Tory Gibler for Planning Methods (PLAN 720) in November 2018.

Have you purchased a product online and had it shipped to your home in the last year? It’s a good bet you have, given that online shopping is a large and growing portion of all US retails sales. It’s always a challenge for planners to predict the countless events that might shape the global market and how these changes may affect individual urban areas. Even with all the forecasting techniques available, it’s unlikely that any planner thirty years ago could have seen Amazon coming or envisioned the rapid growth of online shopping and how this would affect urban freight delivery demand.

Freight, sometimes called goods movement, refers to the multimodal movement of shipped goods. The last mile of freight can be delivered in a semi-truck, a lightweight step through truck for more dense areas, and even smaller vehicles. Even if planners had predicted the growth of online shopping and product home delivery, it may not have made much of a difference. Typically, the movement of people is the top priority in transportation planning, leaving freight as merely an afterthought. The general lack of consideration for freight in planning has resulted in built environments that are not well suited for freight, despite its importance to society and the economy. Almost every good, food item, or supply one can buy was delivered with freight as part of a huge global supply chain and logistical process that is often invisible to everyday folks. And with the growth of online shopping, even more individual packages are being delivered to homes every day. This increase in deliveries has created several new challenges for both providers and city planners, including noise, congestion, pollution, changes to urban design, and safety risks.

For the deliverer, the main difficulties are with the last mile of the delivery route, aptly referred to as ‘last mile challenges.’ Typically, trucks start their journeys in rural or suburban distribution warehouses, set outside of the city center where land is cheaper. From there, freight heads toward the denser urban area, where the last mile of the route is often the most difficult and expensive. Last mile challenges arise because of convergence with passenger traffic on roads, route optimization difficulties in a denser environment, outdated and aging road, bridge, and tunnel infrastructure, slower speeds, smaller roads, tight intersections, and lack of space for parking, unloading, and turning.

Of particular interest for transportation planners is the increasing conflict between freight delivery and the movement towards ‘complete streets’ design, especially around access to curb space. Complete street policies aim to create streets that are safe and accessible to all users and modes, such as pedestrians, people on bikes, cars, and freight, regardless of age or ability. As more road space is converted into designated bicycle and bus lanes, there is not only a reduction in vehicular parking but also reduced curb access for freight delivery. As a multimodal focused transportation planning student and a person living without a car who relies on my bicycle and buses to move me around the Triangle, I’m all about adding bicycle and bus lanes, and reducing parking. However, it’s important to keep freight delivery in mind when converting these spaces.

Docked bike share, bike lane, and double-parked delivery truck in San Francisco, Photo credit: waltarrrrr on Flickr Creative Commons.

Although most US cities don’t have the same density constraints as New York City, reviewing New York’s curb access challenges is helpful for other urban areas when looking to convert curb space. This will be particularly important in the future with increased ride-hailing drop off needs, bike share and e-scooters parking on sidewalks, and the rise of autonomous vehicles in the years to come.

Parking and curb access is so limited in NYC, that illegal or double parking is a common practice. UPS and FedEx received $2.8 million in double parking citations in the first quarter of 2013 alone, though, whether they are paying their full citations is another discussion. Limited unloading space means these illegal and double-parked delivery trucks often park in a lane of traffic, bus lane, or bicycle lane, leading to increased congestion and potential for crashes. Parking and curb access is a premium in NYC, but often vehicular parking has lower turnover resulting in the less efficient use of a subsidized city good.

There are solutions to these challenges that have proved effective, such as New York’s Off-Hours Delivery (OHD) program, which shifts freight delivery to occur between 7:00pm-6:00am. This program has succeeded in reducing congestion, though it has imposed new costs on retailers who must receive deliveries during off-business hours. There are also potential nighttime noise issues for residents near these deliveries. Additionally, this solution addresses business to business routes but does little for home deliveries. Regulation improvements, though, such as updating current zoning requirements for commercial and residential areas provide another solution. Removing portions of passenger vehicle parking for freight could pose challenges for residents, but would also push many to seek out other forms of more sustainable commuting. Better incorporation of freight delivery into complete street policies is another recommendation.

As online shopping will only continue to grow, this will have large impacts on urban areas. Cities need to ensure they are considering freight and thinking through delivery solutions. By addressing urban freight challenges cities will work to reduce pollution, energy consumption, noise, congestion, and risk of conflicts and crashes.

* * *

Featured Image: Double-parked UPS delivery truck in a bike lane in New York City, Photo credit: Richard Drdul in Flickr Creative Commons.

About the Author: Tory is a first-year master’s candidate in the Department of City and Regional Planning with a concentration in Transportation Planning. A passionate advocate for accessibility in transportation, she actively promotes access and multimodal transportation as a volunteer and former board member of the Raleigh bicycle advocacy group, Oaks & Spokes, and as a Graduate Research Assistant at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center. Tory received her undergraduate degree in Nonprofit Management and Fundraising from Indiana University. In her free time, she enjoys bicycle camping.

References:

Wang, X. (Cara), and Y. Zhou. 2015. “Deliveries to Residential Units: A Rising Form of Freight Transportation.” U.S. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies 58: 46–55.

Morris, A.G. 2009. “Developing Efficient Freight Operations for Manhattan’s Buildings.” The Stephen L. Newman Real Estate Institute, Baruch College.

Rodrigue, J.-P., G. Giuliano, and L. Dablanc. 2017. “The Freight Landscape: Convergence and Divergence in Urban Freight Distribution.” The Journal of Transport and Land Use 10 (1): 557–72.

Allen, A., M. Piecyk, M. Piotrowska, F. McLeod, T. Cherrett, K. Ghali, and Austwick M. (n. d.) 2017. “Understanding the Impact of E-Commerce on Last-Mile Light Goods Vehicle Activity in Urban Areas: The Case of London.” Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 61, Part B: 325–38.

Rahman, A., and D. Haake. 2017. “Urban Freight Challenges.” Institute of Transportation Engineers 88 (9): 14–17.

Conway, A, X Wang, Q Chen, and J Schmid. 2016. “Final Report: Freight Costs at the Curbside.” City University of New York. University Transportation Research Center.

Carolina Angles’ First Semi-Annual Photo Contest

November 6, 2018 / odrozd

Fall break is a great opportunity to explore a nearby town or city. This year, Carolina Angles launched its first Semi-Annual Photo Contest. Planning students submitted their favorite photos from fall break for a chance to win. The winning photo shows us the Biltmore Conservatory in Asheville, NC. Other entries include beautiful scenery from Hanging Rock State Park, a Mid-century Modern Home from Moyaone Reserve, and happenings from around the Triangle such as the N.C. Bike Walk Summit held in Raleigh, N.C. The entries to the Fall 2018 Photo Contest are below, enjoy!

Second place went to this photo of Gathering Place Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was designed to be an inclusive, interactive, and educational space for all residents and visitors. It opened in September of 2018, and is the largest privately-funded public park in the U.S. Sustainable water management, biodiversity, and connectivity of park spaces, formerly divided by a roadway, were priorities for design. The park also features many attractions, including a boathouse, skate park, stage, and adventure park, pictured here.

First place goes to this image of the Biltmore Conservatory. Tourist attractions are an important part of a community’s economic well-being. The Biltmore Estate brings visitors to Asheville from all over the United States. I saw license plates from Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania and others at the Biltmore parking lot. The revenue that tourism yields can really have an impact on the local community, especially if properly managed. According to Tourism Economics, these revenues covered 63% of police spending, 72% of the fire budget, and all of the planning, development, and transportation spending in Asheville. These are all integral components of local communities.

Advocates, professionals, and a Raleigh City Councilor pose for a photo during the 2018 NC Bike Walk Summit on Saturday, October 20th, 2018 in Raleigh, NC. The summit is meant to provide information useful to a variety of audiences, from transportation planners to tactical urbanists. Experts and professionals from all over the state gather to share their expertise. The mission of the summit is to foster collaboration, educate community members and stakeholders, promote sustainable modes of transportation, and highlight efforts in North Carolina to become a bike-walk friendly state.

This photo was taken at Hanging Rock State Park. Expansive parks like Hanging Rock are important to planning because they provide opportunities for resource preservation, recreation, tourism and environmental education. Planners have an important role in making and informing decisions related to park planning and land use. On a different note, I like this picture because it provides a bird’s eye view of the different land uses that exist beyond the park. As planners, we often look at things spatially on maps, so I love the opportunity to get a good view from above.

This home was on a Mid-Century Modern (MCM) housing tour in the community I grew up in, the Moyaone Reserve. It is part of one of the nation’s earliest view shed, designed to protect the view from Mount Vernon. MCM houses are loved for their focus on bringing nature in through light, views, and materials crossing the boundaries between indoor and outdoor space.

This photo was taken on a planning trip, where we explored everything from resiliency to urban design to historic preservation to economic development. Resiliency refers to a community’s ability to absorb the outcomes of natural hazards, and to be able to quickly recover and implement adaptive techniques. Historic preservation is crucial for preserving national or local heritage. It also yields a lower environmental footprint as buildings are preserved rather than demolished and replaced via new constructions projects. Additionally, historic preservation can be an important component of economic development as it can help revitalize a downtown area, increase job numbers, and raise property values.

This photo was taken from atop the Old Cigar Factory in Charleston, SC and overlooks the Cooper River and Arthur Ravenel Bridge. This factory has been renovated to house several business and Clemson University graduate programs. Many similar sites in Charleston offer a unique blend of historical preservation and forward-thinking, innovative features related to planning and resiliency. This trip served as a reminder to always allow the history of our past development to positively inform the way we think about our present and future plans.

About the Author: Kathia Toledo is a candidate for the Master’s in City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, she is pursuing the Land Use and Environmental Planning Specialization. Kathia is particularly interested in the dynamic between varying urban landscapes, sustainability, and planning. She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a Bachelors of Arts in Geography and Environmental Studies and a minor in Urban Planning. Her hobbies include creative endeavors like urban sketching and photography, biking on the American Tobacco Trail, and exploring new cities and towns.

Featured Image: Biltmore Conservatory. Photo Credit: Kathia Toledo.

Busting Stereotypes One Wheel at a Time

November 1, 2018 / odrozd

The following is derived from an interview with Athena Wollin, a bicycle mechanic at Oak City Cycling Project, graphic designer, and board member of Oaks & Spokes, a bicycle advocacy nonprofit in Raleigh, NC. Originally from central Oregon, Athena has lived in Portland, Boulder, and now Raleigh. She loves bikes and the bicycle’s form and movement inspired her early graphic and animation work. This led to a fascination with the bike’s mechanics, and the happiness bikes provide while riding.

What does a regular day at the bicycle shop look like for you?

Each day is completely different, but as soon as I’m in the shop I’m ready to help people fix their bikes or help them feel more confident on a bike. I’m ready to help them find their future bike or help them figure out where to go on their bike. It usually starts by putting a bike in the stand and wondering where the day will go.

As some background, I’ve been at Oak City Cycling Project for almost two years, and back in January I received a scholarship from Quality Bike Products (QBP), a large parts distributor, to attend the United Bicycle Institute. Every year the scholarship is offered for FTW (Femme/Trans/Women) folks, and helps these individuals feel more confident with their mechanic abilities and become certified technicians. [The institute is] great, very challenging, fascinating and fun.

You’re also involved with Oaks & Spokes, Raleigh’s bike advocacy nonprofit. You do some community focused work through the nonprofit and the bike shop. Can you talk a little about the work that you do?

I should backup and state that what really motivates my community work, stems from being hit on my bike by a person driving a car. After the crash I had to deal with all of the mental nonsense that happens, the anxiety, and the physical repercussions. It almost scared me away from staying on my bike and getting back on a bike. But I started to try to find ways to connect with audiences who resonated with that sort of anxiety or nervousness. Ultimately, I wanted to help them overcome those same feelings.

People should still feel safe and happy on a bike, so with Oaks & Spokes I’m trying to focus a lot on the beginner rider or folks who don’t necessarily consider themselves cyclists. I want to knock down the perception that if you’re a cyclist, you’re spandex clad, you’re riding 70 miles, and you have no fear on a bike. That’s one type of cyclist but there are plenty of other types of people on bikes. No matter what, if you’re a person on a bike you should feel safe on that bike.

These beginner rides through Oaks & Spokes, like the Bike Buddy Program, are trying to teach people how to navigate Raleigh streets and connect from neighborhood to neighborhood. These rides are oriented around helping people normalize and turn things into a routine while on a bike so they don’t feel it’s a challenge to pick up the bike and get out the door. The Jitterbuster ride with Oak City Cycling Project is very similar but is more Greenway focused. The Jitterbuster rides are slightly longer, so people can understand that they are able to ride 10 miles. The ride might go on a residential street with cars for a small distance, but you’ll get to the Greenway. Once on the Greenway, you can ride for an hour or so, and it’s beautiful, and I want to help people find those experiences.

Along the same lines of community organizing, advocacy, and teaching –you have a unique perspective because you are a woman, as am I, and women are not represented as much in the cycling world / people on bikes world. What has that been like for you as a rider, as a mechanic, as an advocate? Trying to bring more spotlight to FTW people on bikes.

Definitely FTW folks are underrepresented and it’s basically because this industry is well known for being for older white men. [The industry’s accessibility for FTW people] has started to expand throughout the past several decades. But there is still a predominant factor where it’s primarily by men and for men and it becomes this situation where all of the knowledge, experiences and shared information gets passed down from man to man. And we’re trying to figure out how to build the same level of interaction for FTW folks.

We have a lot of catching up to do. The QBP scholarship is a good example of a program filling this gap, as it invites women to apply without necessarily having mechanic skills. The program is about bringing FTW folks into a protected space to ask all the bike mechanic questions that perhaps they were too nervous to ask the guys at the shop.

It was very shocking to hear other women’s experiences where they’re not allowed to pick up a wrench. Women are working the front desk, or public outreach, and these roles are important to the shop, but there’s this unspoken distinction that they are not a mechanic. I get it whenever I pick up the phone at the shop. “Hi, this is Athena at Oak City Cycling Project. How can I help you?” “Hi, Can I talk to one of your mechanics?” “Yeah, I’m a mechanic. How can I help you? I could try to answer your question to the best of my ability.” And then they get frustrated because their image of a mechanic is a man.

You’re really getting to the heart of the stigma occurring in the industry. You’re combating that, just by your presence and clarifying to people your abilities.

It’s not necessarily about being overtly direct. Instead I just want to normalize everything. I will pleasantly correct you, as I am a mechanic and I will fix your bike. I happen to be a woman but first and foremost I am a bike mechanic, and I’d gladly fix your bike.

Athena at the United Bicycle Institute. Photo credit: Oak City Cycling Project instagram.

About the Author/Interviewer: Tory Gibler is a first year Master’s student specializing in transportation in the Department of City and Regional Planning at UNC – Chapel Hill.

REPOST: American roads were built for bikes

August 28, 2018 / odrozd

Five o’clock rush hour is a concept that does not exist in car-centric cities such as Los Angeles. Because in these cities, traffic is a 24-hour nightmare. This car-dominated city, which is rumored to have more cars than people, leaves very little room to share the road with bicyclists. In an effort to accommodate more cars rather than more bikes, the city is lobbying to extend a major freeway through South Pasadena to Northeast Los Angeles.¹This probably comes as no surprise to bicycle enthusiasts because, after all, contemporary Los Angeles is hardly Copenhagen.

Car ownership in Los Angeles County, California. Source: LA Streetsblog

Yet, before chalking this story up to just another example of different cultural values, it is worth noting that before Copenhagen became the bicyclists’ mecca, there was Los Angeles. In fact, ironically enough the turn-of-the-twentieth century proposal for a South Pasadena-Northeast Los Angeles freeway called for an elevated tollway to be built exclusively for cyclists. Looking at Los Angeles today, you would never know that the city was once overrun by cyclists who had the power to influence what infrastructure the city built. However, this history is not unique to Los Angeles, but numerous American cities at the end of the nineteenth century.This is a history of a two-wheeled vehicle that catalyzed a group of enthusiasts to lobby for the construction of better roads.

Once upon a time American culture was obsessed with the bicycle in an era that is now referred to as the Bicycle Boom. Lasting only from 1880-1900, the boom ended as quickly as it came, taking with it many traces of the once mighty bicycle. Though the bicycle went out of fashion at the end of the nineteenth century, the machine’s influence continued to shape American roads through the unprecedented lobbying efforts of the nation’s largest cycling club–the League of American Wheelmen.

In a time when American road infrastructure was still in its infancy and far from being considered a national priority, the League of American Wheelmen was the first to use a political agenda to raise the issue of good roads. The League’s fight for better roads was radical for the time period and called for innovative solutions to unprecedented hurdles. These included innovative strategies for raising funds for the League’s Good Roads Campaign. As part of the campaign, the League published a magazine called Good Roads and managed to distribute over three million copies in its first three years of publication. The campaign’s publicity cost the League an estimated $210,000, which today would be equivalent to roughly $4,700,000.² Their investment paid off in 1896 when it captured the attention of the soon-to-be president William McKinley who agreed to include the issue of good roads in his campaign.

William McKinley’s presidential campaign materials portrayed him as a cyclist. Source: Michael Wagner

As a result, the League began to carve out a legitimate role in politics by pushing what would eventually become a national plan for better roads. Ironically, these lobbying efforts would pave the way for automobile roads as the Bicycle Boom came to a close.

With the end of the Bicycle Boom in 1900, the League faced losing their political foothold since their prominence was intimately tied with that of the bicycle. They cut ties with the bicycle in 1900 because they feared that their political progress for better roads would suffer the same fate of the bicycle as it faded into oblivion. Thus, in 1900 the League of American Wheelmen shed all traces of the bicycle by officially changing their name to the American Road Makers.³ The American Road Makers would go on to continue lobbying for good roads, just no longer for the sake of bicycling.

Twenty-first century bicyclists are lobbying for their right to the road. They don’t have nearly the same level of political clout that the contemporary American Road Makers (the auto industry, entrenched auto-centric road engineering firms) do, but progress is being made. Thanks to better infrastructure and programs that encourage ditching the car, the rate of commuters traveling by bike in major US cities has steadily increased since 2005. The return to the day when the bike was king might not happen imminently, but the popularity and influence of cyclists is growing.

featured photo: An early photo of members of the League of American Wheelmen, founded in 1880 in Rhode Island. Source: Carlton Reid

Molly Fisher is from Charlotte, NC and enjoys traveling, live music and the great outdoors. Molly is double majoring in geological sciences and history. She serves as the Sustainability Chair for Phi Mu Fraternity and is a research assistant in UNC’s Geophysics and Climatology laboratory. Molly plans on pursuing a career in environmental sustainability at the local government level upon graduation in May 2016.

[1] The Times Editorial Board,”Sharing the Road: Can L.A. Be a Cyclist’s Town?” Los Angeles Times, September 27, 2013.

[2] Source: The Bureau of Labor Statistic’s annual Consumer Price Index (CPI), which was established in 1913. Inflation data from 1665 to 1912 is sourced from a historical study conducted by political science professor Robert Sahr at Oregon State University.

[3] Smith, Robert A. A Social History of the Bicycle: Its Early Life and times in America. New York: American Heritage Press, 1972.

Got Green Space?

November 24, 2017 / odrozd

Coker Arboretum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Source: Anna Patterson

Planning for Preventative Health
Urban green space provides a place to escape the concrete and steel of urban city centers, spend time in nature, connect with others, and get moving. As Americans become increasingly sedentary, a push towards funding and implementing green space as a means of increasing individual health has gained traction. Doctors now write green prescriptions for patients to go walk at their local park three days a week or to visit the local farmers market weekly to purchase healthy local fruits and vegetables. Not to mention, green space is aesthetically pleasing and likely to increase property values. But planners and public health practitioners often underestimate the power of green space to prevent disease and serve as a promotive factor for physical, social, and emotional health.
In young children, green space promotes muscle strength, coordination, cognitive thinking, and reasoning abilities—all important aspects to the future health and success of children. Additionally, green space promotes cleaner air and increased exercise.
Research demonstrates that the relationship between green space and increased health outcomes is particularly strong for individuals from lower socioeconomic statuses. In large cities, elderly, youth, and those whose highest level of education was secondary benefitted most from living near green space.
Research regarding the mental health benefits of green space is emerging. It is widely accepted in current Western culture that stress is ubiquitous. However, when a person is exposed to high levels of stress for long periods of time, the resulting toxic stress can wreak havoc on the body and result in negative health outcomes. Previous research demonstrates that the quantity of green space in a person’s living environment is linked to stress on the biological level. Individuals with less green space exhibited higher cortisol levels, an indicator of stress, than individuals who lived in greener environments.

Partnerships for Prosperous Green Spaces
Partnerships, especially between public health and city and regional planning practitioners, are crucial to the work of health equity. Ultimately, successful large-scale green space initiatives require investment from commercial, philanthropic, and government organizations.
High Line Park in Manhattan’s West Side exemplifies a successful, large-scale, public-private investment. Friends of the High Line, the conservation group that organized to save the old High Line railway, agreed from the start to pay the entire cost of operations of the park. In turn, the City of New York paid most of the construction costs for the park. Today, the park attracts over 3 million visitors per year and provides a unique and aesthetically pleasing landscape for residents and visitors alike to get their daily dose of green space.

High Line Park in New York City. Photo Credit: David Berkowitz https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidberkowitz/3692427372/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32426040

Problems with the Popularity of Green Space
Admittedly, a multitude of factors contribute to the impacts that access to green space has on individual health outcomes. For example, residents who work odd hours or multiple jobs may not benefit as much from access to green space, since they are unable to utilize such spaces during daytime hours or have other priorities that take precedence.
Little research has been done on the effects of urban green space, which is traditionally built in blighted areas that have not been developed because of their high poverty rates and lack of surrounding attractions. How do residents interact with visitors to parks and green space built in low-income areas? Do residents have a voice in the building of such parks, which will not only literally change the landscape of the neighborhood, but create a gentrifying force that attracts trendy restaurants, rising property taxes, and increased traffic to the place they call home.

How Can Planners Participate in the Green Space Movement?
Ultimately, green space serves as a unifying force, fostering social health and understanding amongst individuals who might not otherwise interact. It provides a place to reflect, relax, and mentally recharge. The effects of green space on physical, mental, and social health are often overlooked.
Planners’ participation in the creation and conservation of green space requires advocating for and educating others about the benefits of green space, particularly for marginalized populations. Green space should be viewed not as a luxury or architectural aesthetic, but as a necessity. While preserving and maintaining green space, and particularly parks, is likely more expensive and less profitable than razing the land for an asphalt parking lot or strip mall development, the health benefits truly do add up.

Photo Credit: Pixabay, Creative Commons.

About the Author: Anna Patterson is a first-year dual degree master’s student in the Department of City and Regional Planning and the Department of Health Behavior. Her scholarly interests include health and the built environment, vulnerable populations, and community development. Prior to coming to UNC, Anna worked as a program officer for a health foundation in Alamance County, NC. She likes American folk music, slalom water skiing, and hikes along the Haw River.

Finding Your New Favorite Bike Route

October 26, 2017 / odrozd

Somewhere in the relief of cooler weather, the urgency of shortening days, and the beauty of the coming fall, is the drive to find a gradual slope and smooth descent. The only thing left to do is plan the ride. As a regular cyclist and a new North Carolinian, I looked through some of the tools I’ve previously used to plan new routes to see what they said about biking opportunities nearby. These are methods that can be used across the country for finding good local biking, or for getting more information to plan larger trips.

Understanding the Area

First, I checked into Strava, which bills itself as the “Social Network for Athletes.” This is a program that tracks and analyzes runs and bike rides, allowing athletes to share their routes and engage each other in friendly competitions. Weekend warriors, early morning runners, casual afternoon cyclists, and others regularly upload their adventures, complete with distances and times. Popular segments become sources of competitions, with people traveling out to them specifically to try for the best time on that stretch of road. Even better than that, because the information is tied to GPS devices, this tracking generates a whole host of mapped information that Strava is increasingly making more accessible.

One example of this is the Strava Heatmap, which represents every ride and/or run generated in a given year with colorful lines. This is, of course, a function of local density and individual affluence to a certain degree, but it is also a visual representation of locals’ knowledge. Because cyclists naturally gravitate towards comfortable roads in their given area, those that are friendlier to cyclists – smoother paving, wider shoulders, slower speed limit – get more use, and their path grows more brightly.

Strava bike heatmap for the US in 2015. Photo Credit: Strava Labs

To get a better idea of my locality, I zoomed in to see where people were riding the most within the Triangle. I adjusted the color to find the balance that was most clear for the scale of the map, and was instantly able to pick out darker threads. I checked them out further, and picked out a number of trails, as well as a ride out of Chapel Hill that I was familiar with in part because it had an ice cream shop along the way.

Strava bike heatmap for the Chapel hill area in 2015, annotated for major bike traffic. Photo Credit: Strava Labs

Working Towards Multi-Day Route Ideas

These tools are useful for working on multi-day routes as well. My friend and I have been considering the idea of taking time for a longer ride in the early Spring, so I opened up the possibilities for throwing my bike on the back of the car and starting a ride further away from home base.

In this instance, I had a starting place in mind. Because I had heard good things about it, I took a deeper look into the Blue Ridge Parkway. Google maps is a great starting point to get an initial idea for what a trip might entail. So, I simply let google maps fit a recommended bike route along the roadway. Very quickly, I got a snapshot of ride, which clocked in at 470 miles with just north of 45,000 feet of elevation gain.

Google Maps showing a distance and time estimate, as well as a small elevation profile for a bike route. Photo Credit: Google Maps

Finding Specifics

If it seems unlikely that you will able to find the time for a bike trip of that magnitude anytime in the near future, you’re not alone. These tools can be applied to breaking down and analyzing shorter segments. Here, I started to look into the options for taking on a two-four day adventure. I picked Asheville as a home base, and checked back into Strava. I used the “Segment Explore” tool to see what was popular and the area, and I quickly zeroed in on one hill in particular:

Popular hill bike route segments around Asheville, NC. Photo Credit: Strava

Mount Mitchell elevation profile. Photo Credit: Strava

Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi, is only a few dozen miles east of Asheville, and has a tie in to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s a brutal climb, with over 1,300 feet of vertical elevation gain, and some intensely steep sections.

I signed into Map My Ride, another training program that has a good interface for planning routes. I quickly laid out two multi-day options; one where Asheville was the major stopping point, and one where Asheville was the starting point. Both included a Mount Mitchell detour. And each can act as the perfect motivation to put in some hard training miles.

Two possible Asheville area bike routes generated by Map My Ride, complete with elevation profiles. Photo Credit: Map My Ride

These are tools that anyone can visit or sign up to use for free. Whether you’re planning your first ride, or your 100th century (a 100 mile ride), these programs can give you a well-documented idea of the route and everything it entails. Furthermore, comparing new routes to familiar ones is an easy way to get a quick snapshot of an upcoming, unknown ride. Prepare well, ride safe, and have fun.

About the Author: Nora Schwaller is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of City and Regional Planning, where she focuses on disaster recovery. Outside of class, Nora enjoys long bike rides and short walks, delicious food with good people, and casually perusing the design history of contemporary video games and systems. Prior to UNC, Nora worked in the architectural field in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Featured Image: Views from a previous cycling trip. Photo Credit: Nora Schwaller