Bicycling Friendly Community

Bicycling Friendly Community Brainstorming Ideas Kalamazoo City Water Department Building August 18, 2011

Participants

Paul Selden, Kalamazoo Bicycle Club, Director of Road Safety Dick Skalski, City of Kalamazoo, Senior Construction Engineer (former) Steve Skalski, City of Kalamazoo, Senior Civil Engineer Jack Urban, Kalamazoo County Commissioner, District 1

Next Steps – Action Items From Discussion / Follow up After Meeting

Distribute these minutes to participants for use as each sees fit, “as-is.” Distribute minutes of previous meetings to August 18 participants for similar use, as-is.

Promote Spring Valley Trail as a bike trail.

Make this type of session even more of a community-wide effort.

Introduction

The following are participant’s answers to the question, "What would Kalamazoo County need to do, to earn the title 'Bicycling Friendly Community?'"

Kalamazoo County - the greater community, not a specific entity “Bicycling Friendly Community” - hypothetical award title

Thought Starters – Community Groups – Resources "What would ______need to do, for the area to earn the title 'Bicycling Friendly Community?’” Agencies/Specific Departments: Law Enforcement – Road & Transportation Planning – Road Commission – Tourist Bureaus

Law enforcement should enforce bike regulations for riders (motor vehicle regulations)

Road construction, if possible at all projects, include bike lanes, or other necessary facilities

Promote and combine multiple transportation modes where possible and provide support facilities, i.e., intermodal transportation center, RR stations, w/ lockers, showers, and other.

Tourist bureaus – bike trails linking historic signs and markers, or other points of interest by group.

Law enforcement – put up occasional patrols in areas where cars/bikes may have accidents.

KATS – adopt Complete Streets for area.

1 Law Enforcement – put pages up on websites advising what bikers can do to report “road rage.”

Tourist bureaus – map out nicest routes – put on area websites.

Secretary of State – put questions about rights of non-motorists on license exams.

Law enforcement – speak as presenters to the community groups listed below on laws re. bicycles.

The agencies that can legally install road signs can put up signs that give directions to the nearest trail head public parking lot near a trail.

Already the City of Kalamazoo has approved an ordinance mandating the provision of X bike parking spaces per employee? sq. ft. of publicly accessible space? etc. Other jurisdictions need to adopt similar if not identical ordinances.

Road commissions – city public works – look at existing roadway facilities to find ways of adding bicycle lanes and trailways.

Police – regularly patrol trail ways so people can feel safe while riding.

Bicyclists – Motorists

Training of cyclists to follow “rules of the road.” Follow motor vehicle regulations, i.e., stop for traffic signals.

Promote bike awareness.

Bicyclists – participate in local bike camps with your children.

Bicyclists – wave to motorists who show courtesy – build a more friendly environment.

Motorists – give bicycles as much room as possible when passing.

Motorists need to show their support of the idea of a “Bicycling Friendly Community” by purchasing and installing bumper stickers. They could read, “Rx for Fitness: Ride the (______) name one’s favorite local trail KVRT, (PBCP?) Oshtemo Trail, Texas Trail, etc) 3X/week”

Be more observant to traffic signs and signals.

Share the roadway with other users.

2 Bike Clubs – Bike Shops

Promote bike awareness and safety beyond simply selling bikes or parts.

Provide maps of area corridors to users.

Bike clubs and shops – offer speakers to other local groups to describe benefits of bicycling and places to ride, or to describe personal experiences (such as trips and races) that they’ve participated in.

Bike shops – offer info on bike clubs, trails and safety on your websites.

Bike Clubs and Bike Shops should have large area maps – place on walls of sales rooms, meeting rooms meeting rooms maps showing planned, built and proposed bike trails in Kalamazoo County.

A bike shop – or a consortium of bike shops – could open a bikers root bear bar / ice cream parlor just for the summer months at the site of the Kalamazoo Bicycle Store on Harrison Streets, or right nearby it (if) that property cannont be secured for this use. It’s at a central location, near the hub where 4 separate trails join near the Kalamazoo River: KHT – Nature Center – Portage-Kal Connector – Mayors (Riverfront Park).

Bicycle clubs should educate people to wear white or reflective clothing when riding at night.

Distribute maps of existing bicycle facilities for public use.

Churches – Employers – Hospitals – Libraries – Schools

3 Schools should help educate students in bicycle safety and promote “ride to school” where conditions allow.

Develop educational opportunities along trails. Identify unique vegetation, history, or other features where applicable.

All of these groups – host bike camps.

All of these groups – Host presentations by local bike clubs on bicycling, on the topics that would be of most interest – what it’s like to be a long distance bicyclist, to go on a bicycling trip across the US or other countries, good local destinations to bike to, etc.

Any of the local institutions that have maps on their websites need to show the most bicycle- friendly way to get to their place.

Install bicycle racks for people to lock bikes.

Elected Officials & Government (Local: County, Cities, Townships, Villages; State; National)

Support biking as an alternative mode of transportation, through funding and planning to include support facilities in all areas, i.e., routes, safe bike racks, etc. (New site plans need to consider bike transportation.)

Governments – set aside a certain set of days each year for selected streets to be used only by non-motorized users (ciclovias).

As the county road commission / KATS to develop complete bike routes for key groups such as commuters, schools, errand-runners, etc.

Elected officials should use their members’ time to tout the jurisdictional and neighborhood interweaving that naturally happens for a metropolitan orientation to bicycling.

City of Kalamazoo should encourage bike use of Spring Valley (Park) paths, starting at Riverview Drive.

Have a “Golden Spike” event when the PBBP trail joins the KRVT.

4 Provide more incentives to communities willing to develop more bicycle facilities.

Foundations – Philanthropists

Promote funding programs for not only development of facilities, but also maintenance, education, and physical fitness benefits.

Fund marking/signage related to the biology along our trails.

Announce certain grants to support additional structural improvements such as bike racks, bike lanes, education for local leaders to learn about ways to make cities more bike-friendly.

Foundations and Philanthropists who donate to trail construction, operations, programming should stress the community-strengthening aspect of building and using non-motorized trail ways, not just the fitness aspect.

Media (Magazines: Bicycling, Tourism, Vacation Oriented; Newspapers, Radio, TV)

Support the promotion of the biking opportunities of the area.

Promote the area as a bicycling destination.

Bed and Breakfast facilities along trails, food service to riders, and promote other similar developments.

5 This year the Gazette has printed many good articles on biking. News feeds for these articles could be broadcast to other media to communicate. I’m not sure of the best way to do this, but perhaps a group or person who “knows media” could email news releases about Kalamazoo area biking news to other key media lists.

The Convention and Visitor’s Bureau along with the Parks Foundation, the Kal. Co. Parks Department and the Friends of the KRVT could orchestrate the creation and dissemination of bicycle-related info—where the bike shops are, what the points of interest are along bike trails.

I believe the Kal-Haven Trail has a promotional map that local business along the trail advertized in – the Gazette or similar print-media specialist could do the same thing for the rest of the trail.

Promote volunteers groups to maintain non-motorized corridors, clean-up and beautification.

Trailheads should have informational kiosks with bike shops, restaurants, libraries/museums, lodging by type and other features.