www.bikeville.org Application for Bicycle Friendly Community Designation Table of Contents Table Introduction Action/Resolution Plan Section I: Engineering Section II: Education Section III: Encouragement Section IV: Enforcement Section V: Evaluation and Planning TO DECLARE THAT THE CITY OF GREENVILLE ENDORSES THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN BICYCLISTS ACTION PLAN FOR BICYCLE FRIENDLY COMMUNITY DESIGNATION. WHEREAS, The City of Greenville intends to adopt a target level of bicycle use (e.g. percent of trips) and safety to be achieved within a specific time frame, and improve data collection necessary to monitor progress, and WHEREAS, The City of Greenville intends to provide safe and convenient bicycle access to all parts of the community through a signed network of on- and off-street facilities, low-speed streets, and secure parking, and will involve local cyclists in identifying maintenance needs and ongoing improvements, and WHEREAS, The City of Greenville intends to establish information programs to promote bicycling for all purposes, and to communicate the many benefits of bicycling to residents and businesses (e.g. with bicycle maps, public relations campaigns, neighborhood rides, a ride with the Mayor), and WHEREAS, The City of Greenville intends to make the City model employer by encouraging bicycle use among its employees (e.g. by providing parking, showers and lockers, and establishing a Plan Action/Resolution city bicycle fleet), and WHEREAS, The City of Greenville intends to ensure all city policies, plans, codes, and programs are updated and implemented to take advantage of every opportunity to create a more bicycle-friendly community and to offer staff in all departments training to better enable them to complete this task, and WHEREAS, The City of Greenville intends to educate all road users to share the road and interact safely and to integrate road design and education programs so as to increase the confidence of bicyclists, and WHEREAS, The City of Greenville intends to enforce traffic laws to improve the safety and comfort of all road users, with a particular focus of behaviors and attitudes that cause motor vehicle/bicycle crashes, and WHEREAS, The City of Greenville intends to develop special programs to encourage bicycle use in communities where significant segments of the population do not drive (e.g. through Safe Routes to Schools programs) and where short trips are most common, and WHEREAS, The City of Greenville intends to promote intermodal travel between public transport and bicycles, e.g. by putting bike racks on buses, improving parking at transit, and improving access to rail and public transport vehicles, and WHEREAS, The City of Greenville intends to establish a citywide, multi disciplinary committee for non motorized mobility that will submit to the Mayor/Council a regular evaluation and action plan for completing the items in this Charter/ NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA that the City of Greenville hereby adopts the League of American Cyclist's Action Plan for Bicycle Friendly Communities, and declares its intention to achieve Bicycle Friendly Community status by December 31, 2008. ENGINEERING Complete Streets Arterial Road Section Collector Road Section Arterial Road Section Collector Road Section July 25, 2009 Stimulus funds to remake Church Street $5.1 million will pay for landscaping, bike lanes near downtown By Ben Szobody Staff writer A plan to remake a half-mile stretch of Church Street near downtown Greenville will take off next year with $5.1 million in federal stimulus money, in part because Greenville Mayor Knox White said it's one of the only true “shovel-ready” road projects in the area. Complete Streets Greenville is in line for more than $15 million in stimulus-funded interstate maintenance and local paving projects, according to state Department of Transportation officials and public documents. When it comes to new construction, however, little in the area has been previously designed, White said, putting the city in prime position to get $7.6 million total for projects that will turn both Church Street and Fairforest Way into tree-lined boulevards striped for bikes and pedestrians. At issue just beyond downtown's Church Street bridge is a master plan for the adjacent Haynie- Sirrine community and visions of taming the blistering concrete stretch of state road that Councilwoman Diane Smock said people have been talking about since her first run for council in 2001. White said the stimulus funding is vindication of the city's commitment to planning – even when plans gather dust on a shelf. City plans show landscaped medians and three lanes – two for cars and one for bikes – running in either direction along Church, with sidewalks set back from the road and landscaping on either side. The project will run from University Ridge to Augusta Street, city documents show. City manager Jim Bourey said there are currently no plans to improve the stretch reaching over the bridge into downtown itself, though the issue has come up in consultants' downtown master plan. To complete the $5.1 million in current work it will take some property easements, and the state has agreed to do the project according to city plans already vetted by the neighborhood in the master planning process, said Bourey and Mark Lester, DOT's regional production engineer for the Upstate. City Council did its part by unanimously consenting to the state work. DOT will take bids early next year with construction likely to start in the spring, Lester said. White said the stretch will extend the city's footprint of wide and green arteries such as the newly constructed Millenium Boulevard in the International Center for Automotive Research. Lester said there are “varying degrees of shovel ready ” when it comes to local projects getting stimulus money, but added that most other Greenville-area funding recipients fall under the resurfacing or rehabilitation categories, not new construction. White said he's talked with property owners along Church, and would like to see a multi-use pathway constructed in conjunction with the new construction. Bourey said the project would require additional right-of-way land, and that the state hasn't been keen to do the job. Another $2.5 million in stimulus funding will top off what was already a $7 million project to similarly remake Fairforest Way between Mauldin and Laurens roads, Bourey said. Lester said a DOT contractor will similarly do the work according to city plans. Greenville has so far received no money for bridge or safety projects, according to DOT documents and Pete Poore, an agency spokesman. White said elected officials in the Greenville area have expressed a desire for more local projects, but that there simply aren't many ready to go under federal stimulus rules. www.greenvilleonline.com | Printer-friendly articlle Road Diet Road Southland Drive Bike Lane McCalister Drive Sharrow Vardry Street Bike Lane Cleveland Street Bike Lane Bkie Parking Bkie Parking Bike Racks on Public Transit Bike Racks in Front of Restaurant Bike Parking Bike Lanes Greenville County Planning Commission Bike Routes Introduction Bicycling is a low-cost transportation alternative that is non-polluting, energy efficient, and provides health benefits. Bicycling can be a form of recreation or an individuals primary means of transportation. Using a bicycle as a primary means, or mode has also been shown in heavily congested areas to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality. Bicycles provide an efficient form of transportation to all socioeconomic levels at a very low cost. Additional benefits of bicycle use include reduced requirement for roadway and parking space per traveler. Bicycling has steadily increased in popularity as both a mode of transportation and a recreational activity over the past decade. While most of this growth has been in off-road/mountain biking, road bicycling has continued to grow. In recent reaction to this increased interest in bicycling, realizing that bicycling (and pedestrianism) are important activities to an improved quality of life, political forces and funding have responded in kind. Like many communities around the U.S., Greenville County is experiencing a resurgence in interest in bicycling as a means of transportation. The bicycle is a low-cost and effective means of transportation that is quiet, non-polluting, extremely energy- efficient, versatile, healthy, and fun. Bicycles also offer low-cost mobility to the non- driving public, especially the young. In addition, recent national surveys find that more people are willing to cycle more frequently if better bicycle facilities are provided. Greenville County has many of the attributes needed to become a bicycle- friendly community. This includes smaller towns and cities, a moderate climate, and a population interested in health, environment, and livable neighborhoods. The popularity of recreational bicycling in Greenville County has significantly increased bicycle ridership. This plan provides safe and efficient routes for all types of bicycle riders Greenville County Planning Commission Bike Routes whether it be for commuting, shopping, traveling to and from school, or to reach a recreational destination. Bicycle transportation is beneficial in many ways. Increased use of bicycles for commuting reduces traffic congestion and parking demand, especially during peak periods. Bicycles expand the mobility of those who cannot drive or do not have access