City of Boulder to Offer Subsidized Bike Racks to Local Businesses

The City of Boulder is working in partnership with Community Cycles to launch a pilot program that will
offer low cost bike racks and installation for qualifying businesses.

According to city bike/ped planner, Marni Ratzel "Much of the bike parking at shopping centers and in
front of local businesses is not adequate because it was installed before current standards that consider
a higher demand for bike parking and more secure racks. This pilot program seeks to address the lack of
quality bike parking for bicyclists and businesses."

Businesses can apply for subsidized racks and installation by completing an online form to request racks.
Business can purchase up to five inverted U type racks at a discounted price of $50 per rack. Quantities
are limited and will be first come, first served, based on need. Included in the rack fee is site inspection
by a Community Cycles representative to help determine the best location for rack placement.
Businesses are required to maintain bike racks, including snow and ice removal around the racks.

For businesses seeking assistance with installing racks, Community cycles will complete installation at
a discounted rate of $50 per rack.  Businesses that do not choose to have Community Cycles complete the installation must install the racks within 6 weeks after taking the delivery of the racks.

"This is an excellent opportunity to get quality bike parking at some locations in Boulder that are
seriously lacking," says Community Cycles Advocacy Director Sue Prant. "We are really excited to be part
of this project that is addressing the needs of people who ride bikes in Boulder."

For more information, contact Sue Prant at sue@communitycycles.org or Marni Ratzel at
Ratzelm@bouldercolorado.gov

Biketopia:  Dramatically increasing Boulder's bike mode share

On Dec 6th, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Salon in collaboration with Bike Belong and Community Cylcles presented Biketopia:  Dramatically increasing Boulder's bike mode share.  Martha Roskowski outlined a plan for pushing Boulder beyond it status as a leading bike community in North America, and towards taking a place amontg the world's best cities for cycling!

Community Cycles advocacy committee will be working with the city on modifications to the Transportation Master Plan.  Many of the proposed goals will be similar to the Biketopia presentation.  Near term, CC will be asking for citizen involvement in urging the city to approve the Transportation Maintenance Fee that will fund bicycle infrastructure improvements.

Here's a short Summary:  The Blue Line

Here are the slides:  Biketopia:  Dramatically Increasing Bouder's bike mode share

Cyclists and motorists traveling north along Folsom Street will notice something new at the intersections of Canyon Boulevard and Pearl Street—green bike turning lanes. As part of a pilot project, the City of Boulder’s Transportation Division has installed the new pavement markings to promote community awareness and increase safety for both cyclists and motorists.

The city is testing the green bike turning lanes’ effectiveness with reducing “right hook” collisions, which involve a motorist making a right turn and accidentally colliding with a cyclist traveling in the same direction in the adjacent bike lane.

Citywide, approximately 14 percent of all motor vehicle collisions involving cyclists have been attributed to right hook collisions.  

The new pavement markings on Folsom Street are the first phase of the pilot project, with additional green bike turning lanes planned along Colorado Avenue and Table Mesa Drive this fall. Evaluations to test the effectiveness of the markings will include field observations and an online community survey to gather input from cyclists and motorists.

As reported last month, Community Cycles has been appealing to CDOT to improve conditions for cyclists at the US36 and Violet intersection following the second fatal bike accident in 3 years. The entire intersection will undergo a major redesign in 2015, so we are looking for quick mitigations to improve safety now. Community Cycles made a number of suggestions to CDOT that we felt could be quickly implemented at low cost and would greatly improve safety. We are pleased to report that some progress has been made.

CDOT is currently doing a signal warrant study on the intersection. A consultant has been hired to evaluate the intersection and produce a bike lanes striping plan. It is expected bike lanes should be completed by mid October. CDOT will also be doing a study on speed limits on this stretch of road. Thanks to hard work from the Community Cycles advocacy committee, Boulder Transportation Department staff and CDOT, hopefully this intersection will become much safer for bicyclists.

Community Cycles met with CDOT officials for a sight view of US36 and Violet intersection, which has been the site of two bicycle fatalities in the last three years. The current design of the intersection, which is under CDOT jurisdiction, facilitates motorists being able to make a left turn at a high rate of speed onto Violet because of the wide turn radius. The wide shoulder on the road also disappears at the intersection, which forces cyclists into the right turn lane or a high speed through lane. According to crash reports Community Cycles requested, there is remarkable similarity in both accidents.

According to discussions with CDOT, the intersection is set for construction in 2015. That project will re-design the intersection so that Violet meets US36 at a 90-degree angle, getting rid of the wide turn radius for motorists making a left onto Violet.

In the meantime, Community Cycles requested a meeting with CDOT officials at the crash site to look for immediate mitigations that can be made to make this intersection safer while we wait for the 2015 re-design project. City of Boulder Transportation Department and Boulder County Representatives also attended this sight view.

Community Cycles asked for the speed limits be lowered and a bike lane installed through the intersection. We requested the bike lane be painted to make it more obvious. Studies in Portland, OR have shown cyclists feel 50% safer in colored bike lanes and there has been a 20% increase in motorists yielding to cyclists in colored lanes.  A Demark study showed colored bike lanes reduced bike-car collisions by 38% and reduced fatalities and serious injuries by 71%.

While it took a fair amount of convincing of CDOT to agree to look into these non traditional engineering solutions, the city of Boulder engineers were extremely helpful and supportive of the mitigations we were requesting and agreed to help CDOT through the application of these roadway improvements.

Community Cycles will continue to work diligently, making sure these safety improvements to US36 and Violet happen quickly. Please stay tuned in case we need your support in the form of letters or calls to push the project along. The best way to stay on top of this issue is to join our Advocacy Alerts Google Group. It is less than one e-mail a month, but is the best way to get information about letters that need to be written in support of project like this or important community meetings. To sign up go to
http://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/community-cycles-advocacy.

When a segment of the business community has economic clout, it's often easier to get the attention of decision makers. In Boulder, we know that bicycle-related businesses contribute substantially to the economy. To quantify this, Community Cycles is conducting a survey of local bicycle-related businesses (58 of them!) to determine their local economic impact. This information will be used to push for pro-bicycling policies in Boulder.

The survey was featured in the Camera.

Here's our flyer suitable for sharing with those curious about the impact of cycling on Boulder's economy.

Thanks to efforts of the Community Cycles Advocacy Committee, the city of Boulder  has applied for a BikeStation as part of a $4 million application to the Federal Transit Administration to remodel the 14th Street and Walnut Transit Center. The new station would include more areas for passenger pick-up, more spaces for bus layovers, a more attractive and safer waiting area for passengers, and 250 secure, protected bike parking spaces. The city will find out later this year if funds are awarded to this project.

New development is coming to the Boulder Junction area. Pearl Parkway will become a multi-way boulevard, with two center travel lanes and a side street with parking. The multi-way boulevard is a new idea in Boulder. Community Cycles worked with Planning and Transportation to support a design option for the multi-way boulevard that had parking on the street side rather than curb-side. Meanwhile, developers of 3100 Pearl will construct a multi-use path parallel to Pearl that will eventually meet the Foothills path. However, this multi-use path would stop short of connecting with the underpass at the Boulder Slough. Completion of this missing link was not planned for some time. We worked with the city to move the missing link of the trail up in the project queue and recommended for funding.

Another sub group led by Sue Prant is working on coordinating the 2011 Walk and Bike Month activities. Much of the advocacy committees work ties in with Bike to Work Month activities. Contact Sue at bikesue@gmail.com if you'd like to help.

The Community Cycles Advocacy Committee has created a survey to assess the needs of the local bicycling community. We will use the results of the survey to better serve the Boulder cycling community and improve Community Cycles programs. Take the Boulder Bicycle Survey now.

Latest News:

City of Boulder to Offer Subsidized Bike Racks to Local Businesses

Biketopia:  Dramatically increasing Boulder's bike mode share

Community Cycles Advocacy Committee releases 2012 state of the system report to City of Boulder.

The Community Cycles Advocacy Committee is the voice for cyclists in Boulder County, working with local, state and federal government, as well as businesses and neighborhoods, for better access to bike parking, transit, and trails.

We work with government agencies to represent cyclists in local and regional planning and to advocate for new construction that is bicycle friendly, and existing roads, schools, workplaces and shopping centers re-envisioned for cyclists’ safety. 

We report on the state of cycling in our area.  Our annual report includes feedback from our annual survey of local cyclists and brings attention to ways to improve cyclists’ safety and efficiency.  We have conducted bike lane surveys to help maintenance crews focus their efforts on the most critical issues.

We encourage businesses to be bike-friendly and to see the value of cyclists as a customer base.  We recognize and honor bike-friendly businesses and we have estimated the value of cycling to Boulder’s economy.

We volunteer in the community by attending meetings, riding lanes, writing letters, staffing events, and more.  Plus we have fun!  To join us, email ann@communitycycles.org for information on current projects and meeting times.