1. Email City Council and tell your story about how this project helps you. You have two good ways to email council.
   • Email the all-council email address and CC: ashevilleonbikes@gmail.com
   • Use Mountain True’s advocacy form specific to this project to submit your comment to council through Mountain True.
2. Show up in person at the Council meeting on October 10th and make a public comment in favor of this project and similar future projects. You would sign up to speak when you check in at the beginning of the meeting and then would have 3 minutes to tell your story. You can watch past council meetings on Youtube to see how these in person public comments work.
   • Show up Tuesday, October 10, 2023 – 5:00 p.m. Council Chamber – City Hall – 70 Court Plaza 
   • City Council agenda and public comment rules

We’ve written and spoken extensively about this project and why it is important to downtown, to the City, and to the region. These changes create “Bike Plus” lanes, safer pedestrian crossings, increased loading zones, and other important changes in the heart of downtown. These changes allow more room for people biking, ebiking, wheel-chair-using, and walking in downtown while maintaining appropriate throughput for cars. This plan is backed by public feedback and that feedback has been incorporated into the proposed design.

These changes are also part of a larger system of planned changes that will re-connect downtown to surrounding neighborhoods via other “bike plus” lanes and sidewalks, as well as better connect downtown to RADTIP and the future Greenway network. Getting this in place now is important.

You can read more about the project in several places:

• The City of Asheville project page
• Mountain True’s call to action about the College Patton project
• Our collection of public Letters of Support
• Our project page with all the details about the benefits of the project
• Our past blog posts about the project

The post Call to Action: Contact City Council and ask them to support the College / Patton Complete Street plan appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

TOMORROW ( Tuesday Aug. 22) City staff will present an update on the proposed College / Patton Complete Street Project. City Council’s support continues to waver  in regards to complete street investment in downtown Asheville. Email City Council and voice your support for the College / Patton project.

It’s best when Asheville residents craft their own letters to Council and incorporate AoB’s talking points and data, but your response is urgent. Send an email TODAY. Cut and paste the below copy if you’re short on time. 

If you have pictures from riding the City at the Summer Cycle or another time, please include a pic with your email. Asheville City Council needs to know that riding bikes is more than a recreational activity; it’s an essential part of urban mobility. 

Call to Action Email. Email Asheville City Council & CC AoB at ashevilleonbikes@gmail.com

I support the College / Patton Complete Streets project. It’s important that our City commits to expanding its mobility options to provide safer and greater access into and through downtown Asheville.

This project is more than just adding bike lanes:

• It adds an additional 115 linear feet of loading zones;
• It increases the number of people who can safely use the public right of way;
• It improves pedestrian crosswalks and provides a greater buffer between people and moving vehicles;
• And it’s part of the antidote for strengthening downtown’s economy. Thousands of residents live in a 5 mile circle around downtown, but they cannot spend money there if they don’t have an easy and safe way to get there.

The results from the COA’s “College Patton Bike Lanes Project Public Survey” speak to the community’s support for continued investment in safe streets. 

• 86% of respondents listed “Pedestrian accommodations (sidewalks, high-visibility crosswalks, curb ramps, pedestrian signalization)” as their highest priority.
• 82% of respondents listed “Bicyclist accommodations (bicycle lanes, shared lane markings, bicycle signage)” as their second highest priority.
• 78% of respondents listed “Traffic calming to slow vehicle speeds” as their third  priority. 

On top of that, 40% of respondents indicated that they would be more likely to ride bicycles through the project area if “high-quality bicycle infrastructure is in place.” The City’s public engagement and the survey clearly demonstrates overwhelming support for  prioritizing  street design that supports safe and predictable mobility options. The College / Patton project, including the changes due to feedback from business owners Downtown, addresses all of the above.

Recently approved developments and proposed housing mean we need mobility options now. The approved projects at 319 Biltmore Ave project, Aston St Project, 360 Hilliard Ave Apartment, and the Maple Crest Apartments are examples of the density coming to downtown. It is not possible to scale car infrastructure and meet the needs already created by the current plans of various developers and building owners.

Active transportation is a component of housing affordability. Overwhelmingly, lower income households rely on bicycle commuting. 8.3% of City residents do not own a car; the City has the obligation to provide safe and accessible infrastructure for these residents as well as motorists.  

Please honor the good work that’s been done by City staff and respond with a show of  public support for complete streets by supporting this project at tomorrow’s City Council meeting.

The post City Council needs more encouragement to support College Street / Patton Avenue appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

May 17, 2022
70 Court Plaza 
Asheville, NC 28801 

Dear Asheville City Council, 

On behalf of Asheville on Bikes’ Board of Directors and its members (over 800 strong), I’m writing to encourage you to vote in support of the Merrimon Ave road reconfiguration.

NCDOT, Division 13, City of Asheville staff, members of the Multimodal Transportation Commission have all worked in good faith to produce a public input process that clearly defines the benefits and tradeoffs of a 4 to 3 conversion on Merrimon. The final voice for a more complete Merrimon rests with you on May 24th. This is your opportunity to lead and advance safety and dignity of our public rights of way for all people traveling by a variety of modes.

For those of you concerned about the political repercussions of supporting a safer street configuration, I direct you to the outcome of the public process where 59% of more than 4,000 respondents supported a 4 to 3 conversion on Merrimon Ave. This 59% is a historic result in support of this conversion.  

More importantly, please take a moment and listen to this public comment from Gaia to the Multimodal Transportation Commission made on 3/24/2021. Gaia’s courageous statement helped catalyze the support that  brought this vote to you. Gaia was struck by a motorist while crossing legally on Merrimon Ave and, as a result of that collision, has suffered dearly. I invite each of you to draw upon Gaia’s courage and examine the opportunity before you. Your vote either advances safety and dignity or re-commits our community to the existing conditions of carnage.

Each vote in support of the Merrimon road reconfiguration is a vote to affirm our collective commitment to public safety on our rights of way. Help lead our City in a direction where these articles become untrue: 

1. Asheville continues to lead in North Carolina in pedestrian and bicyclist collisions
2. Asheville Citizen Times, A troubling trend: Asheville ranks first in the state for pedestrian deaths per capita). 

According to NCDOT and the City of Asheville, the Merrimon data shows that:

• “ …there is approximately a 150% higher rate of crashes on Merrimon compared to other similar roadways across the State (for every 10 crashes on other similar roads, Merrimon gets 15) (City of Asheville Merrimon Ave Story Map, Crashes)
• Approximately 23% of crashes on Merrimon involve an injury and property damage estimates total more than $7 million.
• Merrimon experiences about 13 crashes every month. The chart below summarizes the corridor’s crash statistics.

(City of Asheville / NCDOT Merrimon Story Map, Crashes)

If the current design results in nearly one crash every other day and produces nearly three injuries / month, how can we allow those conditions to continue for the next 10 to 15 years?  

Advancing public safety means designing for people moving by a variety of modes and prioritizing for our most vulnerable road users. 8.3% of City residents do not own a car; the City has the obligation to provide safe and accessible infrastructure for these residents as well as motorists.  

NCDOT and City of Asheville’s analysis states, 

“a potential 29% crash reduction factor, which, if realized, could lead to approximately 50 fewer crashes and 10 fewer injuries on Merrimon every year. If applied evenly across the board, these crash reductions could reduce property damage by about $300,000 every year.” 

Considering the existing conditions and the potential return on the investment resulting from a road reconfiguration, the Merrimon Ave re-stripping is a low cost, low hanging fruit, high yield investment in public safety. The current configuration isn’t working for anyone so it’s time to apply a new approach and a more complete design. The Merrimon road reconfiguration is an initial intervention which elevates safety and dignity on our streets. 

NCDOT and the MPO are currently studying whether to make similar improvements to Biltmore Ave, McDowell St, Tunnel Rd, and Asheland Ave.  Decisions on those recommendations should be coming to you within a year. These future opportunities to improve safety on our streets will be in jeopardy should you hesitate now to make this commitment on Merrimon Ave.  

There are lessons to be learned from the Charlotte Street road diet that apply to your vote. The Charlotte Street project was kicked around for 20 years before a road diet treatment was finally approved by council over the concerns and objections of some residents who loudly objected. Like Merrimon, sidewalk improvements were outside the scope of the project but the road diet and new bike lanes have increased pedestrian use.  As a result of the success and the calmer conditions, the City of Asheville and  NCDOT are expanding sidewalks on Charlotte Street to I-240. When the City leads, NCDOT follows. We need your leadership now. 

While the road diet is often framed as controversial, the public support is strong and well informed; citizens desire safer streets and more mobility options. Charlotte Street, Wilma Dykeman Greenway, Coxe Avenue all endured moments – often months or years of moments – of controversy before being supported by City Council. Each one of those projects has been a success, and Merrimon will be too.  On behalf of Asheville on Bikes, I urge you to vote in favor of safer streets and approve the Merrimon Ave road reconfiguration. 

Respectfully, 

Mike Sule

Executive Director, Asheville on Bikes 

enc: AoB Research Addendum For City Council

The post AoB Open Letter Urging City Council To Vote In Favor of 4-3 Conversion For Merrimon appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

Read our comment here!

The post Public Comment on FBRMPO 2020 TIP Amendment to delay projects after NCDOT budget shortfall appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

Click here for the: Map and updates from the French Broad River MPO.

The Hellbender Trail! A very important project has begun in Western North Carolina and you need to know about it so that you can support it as it evolves. There has already been an open public comment process, completed during 2020.  Your feedback on the project remains important, whether directed toward the build of an underlying section, a regional politician, government employee, or a potential funding source for the project.

The project? A regional greenway system that will tie together many cities in Western North Carolina. The plan calls for 155 miles of greenways, shared streets, and natural surface trails. It’s called the Hellbender, named after our famous and endangered salamander.

Asheville on Bikes endorses Hellbender Regional Trail Plan

Asheville on Bikes endorses the Hellbender Regional Trail Plan that has been proposed by the The French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (FBRMPO). We are for it. You should support the plan. Even in this early stage, please advocate strongly for this plan.

The initial public comment deadline passed on August 21, 2020 but each section of the network is an separately funded greenway with its own public comment and approval process. Please consider sharing a copy of your comment with us – just email it to ashevilleonbikes@gmail.com.

The Hellbender Trail plays directly to our strengths and needs as a region while honoring our past. Building it is important work and the trail network will leave an important legacy for future generations in the mountains, by giving more people access to benefits that will improve our ECONOMY, Our HEALTH, Our SAFETY, Our MOBILITY, and our ENVIRONMENT.

The process of building this trail network will provide answers to many of the questions we’ve had over the years:

• When will we build a safe connection for biking, walking, or running from Asheville to Bent Creek and Pisgah National Forest? (It’s part of the Hellbender plan and could be accelerated if we wanted it become a reality, based on existing greenway plans)
• Could a surrounding city or community build bicycle infrastructure and become a regional draw, an example to look up to, pulling in new direct economic investments? (Yes. Towns like Canton, Black Mountain, Rosman, Mars Hill, Hendersonville, Brevard, all stand to benefit)
• Can we build a safer connection for cycling than Riverside Road when heading north from Asheville? (Yes)

The Hellbender Trail “is a concept developed from previously existing plans in Buncombe, Henderson, Haywood, Madison, and Transylvania counties. The Hellbender Trail does not primarily try to develop new connections or trails that haven’t been previously documented but intends to knit together existing and planned infrastructure. The goal of this approach is to form a regional bicycle and pedestrian network that is more than a sum of its parts, connects the communities of Western North Carolina, and connects people to the beauty of our region. A trail network of this magnitude will require coordination and collaboration from many regional partners, including local governments, non-profits, land conservancies, and advocates.” – FBRMPO

Who is proposing this trail network?

The French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization (FBRMPO) has proposed this trail network. The current plan is a product of a study committee that met during 2018 and 2019 to get the project to this point. Mike Sule, AoB Executive Director, participated as a member of the study committee along with many others.

Because this plan is a region-wide plan, it needs support and oversight from an entity larger than any one City. The French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization exists for exactly these types of transportation planning decisions. The FBRMPO is made up of representatives from each city in our region and it plans our transportation spending, including state and local funds, where projects are beyond the scope of any individual municipality.

Building the Hellbender will require the cooperation of all levels of government – city, county, and state – as well as many other people and agencies. If you live anywhere on the proposed map you should start thinking about how you can make the Hellbender become a reality.

Where will it go?

The current plan calls for connecting many of the planned regional greenways, most of which are underway in some form as independent projects. Thus the plan benefits from many projects already built or in various stages of planning and funding. The current Hellbender map also includes many missing links that have not yet been planned on the ground, which is why the published map does not show exact routes. The proposed map looks like this:

Can you imagine that future? Picture this:

• Leave on a bike tour from Arden and stay in Rosman one night before heading deep into the forest to fly fish, without needing a car.
• Live in a neighborhood like Bent Creek and ride with your family into Asheville in less than 30 minutes on protected lanes, with no cars, very few red lights and no issues finding parking.
• Live in Horseshoe and work in Hendersonville without driving or paying to park a car.
• Ride from Asheville through the Swannanoa Valley to Old Fort to join the Fonta Flora trail and vice versa. Without riding on any part of Highway 70.
• Connect any of these communities without using a car, for any reason you can think up: Canton, Candler, West Asheville, Asheville, Woodfin, Weaverville, Mars Hill, Oteen, Swannanoa, Black Mountain, Ridgecrest, Fletcher, Bent Creek, Mills River, Horseshoe, Brevard, Hendersonville, Rosman.

Public Comment Guidance for your Hellbender Trail comments.

As an advocacy group, we are providing you with content that you can use to support this project. Simply incorporate one or two of the bullet points below into your public comment, but please write your comment in your own words.

The best public comments tell your own story, while incorporating a few key facts to support your position. Please borrow from this post as needed. Please consider sharing your comment with us; to do so, email it to ashevilleonbikes@gmail.com.

ECONOMIC BENEFITS.

The Hellbender Trail will create exceptional economic benefits for Western North Carolina. Even today, the economic impacts of cycling in Western North Carolina are very significant and, sadly, often ignored.

Consider that Western NC was one of the first MTB trail destinations on the East Coast to rise to worldwide attention after the birth of the sport. When front suspension for mountain bikes was invented, the first prototype Rock Shox forks were made in Fletcher, at the plant that we now know as Cane Creek. Beginning in the early 1990’s, riders began to flock to Tsali, to Pisgah, and to Bent Creek, places which still draw overnight trips dedicated to riding bikes. Major bicycle companies continue to pump their own ad dollars into our region, to film product launch videos here, continue to name bicycles after our trails, and every summer you can see bikes on the back of the cars on I-26, I-40, and the roads coming up from Atlanta. Each time you see those bikes, recognize that it means money for a town somewhere in Western NC.

What if we did something to encourage that pattern? What if a greenway and trail network connected many of the cities and trail systems? What kind of economic engine could that create? In the Outer Banks, North Carolina DOT invested $6.3 million to create a series of off-road bicycle paths in 2003, creating safe routes in place of previously dangerous shared-with-cars roads. Within 10 years, bicycle touring in the Outer Banks was generating $60 million in annual economic benefit.

Consider also that bicycle touring generated $43 million/year in economic impact in WNC, right now, as per the 2017 regional economic impact study. Have you ever stumbled across a tourism development ad for bicycle touring in WNC? Perhaps not, because this economic engine is also growing with very little outside assistance – imagine what bike touring could be if we built the Hellbender trail network and people from Charlotte could tour from Fonta Flora at Lake James all the way to Brevard, Rosman and beyond.

The Hellbender Trail will become a healthy economic engine that spreads tourist dollars across all the small towns that attract bicycle trips. This NCDOT study showed that a bike tourist spends an average of $190 every day that they’re in our area. Bicycle tourists would spend that money in each small town and stop along the way, unlike some of our current tourism, which is concentrated in a smaller number of cities.

In addition to having some of the best mountain biking trails in the country and a documented mtb economic impact of at least $38.2 million each year, Western NC is home to some of the leading bicycling industry manufacturing companies in the world. As bicycling grows, these companies grow, and they employ your neighbors, pumping revenue directly into your community in the form of wages, bonuses, and donations to local nonprofits. Visit some of these websites to learn more about the companies that your neighbors are already working for, located right here in WNC. Industry Nine, Kitsbow, Fox Suspension, Cane Creek, Rockgeist, Endless Cycles,The Flying Bike,Trail Dynamics, Outrider USA, Ohlins, Kolo Bike Park, Riveter, Bailey Mountain Bike Park, Bike Kanuga & Outfitter Bicycle Tours. Large and small, these businesses are making Western NC a better place to live.

HEALTH BENEFITS.

Regular access to active transportation options is a proven way to increase general population health at a regional level. The health benefits of regular bike rides, walks, and similar active transportation choices are huge in part because it is much easier to make a small change to your routine – like getting on a bike to get to work – when compared with the willpower it takes to create a special time in your personal calendar to “go exercise.”

One study of New York City’s spending on bike lanes and greenways found that, for every $1300 the City spent on bike lanes, City residents as a group lived one extra year at full health.

In areas where there are no trails, there are no trail users, and where there are no trail users, people are less healthy. Let’s get healthy by putting a greenway out your back door, so to speak.

Link to article about the British Medical Journal study.

Picture this:

• After finding the Hellbender Network a convenient and safe place ride, you start riding a little everyday. At your next wellness appointment, your doctor takes you off a statin drug because, “You don’t need it anymore.”
• You live near the trail in Brevard and start using it to go downtown and to ride to the Davidson River in Pisgah. It’s just something you like doing, and it becomes a habit you keep all through your 50’s. Years later, you realize that although many of your family members have been treated for forms of cancer, you’re happy, healthy, and have not had cancer.
• Your best friend has always struggled with depression and serious mood swings. Their doctor suggests bike riding as a mental health support, and, even though they always thought of biking as a sport for people in tight clothes, they started riding. Your best friend finds the rides to be easy, safe, and mentally soothing. Since hitting the Hellbender, you see that they are a little happier everyday. Study.

The Dogwood Health Trust should take notice of this plan. Just as the FBRMPO is an appropriate planning partner, the Dogwood Health Trust could have an important role to play, given their substantial endowment and their mandate to spend each year improving the health of Western North Carolina citizens.

SAFETY BENEFITS.

Building the Hellbender trail means increased safety for all road users, because it will divert some walking and biking to the new network, reducing conflict on key road corridors. Consider this graph from the FBRMPO, which shows how dramatically bike and pedestrian collisions are rising in Western NC:

This image is from a presentation given by the FBRMPO in 2019 and this chart shows the increasing percentage based bike/ped fatalities of overall roadway fatalities from the last several years. The chart and trendline are for the entire region. As non-car users increase, if we do not create safer infrastructure (like the Hellbender), we will be faced with inevitable increases in bicycle and pedestrian crashes.

MOBILITY BENEFITS.

Just as some sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway carry local traffic, some sections of the Hellbender Trail will be put to use by locals who use it to replace a car trip. This is a good thing. Though many will be taken with the economic benefits, the tourism, and the freedom that comes from riding the Hellbender, a regional trail system also means mobility and active transportation that is available to all people, for any purpose.

Not only will a regional trail system increase bicycle use, it will also concentrate bicycles onto dedicated facilities thus reducing motorist and bicycle conflicts on our roads. Even the motorists who never use the trail system benefit from the trail network. More people riding bicycles but fewer bicycles using roads without facilities is a winning future for all road users. Because of the user conflict and the palpable danger of riding a bicycle on the road in Western NC, we are missing many riders who are interested in riding a bike but concerned:

The future Hominy Creek Greenway provides an excellent example of a mobility benefit. That particular greenway plan is a small part of the Hellbender network as currently envisioned. That section of Greenway also connects part of Candler, part of Sardis Road, to the RADTIP, and thus downtown Asheville. Once built, someone living in an apartment adjacent to Hominy Creek can commute to downtown in about 20 minutes with an ebike, with almost zero red lights and no cars; on a regular bike, perhaps 30 minutes. Once downtown, they park for free and can easily avoid traffic congestion. Many will choose that commute when compared to the expense of driving and paying to park a car.

And owning a car is expensive. Even a modest 2015 Hyundai Sonata, as one example, costs $26,853 over five years to own and operate, not counting parking. What type of car do you drive? Are you staying late at work to earn enough just to pay the bills, including the car bill? Some of you are. What if you didn’t have to do that because you lived somewhere that offered you more than one transportation option?

For some, they simply cannot afford the car. For those workers making less than $40,000/year, car ownership is a huge burden on their cost of living, and yet in Western North Carolina we’ve made it a requirement. “Must have reliable transportation” is in a help wanted ad somewhere near you, running right now. Think about what that means in a region known for low wages.

What if we built something else, prioritizing people first, and parts of that network were used so that people could get to work? Personal mobility affects all of us – the rich, the poor, the young, the old. The Hellbender Trail network is a step in the right direction.

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS.

With each transportation project in Western NC, we are choosing more asthma or less; more lung infection or less; longer life or shorter life; cleaner water or dirtier water. And more Hellbender salamanders, or fewer, up to the point where we find another treasured species extinct.

It is true that we have made dramatic improvements in our air quality during the last decade, with the largest changes directly tied to the closure or cleanup of coal-fired power plants in the surrounding states, as well as the closure of the Asheville coal-fired power plant. With these large single-source polluters cleaned up, where is our remaining pollution coming from?

Much of it comes from cars. We can no longer turn a blind eye to trips made in an automobile, which represent one of our region’s largest sources of Nitrous Oxide, Ground Level Ozone, and small particulate matter pollution. Those trips are measured as “Vehicle Miles Traveled” or “VMT.” The NC Department of Environmental Quality and NCDOT both specifically endorse the goal of reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in order to create a cleaner, healthier environment. NCDOT Study and VMT Reduction Toolkit.

These improvements in measured pollution have a direct impact on how long we live, what diseases we face as we age, and how often we get sick. Reductions in pollution have an even stronger effect on all the plants and animals in the region, in part because plants and animals lack the ability to easily move around or go indoors when pollution is at its worst.

These environmental benefits are part of the reason this trail network is named after the Hellbender salamander, a species that depends on clean water. The Hellbender is in decline nationwide because we have degraded its habitat to the point that it has very few places left where it can survive. By helping reduce VMT, the Hellbender trail is good for the Hellbender – and for humans.

The Land of Sky Regional Council, of which the FBRMPO is a part, explicitly recognizes this connection and endorses the need to clean up our air.

Watch from 05:17 in this educational video from NCDEQ to learn more about the connection between cars, vehicle miles traveled, and air and water pollution.

Case Studies from similar trail systems in the U.S.

Centennial Trail Study

The Centennial Trail in Washington State provides an excellent example of a trail network that benefits multiple counties. To see the annual economic effect per county, click here, then go to page 13 and read from there.

Katy Trail Study

The Katy trail in Missouri is a 240 mile long trail that connects many small towns. It draws more than 400,000 visitors a year to the region. Page 38 breaks out the spending that results, from locals, non-locals, and overnight spending.

Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) Trail Study

The GAP Trail in Maryland and Pennsylvania is a 150 miles trail system with many small towns along the way. Well studied, the 2015 economic data showed that the trail had a direct impact on businesses along the route. “40% of the businesses planned to expand and of those reported to expand 67% attributed their expansion to the impact from the trail.”

Links to current FBRMPO planning documents for the Hellbender Regional Trail System:

Public comments open until August 21, 2020:
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/2516fc1870db47cb8e3c7aa36dbed751 

More project information:
http://frenchbroadrivermpo.org/multimodal/

Remember, the best public comments are written in your own words and tell a little of your story, combined with other facts about the project. Please borrow from this post as needed.

Public comment deadline August 21, 2020. Please consider sharing your comment with us; to do so, email it to ashevilleonbikes@gmail.com. 

The post AoB Endorses Hellbender Trail Network, Provides Comment Guidance appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

List of resources mentioned or shown during this interview:

• Download the plan that is being discussed in the interview, as pdf.
• More about Asheville’s Multi-Modal Transportation Commission
• Streetmix, a tool for creating before and after cross sections of streets
• Lisabeth Medlock’s survey results about people using downtown Asheville during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Asheville City Council meeting 5/26 re: Budget Crunch from COVID-19 consequences
• Nationwide bicycle riding and bike sales, both up sharply
• Oakland’s slow street network, 74+ miles, calmed by citizens without much City work
• The City of Asheville public feedback portal for re-allocating public space
• The NACTO Crisis Response Guide
• The Street Plans Tactical Urbanism materials guide, showing temporary materials

You may also enjoy this curated playlist of videos about cities who are using the public right of way differently as part of their COVID-19 response.

Please leave your feedback in the comments below.

Related Posts:

1. Released: Asheville MMTC members COVID-19 Streets Proposal
2. Youtube playlist: Cities Creating Space in Response to COVID-19

The post Interview: Explaining commerce zones and low speed streets appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

At its core, this map is one idea: We should plan for and build a connected network for biking and walking, routes that connect people to places without requiring the use of car.

Black lines are low speed play streets. This network could work very similarly to the one in Oakland, which required only that the City designate the list of streets to be treated as slow streets. The enforcement and signage on these streets is put up and maintained by neighbors on the street.

Red and Purple are separated infrastructure on existing streets. Purple is the circulator, a mostly flat route that flows people to and from their destinations without requiring them to use a car.

Some of the lines on this map include existing bike lanes, existing greenways, or planned greenways. Our current City and County plans (AIM plan, Greenway plans) do not go far enough and we want to see a network built, not individual projects that do not connect to each other.

On all these streets cars continue to come and go, but portions of the right of way are altered to make safe paths for other users.

What streets should be added to this map? What streets should be removed? We welcome your comments.

The post Asheville on Bikes Low Speed Street Network and Circulator Map appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

Takeaways from Oakland:

1. The City designated the network but it was the neighbors and citizens who implemented the changes and the signage.
2. Creating a network of slow streets does not have to take a large budget or long planning process – we can tweak as we go based on what works.
3. Cars can still move about on these streets, with the knowledge that they are guests on the street and not the primary focus.

The post How Oakland created 74 miles of safe streets with support from neighbors appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

City of Asheville

Dear Mayor Manheimer & City Council,

Thank you all for the work that you’re doing to keep our community safe during this pandemic. Your commitment to our health and wellness is greatly appreciated.

Asheville on Bikes encourages the City of Asheville to act now to create more space for people to walk and bike while maintaining safe physical distance. We support transforming the public right of way to create robust space for active transportation uses. There is much the city can do to quickly create facilities that promote safe physical distancing facilities as we begin to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes can be made quickly, with temporary materials, and can be implemented at low cost, compared to traditional road rebuild projects.   

The shortcomings of our existing facilities can be resolved with a quick build approach to rapidly expand active transportation networks throughout our community. Many cities are responding to this public need. Consider the following examples:

• Minneapolis, MN – Stay Healthy Streets
• St Paul, MN – Streets Open for People
• Kansas City, MO – Neighborhood Open Streets, Local Traffic Only Road Closures 
• Seattle, WA – Stay Healthy Street
• Oakland, CA – Slow Streets
• Salt Lake City, UT – Stay Safe Stay Active Streets
• New York City, NY – 100 Miles of City Street for Pedestrians
• New Zealand – Funds Pop – Up Bike Lanes & Sidewalks

Kansas City, MO’s initiative closed four streets to automobiles as an initial test but has four more streets queued should the closures be a success, while Oakland, CA opted to slow 10% of its streets to create a network.  The various interventions serve to make walking and biking more accessible during the pandemic. Now is the time for Asheville to learn from the existing models and create Asheville’s COVID-19-safe streets.

The Street Tweaks Team’s Coxe Ave project is a local model that should be explored as the city and partners respond, because the current Coxe Ave configuration provides between ten to fifteen feet widths dedicated to pedestrian and bicyclist movements built with low cost temporary materials. The Coxe Ave success should be replicated in other areas of downtown and on arterial connectors. Asheville on Bikes is at the ready to provide guidance.

We filmed a short video that demonstrates the problems we face now in downtown Asheville and other dense parts of town with 5 foot sidewalks. It is worth 1 minute of your time to watch; click here.

And it is not just Asheville on Bikes saying this, though we do speak for hundreds of our donors and members. There are threads on Reddit full of Asheville citizens who support quick build pedestrian facilities. Similarly there are many public comments on Facebook crying out for a way to move around without infecting others.

Here’s an Asheville mom who made her own video with her daughter, measuring social distance and our sidewalks. It’s great. Click here to watch her two minute video.

Please take steps now to establish streets that allow for walking, biking, and proper social distances. We need space more than we need on-street parking in most areas downtown. Further, these changes are an essential component of reopening our city’s economy as any plan to reopen area businesses will require physical distancing protocols. Though we know that a network of sidewalks and low speed vehicle lanes is key to our future, the virus has made the need even more urgent. Please work to transform the public right of way to provide safe options for our community.

Respectfully,
Mike Sule
Asheville on Bikes

As submitted 4/29/2020

The post Letter to Council: We need more space for walking and biking and social distancing appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

The Flying Bike Gold 2020
Motion Makers Bicycle Shop Silver 2020
Youngblood Bicycles Silver 2020
Asheville Yoga Center Bronze 2020
McHone Performance Training Bronze 2020

Two previous award winners moved up a level, which is also no small accomplishment. Liberty Bicycles moved from gold to platinum and Industry Nine moved from silver to gold. Well done.

And here are the existing Bike-Friendly Businesses listed based on the year they won the award:

Industry Nine Gold in 2020, Silver in 2016
Rainbow Community School Bronze 2018
CAKE Websites and More Bronze 2017
New Belgium Brewing Asheville Platinum 2018
Liberty Bicycles Platinum 2009

The League of American Bicyclists manages these awards and they administer an application process prior to announcing the awards each year. It is a significant honor to be both vetted and celebrated by winning! The award levels are bronze, silver, gold, and platinum.

Asheville has more Bicycle-Friendly Businesses – 10 – than any other North Carolina City and we are among the cities in the U.S. with the highest density of award recipients. We have North Carolina’s only platinum level award recipients. Kudos! Thank you to each of these businesses. Your leadership and vision are extraordinary and we appreciate what you are accomplishing in our community.

These awards also fit in with Asheville’s move to have safer streets, diversify mode share, and support cycling. Asheville is itself a bronze-level bicycle-friendly city, as graded by the League. The League of American Bicyclists publishes an infographic that shows how different groups in a community work together to create a better place to live; they call it a Bicycle-Friendly Community:

Thank you again, Bike-Friendly Businesses of Asheville!

Here is the full list of 10, newest recipients at the top:

1. The Flying Bike Gold 2020
2. Motion Makers Bicycle Shop Silver 2020
3. Youngblood Bicycles Silver 2020
4. Asheville Yoga Center Bronze 2020
5. McHone Performance Training Bronze 2020
6. Liberty Bicycles Platinum 2009
7. New Belgium Brewing Asheville Platinum 2018
8. Industry Nine Gold in 2020, Silver in 2016
9. Rainbow Community School Bronze 2018
10. CAKE Websites and More Bronze 2017

Would you like to join this list? Each year Asheville on Bikes hosts a Bicycle-Friendly Business workshop where you can learn all about the process of applying and be partnered with existing award recipients who will help you in the process.

Search the League’s database of Bicycle-Friendly businesses and cities.

The post Celebrating Asheville’s 5 new Bicycle Friendly Business Award winners! appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.