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09-26-05, 02:58 PM
Column: Region could be a lot more bike friendly
by Bob Ashley (Herald-Sun, 25 September 2005)
(Bob Ashley is editor of The Herald-Sun.)
I’m essentially a lapsed bicyclist. My cycling career
is rather checkered. I never learned to ride as a kid.
Then, in my 20s, my wife convinced me to learn, then
taught me — and then our bikes lay idle for a few
years.
Then we took it up to exercise together and — as
happened with running, with racquetball and other
endeavors — I became obsessive and Pat, much more
sensible and restrained, glumly dropped out.
I went on long bike rides. Often, I biked to work —
taking circuitous, leisurely routes home since I only
lived a couple miles from the office. When my bike was
stolen —when chained to a rack in the company parking
deck only a few yards from our security console — I,
of course, bought a more expensive and fancier one.
After I left Charlotte, the bicycling pretty much
ended, for many reasons. A major one, particularly for
the past 11 years in Owensboro, Ky., was that the city
just wasn’t that bike-friendly. But in the past couple
of years, we’d started doing some biking (together,
again, but with some issues over speed and distance),
largely on a new greenbelt trail the city was
developing and which passed very near our home.
As I approached the move here, I was excited about
many things I knew or expected about the quality of
life here. Cycling wasn’t a big deal when I was here
in the late 1960s, but surely as bikes have become far
more popular in recent years, that would have been the
case here, too.
What a haven for cycling the area must be, I thought,
in Durham and Chapel Hill and environs. And since I’m
an avid runner, I figured the same would be true for
running, since cyclists and pedestrians often benefit
from the same facilities.
Here are communities with a disproportionate share of
environmentally concerned folks, not to mention a
large contingent of students and other young people
likely to be drawn to cycling both for aesthetic
reasons and for the cost factor.
What a surprise it has been.
Driving into Chapel Hill shortly after I returned here
in January, I noticed a sign on U.S. 15-501 saying,
“Share the Road.” After a few weeks observing the
area, I noted wryly to an acquaintance elsewhere that
signs like that seemed to be about all that was done
to accommodate cyclists.
That’s an exaggeration, of course. Some busy streets
do have bike lanes, and there are some significant
urban biking havens such as the American Tobacco Trail
in Durham or the Bolin Creek Trail in Chapel Hill.
But far more common are heavily traveled streets with
little or no shoulder area, and virtually no room for
cyclists, runners or walkers to avoid motor-vehicle
traffic. Many otherwise attractive areas — from quiet
neighborhoods to busy thoroughfares — are poorly lit,
devoid of sidewalks or shoulders, and inhospitable to
anyone not travelling under motorized power.
The off-road, urban trails that exist, while nice
enough, are far rarer than I would have expected in
this area. Back in Owensboro over Labor Day weekend, I
ran on a portion of the greenbelt trail that soon will
arc from one end of town to the other, covering some
15 miles. It dawned on me that Owensboro may boast
better biking and pedestrian facilities than do Durham
and Chapel Hill.
That’s embarrassing.
So I was very encouraged last week to read the city
and county are developing a plan for more bike lanes
and connected bike paths.
Reporter Ginny Skalski, writing in advance about the
city council’s consideration of the plan, spoke with
Brian Bergeler, a bicycle-store owner who expects to
be involved in the planning. He said he knows many
people eager to ride bikes to work, but who are put
off by the lack of safe routes.
“They’re all for riding a bike to work because they
don’t live that far away.” Bergeler told Skalski. “But
they don’t feel comfortable with the route they are
posed with.”
Greenways Inc., the consultant the city has hired for
the project, plans to hold forums on the developing
plans.
They should be a good opportunity for residents to
speak up. Maybe I’m wrong and people feel area
running, walking and bicycling venues are adequate.
But I suspect we’ll find that residents will be
clamoring for better.
by Bob Ashley (Herald-Sun, 25 September 2005)
(Bob Ashley is editor of The Herald-Sun.)
I’m essentially a lapsed bicyclist. My cycling career
is rather checkered. I never learned to ride as a kid.
Then, in my 20s, my wife convinced me to learn, then
taught me — and then our bikes lay idle for a few
years.
Then we took it up to exercise together and — as
happened with running, with racquetball and other
endeavors — I became obsessive and Pat, much more
sensible and restrained, glumly dropped out.
I went on long bike rides. Often, I biked to work —
taking circuitous, leisurely routes home since I only
lived a couple miles from the office. When my bike was
stolen —when chained to a rack in the company parking
deck only a few yards from our security console — I,
of course, bought a more expensive and fancier one.
After I left Charlotte, the bicycling pretty much
ended, for many reasons. A major one, particularly for
the past 11 years in Owensboro, Ky., was that the city
just wasn’t that bike-friendly. But in the past couple
of years, we’d started doing some biking (together,
again, but with some issues over speed and distance),
largely on a new greenbelt trail the city was
developing and which passed very near our home.
As I approached the move here, I was excited about
many things I knew or expected about the quality of
life here. Cycling wasn’t a big deal when I was here
in the late 1960s, but surely as bikes have become far
more popular in recent years, that would have been the
case here, too.
What a haven for cycling the area must be, I thought,
in Durham and Chapel Hill and environs. And since I’m
an avid runner, I figured the same would be true for
running, since cyclists and pedestrians often benefit
from the same facilities.
Here are communities with a disproportionate share of
environmentally concerned folks, not to mention a
large contingent of students and other young people
likely to be drawn to cycling both for aesthetic
reasons and for the cost factor.
What a surprise it has been.
Driving into Chapel Hill shortly after I returned here
in January, I noticed a sign on U.S. 15-501 saying,
“Share the Road.” After a few weeks observing the
area, I noted wryly to an acquaintance elsewhere that
signs like that seemed to be about all that was done
to accommodate cyclists.
That’s an exaggeration, of course. Some busy streets
do have bike lanes, and there are some significant
urban biking havens such as the American Tobacco Trail
in Durham or the Bolin Creek Trail in Chapel Hill.
But far more common are heavily traveled streets with
little or no shoulder area, and virtually no room for
cyclists, runners or walkers to avoid motor-vehicle
traffic. Many otherwise attractive areas — from quiet
neighborhoods to busy thoroughfares — are poorly lit,
devoid of sidewalks or shoulders, and inhospitable to
anyone not travelling under motorized power.
The off-road, urban trails that exist, while nice
enough, are far rarer than I would have expected in
this area. Back in Owensboro over Labor Day weekend, I
ran on a portion of the greenbelt trail that soon will
arc from one end of town to the other, covering some
15 miles. It dawned on me that Owensboro may boast
better biking and pedestrian facilities than do Durham
and Chapel Hill.
That’s embarrassing.
So I was very encouraged last week to read the city
and county are developing a plan for more bike lanes
and connected bike paths.
Reporter Ginny Skalski, writing in advance about the
city council’s consideration of the plan, spoke with
Brian Bergeler, a bicycle-store owner who expects to
be involved in the planning. He said he knows many
people eager to ride bikes to work, but who are put
off by the lack of safe routes.
“They’re all for riding a bike to work because they
don’t live that far away.” Bergeler told Skalski. “But
they don’t feel comfortable with the route they are
posed with.”
Greenways Inc., the consultant the city has hired for
the project, plans to hold forums on the developing
plans.
They should be a good opportunity for residents to
speak up. Maybe I’m wrong and people feel area
running, walking and bicycling venues are adequate.
But I suspect we’ll find that residents will be
clamoring for better.