The City of Phoenix installed Sharrows and Bikes May Use Full Lane signs along 48th St South of Guadalupe over the past few weeks. Read all about it on the CAzB blog: http://blog.cazbike.org/2012/01/phoenix-places-slms-and-bumfl-signs.html and with some technical analysis on AZBikeLaw: http://azbikelaw.org/blog/48th-street-piedmont-to-guadalupe/

Good work City of Phoenix!

Sun. Jan 8, 12:00 NOON
We are meeting at Stinkweeds, 12 West Camelback.
Stinkweeds opens at 12:00 noon for on time arrivers.
Early arrivers can shop around the excellent shops on the northwest corner of Camelback and Central.
At Stinkweeds parking lot we will discuss these possible destinations: Postino, Windsor/Churn, TrailHead Cafe, SunUp Brewery.
12pm – We will be riding the new BUFFERED bike lanes on Central Ave from Camelback to Bethany Home then to Camelback then to Bethany Home then to Camelback then to Bethany. (a series of out and backs)
1pm-Lunch at Postino
2pm-we will do another hour of circles OR we could ride to Trail Head Cafe via AZ Canal then SunUp brewery.
3pm-Windsor/Churn OR TrailHead Cafe
4pm-more bike riding.
5pm-SunUp Brewery /End of Event
http://www.facebook.com/events/279859675396754/

For many Americans, the bicycle is a choice. An expensive toy. An eco-conscious mode of transportation. For countless others across the globe, it is much more.
For Fred, a health worker in Zambia, the bicycle is a means of reaching twice as many patients.
For Bharati, a teenager in India, it provides access to education.
For Mirriam, a disabled Ghanaian woman, working on bicycles is an escape from the stigma attached to disabled people in her community.
For Carlos, a farmer in Guatemala, pedal power is a way to help neighbors reduce their impact on the environment.
For Sharkey, a young man in California, the bicycle is an escape from the gangs that consume so many of his peers. With My Own Two Wheels weaves together the experiences of five individuals into a single story about how the bicycle can change the world—one pedal stroke at a time.
44 mins.
Here’s the trailer: http://vimeo.com/19734902
Co-Director Jacob Siegel-Boettner will be present to answer questions after the show.

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Contested Streets is a Transportation Alternatives produced, Cicala Filmworks made documentary that explores the rich diversity of New York City street life before the introduction of automobiles and shows how New York can follow the example of other modern cities that have reclaimed their streets as vibrant public spaces.

Contested Streets features new footage of reclaimed streets in London, Paris and Copenhagen and interviews with New York savvy notables such as Ken Jackson, Mike Wallace, Bob Kiley, Majora Carter, Kathryn Wylde, Enrique Peñalosa, James Howard Kunstler and many more.
57 mins.
Here’s the trailer: http://www.transalt.org/files/campaigns/sensible/contestedstreets/trailer.html

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November 7 @ 8 pm, FilmBar in Phoenix 

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149225378506884

November 9 @ 6:30 pm ASU Tempe SCOB  

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=129988823771797   

www.phoenix.gov/streets/

TBAG Third Fridays presents:
The MULLET RIDE

Show your redneck pride! Get out the Aquanet and peroxide and freshen up your do. This month we’re heading over to the glitzy McDowell strip to sample some of the swankiest dives in east Phoenix.

We’ll be a stone’s throw from the light rail our entire route, so if you need to check out early no worries.

What to wear – jean cutoffs, tank tops, western-checked shirts – NO SLEEVES. Show your sweet farmer’s tan, the ladies love this stuff. If you feel like your tresses ain’t golden or curly enough to roll with the best, you can find wigs at places like Fun Services Party Store, Mardi Gras Costumes, or even at your local Goodwill.

MEET at Tempe Beach Park on Friday July 16th at 7:30 p.m. We’ll roll out at 7:45. Bring lights and locks

This is a 21+ event, y’all bring your ID! Also, we’ll be in traffic and it’s real important everybody exercises safe behavior.

Be sure to RSVP to the facebook event here.

From Eric Iwersen:

The bicycling community came together recently to honor two cyclists killed in separate, unrelated accidents in Tempe during May. Chris Volpe was killed May 10 when he was struck by a vehicle while riding his bike at University Drive and Ash Avenue. A week later, bicyclist Jay Fretz was struck and killed at the intersection of McClintock and Alameda drives.

Memorials for each of the cyclists included installation of a “ghost bike” – a bicycle that has been painted solid white – near each of the accident locations. A well-known practice by cycling communities internationally, the ghost bike serves as both a memorial and a reminder of the potential dangers bike riders face.

City of Tempe staff have been working together with the bicycling community for decades to make Tempe a bicycle-friendly community. Following these two accidents, members of the Tempe Bicycle Action Group and other bicycling advocates have contacted city staff and elected officials to express concern and advocate for continued efforts to increase bicycle safety.

Tempe encourages community members to participate in planning bicycle facilities and outreach efforts, and has a number of ways people can be involved, including the Transportation Commission, which is comprised of Tempe residents (several of whom are bicyclists), and the Commission’s Multi-modal Planning Committee to facilitate community dialogue and input on bicycle/pedestrian projects and issues.

Over the last 14 years – since passage of Tempe’s transit tax – the city has emphasized multi-modalism and creating a balanced transportation system with connectivity between transit, bicycle and pedestrian facilities. Improvements include on-street bicycle lanes, multi-use paths, streetscape and traffic calming projects. Tempe now has more than 170 miles of bikeways throughout the city.

On Monday, May 10, 2010, a bicyclist named Chris Volpe was struck by a motorist at the intersection of University and Ash, and was killed. In the face of this tragic event, members of the Tempe bicycling community gathered together with members of Chris’s family to prepare and install a ghost bike at the intersection. As described on their website, ghosbikes.org, ghost bikes are intended to be small, somber memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street.

Photograph courtesy of Patrick Leahy at http://patrickleahy.smugmug.com/

TBAG is looking for you to get involved this Bike Month. The community is our strongest asset for making Bike Month a success, and for getting more people out riding bicycles safely in general. We could really use your help for a number of events – head on over to the Bike Month 2010 page to learn about what’s going on, and how you can help promote bicycling in and around Tempe. And thank you in advance for making a difference in your community!

As described in an earlier update, the City of Tempe has been wrapping up construction along the Western Canal. Part of the Canal development has included the installation of two HAWK signals, the first such signals in Tempe. HAWK stands for High-Intensity Activated CrossWalk, and is a style of road crossing developed in Tucson. See this page for information about HAWKs, as well as the other specialized crossings found in Tucson.

The two crossings in Tempe are located on Rural Road at the Western Canal, and on McClintock Drive at the canal. The City is providing a pamphlet that describes how the HAWK signals work, available through the Tempe In Motion website, and wants to spread the word as much as possible. If you have had experiences with either of these crossings and would like to share, feel free to leave comments here. We’d love to hear if these seem like an effective system for making canal crossings safer and more efficient, and if we should be encouraging more Phoenix-area municipalities to install them.

From a bicyclist or pedestrian standpoint, the crossings change to a “walk” signal within a few seconds of pressing the button, and are designed to force cars to slow down and stop whenever someone needs to cross the street. At other times, they allow cars to pass through freely.