Write to your Representative here: http://capwiz.com/lab/issues/alert/?alertid=60927571

From The League of American Bicyclists:

House Bill Reverses Decades of Progress on Bike/Ped
It’s so much worse than we thought.

Please join us there – it will be essential for cyclists’ concerns to be heard.

METRO invites you to attend a public meeting to review and comment on the Urban Design Guidelines (UDG) for the 2.6-mile Tempe Streetcar project that will serve the downtown and Central Tempe community.

The UDG is a document that will provide the future project designers with guidelines for how the streetcar stops should look, including concepts for seating, lighting, platform paving treatments, canopies, etc.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012
6 – 8 p.m.; presentation at 6:15 p.m.
Tempe Transportation Center, Don Cassano Room
200 E. 5th St., Tempe, 85281

For more information, see: http://www.valleymetro.org/metro_projects_planning/tempe_streetcar/

and http://www.tempe.gov/tim/TempeStreetcar.htm

TBAG and the Mitchell Park Neighborhood are moving forward with an exciting bicycle public art project for 2012.  In the fall of 2011 a committee made up of a public artist, Mitchell Park neighbors and TBAG board members conducted a competitive artist and concept selection process.  More than 15 fifteen Arizona public artists were considered.  A Tempe-based artist team by the name of coLAB was selected in December.

The concept for the public art (see attached images) involves bicycle sculptures and large boulders that will be placed in 4 locations along Farmer Avenue (between University Drive and 13^th Street) that will serve as a permanent monument to the importance of bicycling in Tempe, the contributions of TBAG to the community, and help deepen the emphasis of creating bikeable, sustainable corridors for our town and to serve as a model for land use and transportation.  In the words on the artist team, coLAB: “The people-powered vehicle (bicycle) is immensely efficient and useful, and can drastically change the outlook for future balance between man and nature.”

The city of Tempe and TBAG is currently working with the artist team to finalize designs.  Construction of the artwork is expected to happen late Spring/early Summer 2012, with a dedication ceremony anticipated soon thereafter.  This important project will help transform the street and further emphasize TBAG’s role in shaping Tempe and beyond as a bicycle region.

Eric Iwersen

e...@biketempe.org

eric...@tempe.gov

480-239-9593

Check out the concept pdf: TBAGbicycleART.pdf

Hello bike advocates – this month has a lot of important events.

• We need your help with the bike count – a new organizing committee is forming and there is a lot to do. Email Scott to get on our planning committee list.
• We are also working with an ASU College of Design class to develop an ad campaign for bike safety – join us as we meet with the students to give them feedback in mid-February – see more info here.
• Also – note the upcoming streetcar meeting on Wednesday, Feb 8th – see more infohere.

Please email Aaron if you are interested in helping out with any of this, or have other ideas for advocacy projects.

The city of Tempe is soliciting feedback from residents, businesses and organizations about a project to improve pedestrian and bicycle facilities, enhance the streetscape and calm traffic on University Drive

between the Union Pacific Railroad just east of Farmer Avenue and Priest Drive. This project is funded with $1.1 million in federal grant money. If you would like to add your comments and/or see the current project status please visit: http://www.tempe.gov/tim/Traffic/UniversityDr.htm

Some TBAG board members attended the initial meeting on January 12th, and we are very excited about this project and its positive impact on the downtown Tempe area. Let us and the City of Tempe know your ideas. The next public meeting is in March where City officials will present design concepts based on the feedback they have received.

Attached here is the final report from the 2011 Tempe Bike Count. Get in touch if you are interested in helping with the 2012 bike count.

PDF File: Tempe Bike Count 2011 Final Report

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   

The new Tempe Town Lake Pedestrian Bridge is opening on Tuesday morning! The festivities start at 6:30am. TBAG will lead a bike ride across the bridge at 7am, and then on a short route around the lake and surrounding area. Check out more details at AZ Central: http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/2011/10/16/20111016tempe-town-lake-bridge.html

Image Courtesy of KTAR

FTA Issues Policy on Funding Eligibility For Pedestrian and Bicycle Improvements

A final policy statement providing guidance on federal funding eligibility of pedestrian and bicycle improvements near public transportation facilities was issued by the Federal Transit Administration in the Aug. 19 Federal Register.

Under federal transit law, funding administered by FTA can be used to construct bicycle and pedestrian improvements in and around transit facilities when there is a “functional relationship” to the facility. To further the USDOT policy of making communities livable, the notice said, the FTA policy statement provides that projects within the one-half mile pedestrian “catchment area” or the three-mile bicycle “catchment area” have a de facto physical and functional relationship to the transit facility, and therefore are eligible for federal funding.

According to the notice, pedestrians generally are willing to walk at least one-half mile to train stations and other public transportation facilities when in a safe and well-designed streetscape. This half-mile radius around a transit facility is considered the pedestrian “catchment area.” Similarly, the bicycle “catchment area” is determined to extend three miles from the transit facility. Design features for these catchment areas should include adequate sidewalks, pathways, and roadway crossings as well as amenities such as benches, shelters, and lighting.

Pedestrian and bicycle improvements beyond the one-half-mile and three-mile distances may be eligible for FTA funding by demonstrating that the improvement is within the distance that people will travel by foot or by bicycle to use a particular stop or station, the notice said.

The statement received overwhelming support from stakeholders and commenters during the proposal comment period. Commenters included the American Public Transit Association, the National Complete Streets Coalition, Smart Growth America, and various state departments of transportation and local transit authorities.

According to the 2009 notice of the proposed policy statement, grantees previously lacked guidance on how to meet the “related physically or functionally” condition, since FTA had “made no determination of the specific distances pedestrians or bicyclists can be expected to travel to access a public transportation stop or station.” The relationship has been determined case by case, based on a narrative set of criteria.

The new policy statement simplifies the process of determining whether pedestrian and bicycle improvements are eligible for funding, according to the notice.

By providing improved pedestrian and bicycle access to transit, there are additional benefits to the community, including reduced traffic congestion, safer streets, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and increased transportation choices, according to FTA. “The success of public transportation can often be limited by poor ‘first and last mile’ access to the system,” the notice said.

For the text of the policy statement and additional information, link to the Federal Register notice.

Advocacy Update from Aaron Golub, TBAG Advocacy Director:

1. Communication with ADOT regarding Alameda bike bridge and 202 underpass.

We did hear back about our letters to ADOT, and we met with an ADOT representative at the CAzB meeting in January. The bridge is in their plans for the freeway expansion, but there is a debate about the source of the funds for the bridge and underpass. Hopefully, we can assist the City of Tempe in working with ADOT to come up with a solution.

2. Tempe Streetcar. Several members of the Tempe multi-modal (bike/ped) committee have been attending the streetcar meetings, and vice-versa – members of the bike/ped committee have been getting reports from the Tempe Streetcar team. We are being vigilant about bike access, impacts on existing bike lanes, and bike/ped safety as the project is being planned. They are still in early stages, so detailed designs are yet to be produced, but we are keeping our eye on everything. If you want to lend a hand with this – we need more folks concerned about cyclists and pedestrians at these planning meetings. Here is the official project website with upcoming meeting dates: http://www.tempe.gov/tim/TempeStreetcar.htm

3. Bike count. TBAG volunteers and friends and about 30 ASU students did tremendous job on the bike count. Over 75 volunteers counted bikes over two shifts at 50 intersections. Look for upcoming updates on the TBAG website concerning data analysis and other results from the count.

4. Regional meetings: We still have not secured a regular TBAG rep for the monthly MAG bike/ped meeting. I have been attending the Livable Cities Coalition meetings (we are official members of the coalition) and the coalition is giving two workshops at the annual AZ state public transit conference next week in Mesa. We need help with representing TBAG at regional meetings – let us know if you are interested in helping – it just takes a few hours per month.

5. City of Tempe ’3-Foot Rule’ Public Information Campaign. TBAG members spoke in support of the ’3-foot Safe Passing rule’ campaign being proposed by City of Tempe staff to bring attention to cyclist safety. Hopefully, this can broaden awareness about safe passing among drivers. We also hope it can improve awareness among law enforcement that endangerment of cyclists by drivers is a crime and should be punished. Look for this campaign to start this summer and during ASU back-to-school.

Do you have any advocacy ideas you’d like to pursue? Let’s discuss them over beer! Our next advocacy meeting is Monday, April 25th at 7pm at Boulders on Broadway. We hope to see you there!!