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

This week’s TBAG Third Friday Ride is utilizing the light rail to get us out of Tempe and into downtown Phoenix in air-conditioned style.

RSVP now!

As always – Meet at Tempe Beach Park at 7:30 pm (and absolutely bring lights and locks). We’ll head as a group to the station on 3rd & Mill.

1st Stop) The FilmBar
Phoenix Central Ave & Roosevelt
http://thefilmbarphx.com/

2nd Stop) CYCLE at The Lexington
Phoenix Central Ave & Portland
http://cyclephoenix.com/

3rd Stop) George and Dragon
Central Ave & Indian School Rd
www.georgeanddragonpub.net/

The light rail accommodates 4 bicycles per car, but some may stand while riding. While we’ll try to fit as many at a time as we’re able, a ride leader will be at the back to make sure everyone makes it.

The last ride back East as a group will be at 1 am, after that you might be on your own.

Lost? Late? Check the Facebook page the day of the event to see where the group is hanging out.

Saturday April 23rd – Steele Indian School Park in Downtown Phoenix. TBAG is sponsoring a new bike and beer festival to benefit our non-profit partners in Phoenix. Come down and have a beer to support local bike advocacy, and bring all of your friends too!

RSVP:

On the main Facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198355436849933

Ride from Tempe to the event with State Bicycle Co:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=121691557908860

Ride in the bike parade:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=209279869099628

Enter you custom Cruiser, Chopper, Lowrider or Freak Bike in the bike show:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122004684544651

Getting there:

There are a couple good bike routes from Tempe to Steele Indian School Park:

Along the Grand Canal: http://bit.ly/tempestwjbikeroute

Washington and 5th/4th/3rd: http://bit.ly/tempestwjbikeroute2

If you take the lightrail, get off at the Indian School stop and go north on Central. The park entrance will be on your right. Cross through the park towards the northeast to find the event.

Lightrail from Tempe: http://bit.ly/stwjlightrail

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!!

This is somewhat late notice for tonight’s meeting, but better late than never, right?

There are two important upcoming public meetings for transportation projects in Tempe. The more people who attend these meetings and provide public comment, the more clear it becomes that the City should keep supporting bicycling projects. The one tonight is a big one, for a road for which many people have asked over the years, “Why doesn’t it have a bike lane?” Well, it’s getting one, that’s right, it’s BROADWAY, from Rural all the way to Priest. That’s right, you will soon be able to ride your bike down a bike lane on Broadway to get to Boulders on Broadway.

Main info page here: http://www.tempe.gov/tim/Traffic/broadwayroad.htm (LOTS of info, plus a public comment form, too!)
Meeting: TONIGHT (June 7), 6 pm, Don Cassano Community Room, Tempe Transportation Center, 200 E. Fifth Street

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Also, there will be public meetings for another huge project, called the “Tempe South” project. This is part of the general regional project that brought us the light rail. It doesn’t stop there, oh no it doesn’t! That’s right, there will be some sort of link down to the south, to bring mass transit to even more of the masses. A lot of Tempe residents should be getting postcards and door hangers from the City to encourage participation.

Valley Metro has the scoop on their website: http://www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail/future_extensions/tempe/

The Tempe public meeting will be Wednesday, June 16, 2010
6:00–8:00 p.m
Pyle Adult Recreation Center (that’s by the library)
655 E. Southern Ave., Tempe

The Bicycle Cellar is staying open until 2 a.m. on New Years Eve, Dec. 31 to offer special valet bike parking for $5 per bike. The fee includes access to secure, indoor bicycle parking, restrooms and a changing area to freshen up. The Bicycle Cellar is located at the Tempe Transportation Center, Fifth Street and College Avenue in downtown Tempe.

Just a reminder that BikeTown USA visits Phoenix tomorrow. The event, which is coordinated by Valley Metro and Bicycling Magazine’s BikeTownUSA, is being held at the Tempe Transportation Center at 5th and Forrest at Tempe’s main light rail stop just west of Sun Devil Stadium. The event begins at 9am and runs til 11am. In addition to announcing the 30 bike giveaways, a Bike Rodeo will be held at a nearby park. Families with children are encouraged to attend the bike rodeo. Arrive by bike, or bring your bikes (parents, too) and you can learn how to ride safely. The Bike Rodeo is an obstacle course set up to mimic real world situations. Children and parents navigate the course (under instruction) to learn rules of the road and road safety. While you’re at the Transportation Center, take a tour of the new Bicycle Cellar.

Attendees are encouraged to use alternative transportation to get to the event. The light rail stops right at Tempe Transportation Center. Many free Orbit Circulator buses and Valley Metro buses also stop at the TTC. Bikes are allowed on the light rail and all buses have bike racks on the front. Parking is available across the street in the new 5th Street Garage. Visit ValleyMetro.org for bus & light rail information including automatic route planning.

I had the opportunity to stop by The Bicycle Cellar and talk with John Romero about how things have been going the first week. 17 folks have signed up for a membership in the first 7 days. John’s been doing some improvements to the facility including installation of a lockable retail display, two large work tables, a dual bike workstand, air compressor and a self serve beverage cooler that will work on the honor system. I mentioned to him that it would be a good idea to talk with the City of Tempe about installing an air hose to the outside of the facility so there’s air available for free, 24 hours a day. You can learn more about The Bicycle Cellar at their website or read a recent AZ Central article here.

What is The Bicycle Cellar you ask? You may know it as the indoor bike parking & locker/shower facility that’s been built and sitting dormant at the Tempe Transportation Center. It’s opening August 24th as “The Bicycle Cellar” and you can learn more about the facility here: http://www.thebicyclecellar.com.

Much of the meeting this month was spent attempting to reorganize the committee so that committee rules, membership, and process for reporting to the City of Tempe Transportation Commission are clarified. Some progress was made in defining the committee’s mission and certain operating rules. TBAG, among other groups, has a “seat” on the committee and we’ll try and make sure this remains the case after membership is defined. This discussion will be continued next month.

We heard reports about bikes on Light Rail (LRT), which seems to be going ok. Apparently, there is updated language regarding how to use LRT with bikes. For more info, see:
www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail/how_to_ride/light_rail_and_bicycles/

We heard an update on the South Tempe Corridor Study. Some options, such as LRT on Mill and Rural were eliminated because of technical constraints. The most promising options which still stand are bus rapid transit (buses in exclusive lanes which act like LRT) on Rural and/or Mill, a “modern streetcar” (lighter-weight LRT) on Mill, and LRT on Rural but in a shared lane with traffic. Obviously, my description here leaves a lot to the imagination. Please check out www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail/future_extensions/tempe/ for more accurate information and to make comments online. More community meetings will take place as more analysis is being performed.

We heard an update on the Broadway Road Streetscape improvement project. Several lane/landscaping configuration options exist, and they will be subject to more discussion and analysis in the coming months. To see options and make comments online, go to: http://www.tempe.gov/TIM/Traffic/broadwayroad.htm

As always, please send TBAG anything you want us to bring up at the committee meeting.