WNJ: DelDOT assumes sidewalk snow clearing duty

Delaware On-line -- DelDOT spent more than a quarter of a million dollars clearing 70 miles of sidewalks after the last snowstorm, even as warming temperatures melted it before the work could be finished.

It is a new initiative the agency is taking on this year. Officials say they are performing the work to keep pedestrians safe and to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“Otherwise, people walk in the roadway and set up circumstances for a tragedy,” said Jim Westoff, a DelDOT spokesman.

The program had its first run the weekend after the Jan. 2 storm. Over two days, the department deployed contractors up and down U.S. 202, Kirkwood Highway and Del. 4, among other byways.  [Keep reading ...]

Poster's note:  Kudos to DelDOT for taking this on. Let's hope this program includes the Route 72/S.Chapel Ext pathway, south from Newark. Nearly 10 years of advocacy efforts have failed to address this facility from a rehabilitation standpoint. It serves a critical role as one of a very few safe I95 crossings, and is very popular among bicyclists and pedestrians commuting to school or a job. Yet it is long ago forgotten by DelDOT where any kind of maintenance is concerned. Perhaps this is a vital first step toward recognizing these facilities as a viable means of transportation, as witnessed on Route 72 below.

 

Denmark, Netherlands, move over

Top 6 cycling cities in 2014 – head east!  (Europe, that is)

Submitted by Angela Connolly

From the Friday Flats -- We have all heard about the supersized bike-share systems in Western Europe, cycling superhighways in Scandinavia, and awesome bicycle friendly cities in the Netherlands and Denmark. But how is the situation in Eastern Europe? Once looked down on as “poor man’s transport”, bicycling is gaining popularity and becoming the trendy new choice for the millennials - generation Y - of Eastern Europe. We give you a small eye-opener to some of the greatest upcoming bicycle cities in Eastern Europe.  [Full article ..]

1 Budapest, Hungary
2. Gdańsk, Poland
3. Lviv, Ukraine
4. Ljubljana, Slovenia
5. Bucharest, Romania
6. Tartu, Estonia

Poster's note: Timely submission given all the excitement surrounding Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and other well known bicycle-friendly cities that dominate the headlines.

Newark Power Plant Demonstration Draws Record Numbers

From Delaware On-Line -- The group Newark Residents Against the Power Plant held a candlelight vigil outside the municipal building here at dusk Wednesday, urging the city to find the proposed data-center project fails to meet the terms of Newark’s zoning code.

Leaders of the group called on city officials to “make the right decision” and deny a request for zoning verification from The Data Centers LLC. The company wants to build a data-processing facility and 248-megawatt power plant on 43 acres of the former Chrysler assembly plant.

More than 200 lined up along South Main Street Wednesday. Most carried candles, while others held red signs showing their opposition against the proposed plant.

“We’re here to reach out to the city, the City Council and the staff to ask them to make the right decision,” said Jen Wallace, one of the organizers. While the group’s members have different issues with the power plant, Wallace said they were all united by their opposition to it. “There’s actually lots of varied concerns about this project.”  [Full article ...]

Poster's note: A hearty round of applause for these Newark Residents - many on bicycles - who answered this 11th hour call to action. Backwards thinking, profits, and greed should never trump environment and quality of life. Yet this is exactly what the University of Delaware is threatening to do by turning the STAR Campus into one of the State's top 10 worst polluters. Shame on Gov. Jack Markell, Senator Chris Coons, and other legislators who have come out supporting this project at a time when Delaware's air quality is already unsafe. Climate change is another factor that goes unmentioned. Visit the No Newark Power Plant website for further details, and consider becoming involved!

Discover the Abandoned New Castle-Frenchtown Railroad - By Bike

Artist's rendition of the NC&F Railroad in Old New Castle, courtesy of Hugh Ryan Jr.

The New Castle-Frenchtown Railroad was started in 1832, and was one of the first railroads in the United States. It provided a vital link between the Delaware River and the Chesapeake Bay that was a fast and efficient route for north-south travelers. The stretch from Porter Road west to the Chesapeake Bay was abandoned in 1856, mainly due to competition which included the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

The route of the abandoned section of the NC & F Railroad, relative to Elkton and Newark, is highlighted in blue. The route east of Porter can be traced northeast along the active Norfolk Southern Railroad to Old New Castle.

While most abandoned railroads happened in the mid-late 1960s with the advent of the Interstate Highway System, the New Castle-Frenchtown Railroad met an early demise during the mid-1800s railroad heyday. Fortunately for rail trail enthusiasts, some evidence remains of the old right of way (ROW), in spite of several sections that were developed prior to its adoption in the National Register of Historic Places. For an abundance of NC&F route maps and history, visit HERE.

Bird's eye view of the rail bank, facing  just west from DeLaws Road. This stretch runs about .2 miles to Forrestal Drive, and is one of a very few where the rail bed is clearly defined. See it on Google Maps HERE.

A stone platform runs perpendicular and across the ROW - purpose unknown.

Remains of an old bridge pylon across Belltown Run.

Rail "Sleeper" tie uncovered: The first rails were a hybrid of wood and steel, and mounted on drilled stones instead of wood or modern cement ties.

Pristine wildlife habitat can be viewed from the ROW.

For the superstitious among us, the New Castle-Frenchtown Railroad is a ghost train hunter's paradise. It is also a treasure trove of artifacts and transportation history, most easily explored by bike. And you can learn more about it with a visit to the Pencader Heritage Museum.

NBP, UBP Weekend Events Roundup

Laura Wilburn, UBP's Executive Director

Crowds undeterred by heavy wind and rain, mob UBP Grand Opening

After searching for a new home for six months, the Urban Bike Project has officially moved into a new space in the historic city-owned building that once housed Wilmington’s police horses.

To celebrate, they had a spectacular Grand Re-Opening on Friday, January 10. Attendance was much better than expected.

According to UBP officials, the 6,440-square-foot location at 1500 N. Walnut St. will give the group more space and greater visibility in the community, while not straying far from its 3-year-old home off North Market near East 19th and Race streets.

Check out our on-line album for more event pictures, including raffle drawing and prizes.

L-R: Jim, Laura, Brian, Sarah, and David pose with the grand prize, just prior to drawing the winner.

Newark Bike Project's first tabling event for 2014 drew steady interest at Newark Charter School

On Saturday, January 11, volunteers from the Newark Bike Project manned a table at the school's Fitness Fair. This event, which showcased fitness, activity, and healthy eating habits, was very well attended. Students and parents stopped by the table to learn about NBP and bicycling, and picked up buttons, educational brochures, bicycle maps, and other handouts. Many of the parents expressed an interest in bicycling as a healthy family activity. Volunteers provided advice, and encouraged the parents to visit NBP to take advantage of the services that they offer to the community - bikes for sale, bike repairs, parts, mechanic's training, special programs, and of course, the opportunity to become a volunteer and get involved! This event was a great start to what the Newark Bike Project hopes will be a year filled with more opportunities to reach out to the community and spread the word about all the great bicycling related activities that they offer!

Hubbert's Curve, and what it could mean for bicycling

M. King Hubbert accurately predicted in 1956 that U.S. oil production would peak between 1965 and 1971. He was correct. The Hubbert logistic model, now called Hubbert Peak Theory, and its variants have been used to describe and predict the peak and decline of production from regions, and countries, and has also been applied to other limited resource production domains. According to the Hubbert model, the production rate of a limited resource will follow a roughly symmetrical logistic distribution curve (sometimes incorrectly compared to a normal distribution) based on the limits of exploitability and market pressures. Now, as demonstrated in the chart below, we have many predictions for world oil production, with most going into decline after 2010.

There are numerous predictions, but most follow a similar curve. Despite mass media frenzy, Fracking will never see the U.S. return to 1973 production levels, is disastrous to the environment, and is only delaying the inevitable.

Some observers, such as petroleum industry experts Kenneth S. Deffeyes and Matthew Simmons, predict negative global economy implications following a post-peak production decline and oil price increase because of the high dependence of most modern industrial transport, agricultural, and industrial systems on the low cost and high availability of oil. Where bicycling is concerned, the prospects could be enormous. 1973, the year of the Arab Oil Embargo, still holds the record for bicycle sales in America. Like snow shovels at Home Depot on the eve of a blizzard, bike shops couldn't keep bicycles in stock.

According to the National Bicycle Dealers Association, sales rocketed to 15.2 million units (20+" wheel size) in 1973. It was obvious why. Not only was gasoline very expensive, but station owners set their pumps to run at a trickle, causing massive lines. Often times, fights would ensue when someone was suspected of cutting in line. And those of us who biked back then remember a terrible increase in driver impatience and aggression. Folks looked for anything they could find to save gas, and unfortunately, went about it with rage. But it did provide a much needed boost to the bicycle industry. Among the most popular models sold in the early '70s were the Peugeot UO8, Raleigh Grand Prix, Fuji Del Ray, Schwinn Varsity, among others. These bikes typically sold in the $100-$150 range.

So are we heading for a similar scenario all over again? It depends who you listen to. Industry analysts, of course, paint the rosiest picture - while others like James Howard Kunstler and the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas are certain we are heading into a long emergency that no alternative energy source can back fill.

One thing is for certain; should we see a steady decline in oil availability, the price of gasoline will rise dramatically, forcing many folks to think outside the box where transportation is concerned. It could be a windfall for bicycle companies, bike shops, co-ops, and anyone else involved in the manufacture, repair, and sale of bicycles. And depending on who you believe, it could happen very soon, perhaps by 2015 - this time permanently. Below is a documentary on the subject, with some very compelling arguments.

Related:
Have the Obits For Peak Oil Come Too Soon?
Fears of global oil crisis aired at Transatlantic Energy Security Dialogue

Tour De Paranormal, 2 Years Ago

The past few Winters did not start out this cold, and there were many rides to prove it. Included in some of them was ghost hunting. In 2012, we explored White Clay Creek State Park in search of the paranormal.

The above photo, taken at the Baptist Meeting House cemetary, is very strange indeed. After examining this headstone, Bruce Wilburn walks toward the camera as I snap the photo. As a skeptic of the paranormal, I readily wrote this off as my breath, given temps were dipping below freezing. However, no matter how hard we tried, no amount of breathing in front of the lens could recreate it.

Then we headed north. Clinton Road, in West Milford NJ (where I biked many times in years past), was also quite interesting. Most of the time, we think of houses and buildings haunted. In this case, we have a haunted road, and it's even featured in Wikipedia:

Clinton Road is located in West Milford, Passaic County, New Jersey. It runs in a generally north-south direction, beginning at Route 23 near Newfoundland and running roughly 10 miles (16 km) to its northern terminus at Upper Greenwood Lake. The road and the land around it have gained notoriety over the years as an area rife with many legends of paranormal occurrences such as sightings of ghosts, strange creatures and gatherings of witches, Satanists and other cult-like activities. It is also rumored that professional killers dispose of bodies in the surrounding woods - with one recorded case of this occurring. It has been a regular subject of discussion in Weird NJ magazine, which once devoted an entire issue to it. In the words of a local police chief, "It's a long, desolate stretch and makes the imagination go nuts."

View Larger Map

Above, enjoy a virtual tour of Clinton Road.

A plaque found on one of several bridges along Clinton Road. On the surface, the road appears about as innocent as they come. But curiosity kills the cat, and nothing was going to hold us back. Not even the cold of Winter.

The adventure begins. About a half mile into the ride, we encountered a police officer, who thought we were totally nuts for being out on such a cold night - in the dark, and riding on Clinton Road.

Amy, enjoying a moment at Dead Man's Curve.

Strange creatures, from hellhounds to monkeys and unidentifiable hybrids, have allegedly been seen at night. If not of supernatural origin, they are said to have been survivors of Jungle Habitat, a nearby attraction abandoned in 1976, that managed to survive and crossbreed.

Well, no strange creatures, mystery headlights, or paranormal activity ... but then, the ride started at dusk and we were still several hours from midnight!

Fatty Pork Chop on Kirkwood ready for chopping block

Great news for bicyclists using eastbound Kirkwood Highway. An over-sized channelizing island (aka "Pork Chop") near the intersection of Harmony Road, built as the result of a new Super WaWa, will no longer block the bike lane. The photos below demonstrate how a bicyclist must take avoiding action - into the lane of high speed traffic.

 

The bike lane was the result of new construction, and is required as part of New Castle County's building code should the entrance include a right turn-only lane.

Mark Luszcz, DelDOT's Chief Traffic Engineer, followed up immediately upon our request. Thankfully, his colleagues agreed that this pork chop is over-sized and out of compliance, and crews will apply the knife come Springtime as part of a nearby pave & rehab project.

There is a Bicycle Policy in place at DelDOT to guard against hazardous pork chops. Included is the following language:

Mark Luszcz was instrumental in
the revised design guidance.

II Policy, Paragraph 3: “The continuity of existing paved shoulders shall be maintained at the widest possible width. The desirable width of 5-ft (1.5m ) travel way on the shoulder shall be maintained for bicycle use unless exceptional circumstances occur that require emergency operational safety improvements that compromise this width. If the width of a paved shoulder area must be compromised to less than four feet, the area shall be appropriately marked as a hazard for bicyclists and the Department shall concurrently nominate a project that will result in the restoration of appropriate accommodations for bicycle travel”.

There is also a design guidance memorandum, won by advocates in 2010, that specifies at least 4' of  shoulder offset, which should eliminate this problem during the design phase.

Above: A pork chop at Walther Road and Old Baltimore Pike was trimmed a few years ago at the request of area bicyclists. It shows what can be achieved when we take notice.

For an illustration of this error in 2009, and how it was corrected by DelDOT shortly after, click HERE. Do you know of a pork chop built after 2010, that impedes bicycle safety in the shoulder or bike lane? Let us know about it with a comment below.

Flashback: Vintage Warnock, 1977

By Angela Connolly, 1st State Bikes Secretary

From out of the attic, many treasures emerge - most often in the form of family photographs. Though yellow and aged with time, these precious mementos can bring back powerful and happy memories. When Frankie's Mom recently sent him a collection of family photographs, there was one in particular that captured a unique perspective. In this shot, carefully restored by Melissa Schweitzer, 10 year old Frankie poses on his Schwinn Orange Krate Sting Ray bicycle, and the photo captures an image of a confident, happy boy who seemed to know, almost instinctively, that riding a bicycle would take him to great places.

In spite of his love for bicycling, this precious image appears to be the only one that exists of Frankie at that age on a bicycle. The boy in the photo looks out at us, smiling, his back straight and his posture perfect,  his right foot positioned on the pedal, ready to push off.  Although smiling, he poses almost impatiently, as though he cannot wait to set off on an adventure. Perhaps that is why few photos of Frankie as a child on a bicycle exist - he simply couldn't stay still long enough for the camera to capture a shot! Knowing Frankie as well as I do, upon seeing the picture, I wondered - did the child in that photo somehow know how significant bicycling would be to him?

Frankie's first tour from NJ to Vermont, at
the Bear Mountain Circle (Rt.6) NY, 1985

Frankie's love of cycling started in early childhood. From his hometown of Radburn, NJ, he explored nearby neighborhoods, riding his bike for hours, near his home as well as in the surrounding areas. He rode to school, to town, and everywhere else that he could. When he took on a paper route, his territory widened. The bike became a way to earn some money. And as he grew older, stronger, and more confident, new opportunities came along, and new friends who would introduce him to the world of club riding and long distance touring. As a teenager, mentors taught him how to ride safely and how to channel his strength into speed. Although a happy period in his life, it was at this time that Frankie recognized that less than perfect conditions existed for cyclists, dangerous conditions that threatened their safety. Wanting to make a difference, in his early twenties, Frankie became involved in bicycle Advocacy, which has turned into a lifelong passion that he is devoted to. As he learned more about bicycles and how they work, he also became a proficient mechanic, able to maintain and repair his bicycles. He has mentored and advised countless friends, teaching them to ride safely, sharing his enthusiasm with them. And through the years, the little boy on the Orange Krate has become a man who chooses to ride a bicycle instead of driving a car, a man who has, to date, logged almost 200,000 miles on the many different bicycles that he has owned throughout his life.

Throughout his childhood, Frankie had several bikes. But the Schwinn Orange Krate Sting Ray was his favorite. So we thought it would be fun to re-create the photo that was taken 36 years ago, to celebrate Frankie's lifelong love of cycling. His cycling adventures are now comprised of commuting to work daily, long distance touring with his friends at the White Clay Bicycle Club, volunteering at the Newark Bike Project, advocating, maintaining this Blog, and continuing to mentor and advise friends new to cycling. And like the boy who smiles out at us at age 10, the grown-up Frankie continues to look forward to the adventures that await him.

Monty Python - Bicycle Repair Man!

A little humor for the holiday season, submitted by Angela Connolly .... enjoy.
 

 

DO: Urban Bike Project gets new home in Wilmington

Cross-posted from Delaware Online

After searching for a new home for six months, the Urban Bike Project is moving into new space in a historic city-owned building that once housed Wilmington’s police horses.

The 6,440-square-foot location at 1500 N. Walnut St. will give the group more space and greater visibility in the community, while not straying far from its 3-year-old home off North Market near East 19th and Race streets, leaders said.

“The building we’re currently in didn’t pass inspection, and it’s slated for demolition. We started looking in the spring of this year when we learned we’d need to move,” Executive Director Laura Wilburn said.

The opportunity to lease the Walnut Street building came out of discussions with the city, which had last leased the space to the now-inactive Urban Environmental Center, said Michael Leventry, a planner for the city and co-chair of the group Bike Wilmington.

“We’re excited about having a much larger space, so that we can have more flexibility in how we use the space and in how many people we are able to serve,” Wilburn said. The fenced-in property also offers “lots of possibilities for programming and events that utilize the outdoor space, once the weather gets nice.”

The Urban Bike Project began six years ago and now serves roughly 500 people a year, providing educational programming and mechanical assistance to city residents and youth.  [Full article ...]

Must see video: The Walkable (and Bikeable) City

(YouTube) How do we solve the problem of the suburbs? Urbanist Jeff Speck shows how we can free ourselves from dependence on the car -- which he calls "a gas-belching, time-wasting, life-threatening prosthetic device" -- by making our cities more walkable and more pleasant for more people.

Poster's note: Unfortunately, not much progress in Delaware as suburban sprawl continues unabated. Though many developments now have sidewalks, these are usually paths to nowhere, or are too far away from basic services to replace car trips. There is no requirement to connect anything. Sporadic and/or non-standard bicycle facilities also fall short, and in most cases, still require the use of arterial highways to reach meaningful destinations. No matter how many webinars, seminars, summits, bike-walk plans, etc we have in our tiny state, there is little on the ground to show for it. Land use planning is toothless, with weak policies that are easily trampled by development corporations whose only goal is to build high volume, high dollar, automobile dependent tract housing.

How to properly install and use a bicycle helmet mirror

As some of you may know, I believe using a rear view mirror greatly enhances road safety - especially in this day of distracted and aggressive driving. This particular model by "Take A Look" out of Greeley Colorado is, IMO, the clear favorite where quality and durability are concerned. They are made from stainless steel and brass, and can be ordered direct at (800) 832-2453. Avoid those made out of plastic - they aren't as stable, and don't really last.

If you choose not to wear a helmet, there is no need to order the adapter kit mentioned below. Even easier, the mirror can just be mounted on a pair of glasses.

Re-posted from February 13, 2012

From IceBike.org -- Cycling mirrors are one of those subjects that bring on arguments almost as intense as the "Helmet Wars" found on any cycling discussion on the Internet. They come around once every 6 months or so, and usually leave a lot of acrimony hanging in the ether. Roadies think they are too sexy to use mirrors, mountain bikers don't need them and break them too often anyway, but bicycle commuters and recumbent riders seem to gravitate toward mirrors sooner or later.

So if you are not disposed to reading the ranting of a mirror advocate it is time to click another link and surf to some area of agreement. This page is for mirror users or those investigating various types of mirrors in anticipation of a purchase. [Continue reading...]

Above: The author's personal favorite is the "Take a Look" stainless steel and brass mirror mounted inside the helmet. A flexible plastic adapter kit is available for the purpose, and can be custom shaped to fit the curvature of the helmet's interior.

Above: A closer look at the adapter without the mirror attached. The mirror can be removed at any time, i.e. if the helmet will be tossed around, thrown in a bag, etc.

Above: A view from the side. Mount the adapter so that the mirror itself is about .75" to 1" from the forward edge of the helmet.

Our transportation future, in two scenarios

By Angie Schmitt, Streetsblog -- How will Americans get around in the year 2030? A recent report from the RAND Corporation lays out two “plausible futures” developed though a “scenario analysis” and vetted by outside experts. While RAND takes a decidedly agnostic stance toward the implications of each scenario, the choice that emerges is still pretty stark.

In the first scenario, oil prices continue to climb until 2030 and greenhouse gas emissions are tightly regulated, as a result of the recognition of the harm caused by global warming. Zoning laws have been reformed to promote walkable urban and suburban communities. Transit use has increased substantially. Road pricing is widely used to limit congestion and generate revenue for transportation projects. Vehicle efficiency standards have been tightened, and most drivers use electric vehicles. This is the scenario researchers at RAND call, rather dourly, “No Free Lunch.”

In the second scenario, “Fueled and Freewheeling,” oil prices are relatively low in 2030 due to increasingly advanced extraction methods. Americans’ relationship to energy is much like it was in the 1980s and 1990s. We’ll own more vehicles overall and drive more miles. Suburbanization will continue. Roads are in bad shape because no revenues are raised to repair them. Congestion is worse. This scenario represents the future if little action is taken to counter the effects of global warming.  [continued...]

Kids are paying the price for reckless land use

From KFVS-12 -- Children across the globe can't run as far or as fast as their parents did at their age, according to new research.

In a one-mile footrace, a kid today would finish a minute and a half behind a typical child from 1975, said study lead author Grant Tomkinson, a senior lecturer in the University of South Australia's School of Health Sciences.

"We all live in an environment that's toxic for exercise, and our children are paying the price," Tomkinson said.

Children today are about 15 percent less aerobically fit than their parents were as youngsters, Tomkinson and his colleagues discovered. In the United States it's even worse -- kids' heart endurance fell an average 6 percent in each of the three decades from 1970 to 2000.

These levels of fitness in childhood will more than likely result in worse health in adulthood, Tomkinson said. Kids will have weaker hearts and thinner bones, and an overall lower quality of life.  [keep reading ...]

Poster's note: Check out my favorite book on this topic, "The Geography of Nowhere".

Gas Fired Power Plant Proposed For UD's STAR Campus

A proposed 279 MW gas fired power plant at the University of Delaware's STAR Campus in Newark would impact our health and the air we breath as bicyclists, and active Delawareans in general. Jamie Magee, a lifelong Newark resident and founding member of the Newark Bike Project, had this to say about the findings:

As someone who played outside daily in the 70s and 80s close enough to smell the Chrysler plant on some days, I feel a little insulted when supporters say the TDC project will be "better than Chrysler." Chrysler's problematic past is not one of the options right now. But to the extent that this comparison is made every week in editorials, I'm glad to finally see the following very factual rebuttal of that claim. Sadly, TDC's own projections of one of the worst pollutants, NOx, will in fact be HIGHER than that of Chrysler...

It has been found recently that vocal supporters of this project - most of whom it appears live outside of Newark - have been lying about source emissions as compared to the former Chrysler plant. Citizens and advocates are also dismayed given what we know about climate change, and the role fossil fueled power plants have in it. The University of Delaware tells us that STAR will be a center of innovation, including alternative energy and environmental sustainability "setting the stage for the campus as a vibrant healthy community by design". How a gas fired power plant with multiple smokestacks and visible fumes fits into this equation is not clear.

It's worth noting that Delaware City, adjacent to a refinery, is a noted cancer hot spot in the State. NOx, a pollutant with known negative human health effects, will be among the emissions from the power plant. The news has been kept very tightly under wraps by the City of Newark, the company proposing the power plant and the University of Delaware. City officials kept details of this proposed project private and have been in secret communications with Data Centers LLC, the West Chester, PA company behind the project, for over a year. View the timeline HERE.

Also gleaned from UD's STAR website:

An improved rail system will provide convenient, "green" transportation to the site for our clinical, academic, government, and business partners up and down the Eastern Seaboard in years to come.

As an earlier investigation showed, there appears to be no interest in bicycling as a form of "green transportation" on the campus. Plug-in cars are still largely dependent on fossil fuels as their ultimate source of power, and does nothing to address numerous socio-economic problems related to car dependency. Sadly, if you choose to ride your bike to work at Bloom Energy, or take it on the train to the Campus, there isn't even a bike rack to safely lock your bike. Maybe this will change in the future through the work of advocates, but it shouldn't have to be this way. Bicycle facilities, including bike lanes and pathways, should be on the drawing board well before actual construction.

Let's put a stop to STAR becoming industrial park instead of the Science, Technology, & Advanced Research center it was supposed to be. Let's help UD live up to its own mission of sustainability. Please Sign the petition today, and forward this link on to others!

Urban Bike Project Moves to a New Location

View Larger Map

Cross-posted from their website

The Urban Bike Project is pleased to announce that they have entered into an agreement with the City of Wilmington to occupy 1500 North Walnut Street, a building on the National Register of Historic Places that once served as the City’s horse stables. Their current location is slated for demolition and they have been looking for a new home for about six months.

See the press release for more information.

An open house event and fundraiser is slated for January 10, 2014. Details and further information to come.

Please see important information about what services will and will not be offered by the Urban Bike Project while they move to the new space. 

Poster's note: What fantastic news this is! Newark Bike Project is also in the hunt for Shop 4.0. Hopefully, it won't be too long before both Projects find a permanent home.

Up and coming Urban Bike Project 2.0

Urban Bike Project 1.0 - where it all began (not including Brian's house ;-)

Senator Carper's Response to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Act

Long time White Clay Bicycle Club member Joe Lazorick wrote to Senator Tom Carper in response to a recent action alert. Here's what he had to say:

Dear Mr. Lazorick:

Thank you for contacting me to express your support for the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Act. I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this important matter.

I currently ride a bike once or twice a week for exercise and I wholeheartedly agree with you on the importance of maintaining dedicated funding for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. I have been a strong supporter of legislation such as the Safe Routes to School Act and amendments to the MAP-21 Transportation Bill that preserve dedicated funding for non-motorized safety and infrastructure.

In 2011, I joined eleven of my Senate colleagues in sponsoring legislation aimed at improving roadways to make them safer and to encourage Americans to walk or bike to their destinations. The Complete Streets Act of 2011 would have encouraged federal, state, and regional agencies that received federal transportation funding to fully consider incorporating pedestrian and bicycle safety measures when roads were being built or modernized. Unfortunately, this legislation did not receive a vote in the full Senate before the 112th Congress adjourned.

As you know, on November 14, 2013, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced S.1708, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Act. This legislation would require the Department of Transportation to set separate regulations for motorized and non-motorized safety. The bill would also allow states to set their own safety targets and implementation methods. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Should I have the opportunity to vote on this legislation before the full Senate, I will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind.

Thank you again for contacting my office. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about other matters of importance to you.

With best personal regards, I am

Sincerely,

Tom Carper
United States Senator

Poster's note: We are very thankful for Joe and others like him who respond to these important action alerts, and take the time to write our Congressional leaders.

Senator Tom, center, is presented with LAB's National Leadership Award at the 2011 National Bike Summit. Go HERE for a complete recap.

The Economic Benefits of Bicycling

Enjoy a wonderful series of infographics on the economic benefits of bicycling, brought to you by the League of American Bicyclists. Just click HERE to get started!

Here is a link to the Alliance for Biking and Walking, and a report highlighting the impact that the bicycle industry and bicycle tourism can have on state and local economies. It discusses the cost effectiveness of investments, points out the benefits of bike facilities for business districts and neighborhoods, and identifies the cost savings associated with a mode shift from car to bicycle. The evidence demonstrates that investments in bicycling infrastructure make good economic sense as a cost-effective way to enhance shopping districts and communities, generate tourism and support business.