Historic Erie Canal Aqueduct and Broad Street Corridor Master Plan
Before there was this…
There was this!
And eventually ….?
Cities for Cycling
Yesterday, Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (“BRAIN”) reported on a new initiative called Cities for Cycling:
www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/3513.html
According to BRAIN,
Cities for Cycling is a new effort by city governments to promote best practices in urban cycling and to increase the use of bicycles to improve urban mobility, livability and public health while reducing traffic congestion and CO2 emissions.
Bikes Belong and the SRAM Cycling Fund are providing support for Cities for Cycling—a project of the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO). Cities for Cycling is comprised of transportation and elected officials from Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
Let’s hope Cities for Cycling will allow smaller cities like Rochester into the fold.
Cities for Cycling
Yesterday, Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (“BRAIN”) reported on a new initiative called Cities for Cycling:
www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/3513.html
According to BRAIN,
Cities for Cycling is a new effort by city governments to promote best practices in urban cycling and to increase the use of bicycles to improve urban mobility, livability and public health while reducing traffic congestion and CO2 emissions.
Bikes Belong and the SRAM Cycling Fund are providing support for Cities for Cycling—a project of the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO). Cities for Cycling is comprised of transportation and elected officials from Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
Let’s hope Cities for Cycling will allow smaller cities like Rochester into the fold.
Bicycle Commuter Superhighways in Copenhagen
Bicycle Commuter Superhighways in Copenhagen
The City of Copenhagen is currently planning to expand the existing, extensive network of bike lanes to extend farther out into the suburbs. A network of 13 high-class routes – ‘bicycle superhighways’ if you will – dedicated to bicycle commuters and aimed at encouraging more to cycle to work.
Bicycle Strategy Could Change our City
Prepared for the October 24th GreenRide and Bike Summit.
(now with improved audio)
Monthly Meeting Tuesday Night!
When: Tuesday December 15 @ 6:30p.m.; may last until 8:30 p.m.
Where: RIT Student Innovation Center
- Welcome/Introductions
- Update on past month’s bike related activities
- Discussion of monthly meeting at RIT/UofR
- Discussion of biweekly (Sunday) meeting at SPOTS Coffee
- Discussion regarding Sunday group’s management of Events/Social Activities
- Assignment of leadership roles in following committees:
- Policy
- Events/Social Activities
- Advocacy
- Communications
Monthly Meeting Tuesday Night!
When: Tuesday December 15 @ 6:30p.m.; may last until 8:30 p.m.
Where: RIT Student Innovation Center
- Welcome/Introductions
- Update on past month’s bike related activities
- Discussion of monthly meeting at RIT/UofR
- Discussion of biweekly (Sunday) meeting at SPOTS Coffee
- Discussion regarding Sunday group’s management of Events/Social Activities
- Assignment of leadership roles in following committees:
- Policy
- Events/Social Activities
- Advocacy
- Communications
Brooks development too speedy for some | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle:
Residents seek a clear plan for river corridor
Historian John Curran gives a tour to Lynnetta Robinson, left, and Katrina Hanson of city property along the Genesee River. (SHAWN DOWD staff photographer)
Brooks Landing currently consists of a Staybridge Suites hotel, a retail/office building and a spin-off Boulder Coffee shop, all at Genesee Street and Brooks Avenue.
The next phase, to get under way in spring 2010 and open in summer 2011, proposes a six-story building — with a restaurant plus five floors and 85 beds of student housing — plus a drive-thru ATM and a two-story Chabad house, or Jewish community center.
After all that is completed, developer Ron Christenson is talking about condos.
Christenson envisions spending another $20 million on Brooks Landing, adding to the $20 million already invested.
A short distance up South Plymouth Avenue is the 120-unit Riverview Apartments, which opened in fall 2008. The city is studying how best to clean up the old Vacuum Oil site farther north, a riverfront property at the end of Flint Street. Stretching back from the river is seven privately-owned acres, including an old junkyard, that local businessman Thomas Masaschi bought for $660,000 last year. The land is assessed at $208,000.
Lake Ontario State Multi-Use Trail Ribbon Cutting
Lake Ontario State Multi-Use Trail Ribbon Cutting from Jon Schull on Vimeo.
Interesting to see who makes this kind of thing happen, and how….
Lake Ontario State Multi-Use Trail Ribbon Cutting
Lake Ontario State Multi-Use Trail Ribbon Cutting from Jon Schull on Vimeo.
Interesting to see who makes this kind of thing happen, and how….
City of Rochester | Highland Park-Canalway Trail Project
City of Rochester | Highland Park-Canalway Trail Project
About the Project
The Highland Park/Canalway Trail Project is a joint venture between the Town of Brighton and the City of Rochester. Fisher Associates and Trowbridge and Wolf Landscape Architects are on hand to assist the City with the project. 
The trail is intended to:
- Connect Highland Park with the Erie Canalway Trail and the Genesee Riverway Trail,
- Provide a safe pedestrian and bicycle route to Highland Park,
- Build a cost-effective, context-sensitive, community-valued trail, and
- Enhance the regional trail system.
Documents
- The Genesee Transportation Council’s Regional Trails Initiative Final Report and Action Plan recommended this project as a “Near-Term Priority Project.” See table 4 and page 54 of the document.
- Check out the 2004 Highland Park-Canalway Trail: Planning and Design Final Report prepared by McCord Landscape Architects and Lu Engineers.
- View or download the July 1, 2009 Public Meeting slideshow that shows specific project details, photos, and renderings.
Project Timeline
Project Initiation → January 2009
Develop Alternatives → May-June 2009
Public Meeting → July 1, 2009
Trail Design & Approvals → July-Spring 2010
Bid & Award Project→ Summer 2010
Trail Construction → Fall 2010- Spring 2011
Questions?
Contact City project manager, Jeff Mroczek, at (585) 428-7124 or email him.
'Bullet bike' keeps pace with city traffic | HeraldTribune.com | Sarasota Florida | Southwest Florida's Information Leader
‘Bullet bike’ keeps pace with city traffic 
Here’s part of the article. (The argumentative Comments section is worth reading, but all the controversy would go away if the vehicles were on a dedicated transitway.) Thanks for the tip, Rebecca
The 75-pound, three-wheeled curiosity is known generically as a velomobile, or a bullet bike. Mickevicius fell in love with it several years ago when his son, Ray Jr. of Toronto, began importing them from Europe.
In March, Popular Science described how Ray Jr. is now manufacturing velomobiles in hopes of creating a North American market.
The model his father brought to Sarasota this fall is called a Quest, which the elder Mickevicius labels the “sports model” of the industry.
It can blow away any bicycle on the road and is designed with such aerodynamic economy it deprives tailgaters of drafting opportunities.
With enough room to accommodate a bag of groceries, the Quest offers some obvious practical applications, Mickevicius says.
“I’d say a velomobile is for people who are concerned about the environment, and like to stay fit and have a good time.”
But don’t look for velomobiles to jam the bike lanes anytime soon. The Quest’s $8,000 to $9,000 sticker price guarantees an exclusive clientele.
Its fully loaded Cab-Bike model, marketed not as a racer but as a muscle-powered green alternative to automobiles, has completely enclosed interiors and runs around $12,000.
…
At the Bluevelo factory in Toronto, where just three new hand-crafted vehicles roll out a month, Ray Mickevicius Jr. doesn’t anticipate a transportation revolution.
NYC Bike Lane Design
Here’s an interesting video from the New York City Department of Transportation describing the newest bike lanes and signals there:
NYC Bike Lane Design
Here’s an interesting video from the New York City Department of Transportation describing the newest bike lanes and signals there:
Railroad bridge could become trail walkway
November 14, 2009
Railroad bridge could become trail walkway
Brian Sharp
Staff writer
From 200 feet above the Genesee River gorge, the abandoned railroad bridge offers spectacular views and some uncertain footing.
The 700-foot span, just north of Smith Street, came to the city as part of a $1 million-plus land deal in 2005. he land, nearly 20 acres of abandoned rail line, stretches from Charlotte to High Falls, and a significant portion will be converted to a recreational trail next year. The 130-year-old bridge was something of an extra — and also an unknown.
If it turns out to be the “workhorse” city officials hope, however, then it could be a stunning addition to the city trail system one day, on par with the Pont du Rennes pedestrian bridge at High Falls.
“You are pretty high up. It’s a scary situation,” said Tom Hack, senior structural engineer for the city. “(But) it does have a bit of coolness to it — it really does.”
Work began this week inspecting the bridge, a $135,000 project with the city paying engineers from Bergmann Associates, aided by Skala Inc. technicians, to go over the side of the bridge on ropes, to climb and check the support structure. The on-site work will continue into next week, with a feasibility study — outlining options from demolition to rehabilitation — due to the city by mid-2010.
“It’s really a process of discovery for us,” said Mike Cooper, project manager with Bergmann. “We really don’t have a lot of background information.”
Much of what is known about the bridge came from railroad history buffs on the Internet. The bridge last was used in the mid-1980s and decommissioned in the mid-1990s. Inspectors have found reinforcement steel, and some problems with the stone masonry of the east abutment. Up top, the steel rails have been removed, allowing some of the ties to warp and shift, “which is an uneasy feeling” when crossing on foot, Cooper said.
This is one of two unused railroad river bridges the city hopes to reuse. The other is south of Ford Street and links the Plymouth-Exchange neighborhood to the University of Rochester campus.
“There’s certainly a number out there that are probably still lying around, unused,” said Cooper, whose firm just completed work last month on the former Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge over the Hudson River.
Early indications are that Rochester’s bridge is sound, Cooper said.
Once the city knows the stability of the bridge, how much weight it will support, and other fundamentals, officials would need to decide whether to move ahead and seek funding. Factoring in planning and design, the project likely remains at least three or four years off, and could cost as much as $2 million or $3 million, Hack said.
The bridge would be another link in the Genesee Riverway Trail, and connect into the planned El Camino-Butterhole-Seneca Park Trail. Construction on the El Camino trail should begin next summer, running along the old rail line between Seneca Park and St. Paul Street, and crossing Ridge Road West on another old railroad bridge.
That work is being paid for with a $2 million federal grant and $150,000 from Eastman Kodak Co. Also next year, the city should receive $70,000 in state money to design a Genesee Riverway Trail connection on the west side of the river from Smith Street to Brown and Mill streets in High Falls. The city will spend $20,000 on a temporary trail connection next year.
All this fits into a larger $1 million connection running all the way from Lower Falls to downtown on the west side of the river. Separately, the city plans to put up signs next year for on-street trail routes downtown.
“Now, we don’t think that is perfect, but at least it will connect up from Court Street to the Riverway Trail at St. Paul,” said JoAnn Beck, the city’s senior landscape architect.
There also are plans for the city to develop a bicycle master plan, mapping connections to neighborhoods.
BDSHARP@DemocratandChronicle.com
NYSDOT rumble strip proposal. Use extreme caution!
The New York State department of transportation is proposing a policy that could doom one or our region’s most promising growth opportunities: bicycling for recreation, transportation, and tourism.
NYSDOT Proposing Widespread Use of Rumble Strips on Secondary Highways, Posing New Hazards to Bicyclists
Contact NYSDOT and Your Legislators—Urge NYSDOT Not to Jeopardize the Safety of Its Roadway Users!
CURRENT NYSDOT POLICY: Do not install rumble strips on secondary roads except in rare instances
PROPOSED NYSDOT POLICY: Installation of rumble strips will be the preferred practice in the design of all secondary roads with a few exceptions
Rumble strips are a well-documented hazard to bicyclists. Accepted practice nationwide dictates that rumble strips be used only sparingly on roads permitting cycling
NYSDOT is proposing an Engineering Instruction (EI), titled “Secondary Highway Audible Roadway Delineators – Guidance and Policy,” which is at variance with the practices recommended by the Federal Highway Administration, The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and other standards setting agencies. Such national agencies generally recommend if rumble strips to be used on two-lane roads if there is a documented run-off-the road accident problem—and then, used only as a last resort due to the hazards they may create for other roadway users, including bicyclists.
Contact NYSDOT and your legislators to urge NYSDOT to not issue the proposed policy. Ask them to work with groups, such as the New York Bicycling Coalition, organizers of bicycling tours and events, and local cycling clubs to construct a less hostile policy that better balances the needs of motorist and bicyclist safety.
BACKGROUND: Rumble strips, as illustrated, are audible roadway delineators or indentations in the shoulder pavement that make sound when a car runs over them at high speeds. While an important safety tool used to prevent run-offs on high-speed Interstates and other limited access highways, they are a well-documented hazard to individuals on bicycles and should be used only sparingly on roads permitting cycling. NYSDOT is proposing to replace current stated policy — not have rumble strips on secondary roads except in rare instances — with a new one declaring “installation of shoulder rumble strips to be the preferred practice in the design of all secondary highways” with a few exceptions.
In short, the proposal would have NYSDOT install rumble strips (with certain exceptions) on secondary roadways throughout New York State, compromising bicyclists’ safety and the quality of riding surfaces on thousands of miles otherwise scenic roadways. National practice is to have rumble strips nowhere with some exceptions on secondary roadways. By taking the opposite tack, NYSDOT’s policy promiscuously promotes rumble strips, going far beyond what is seen as efficient deployment. Aside from the policy’s cost implications, it is unwise. It means rumble strips in urban areas, creating or adding to the din. It means rumble strips on roads with speeds too low to generate sound. Rumble strips also mean higher maintenance costs for the taxpayer. And, of course, they pose a danger to cyclists by causing spills, erratic avoidance maneuvers, or causing them to avoid the shoulder and ride mingled in automobile traffic.
A check of other states with such secondary highway policies shows they require an accident analysis be done before such rumble strip use; the proposed NYSDOT policy does not. Other states specify where rumble strips are used, have at least 5 feet of paved shoulder between them and any guardrail; the proposed NYSDOT policy does not. Other states say not to even consider rumble strips unless there are high speeds and high traffic volumes: while the proposed NYSDOT policy does have speed and volume thresholds, they are considerably lower than those of any other state. There are dozens of other such examples in this EI where the proposed policy varies from generally accepted practice.
Action Alert from NYBC (Continued)
Contact NYSDOT and your legislators to urge NYSDOT to not issue the proposed policy TODAY. Call, write, or email (or utilize all 3 methods of communication) your Assembly Member, State Senator and the Commissioner of Transportation.
WHO REPRESENTS ME?
Prefer to mail?
Simply send a postcard (28¢ each at your nearest US Post Office) to your legislators and the Commissioner. For an investment of 84¢, you have the ability to improve bicycling throughout New York State, including in your village, town or city. Or, if easier, just stuff a copy of this notice in an envelope (adding personal comments if you wish) and mail (44¢ postage) it off to the Commissioner and elected representatives..
WHO REPRESENTS ME?
Who’s my Assemblyperson?
Click here to search by Zip Code http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/
Who’s my NYS Senator?
Click here to search by Zip Code http://www.nysenate.gov/senators
At the above sites, clicking on the highlighted names will bring you directly to the legislator’s official website where you may make comments.
How to contact NYSDOT:
Website: Click here to email NYSDOT https://www.nysdot.gov/about-nysdot/contact
Or write: Commissioner Stanley Gee
NYS Department of Transportation
50 Wolf Rd.
Albany, NY 12232
About the New York Bicycling Coalition
The New York Bicycling Coalition is dedicated to preserving New York State’s wide and smoothly paved shoulder network as an important asset for use by the State’s residents (bicyclists and pedestrians) as well as visiting cyclists. Since 1992, the New York Bicycling Coalition (NYBC) has served as the only statewide, not-for-profit organization of its kind advocating various “Share the Road” education and safety initiatives on behalf of both cyclists and motorists, while working to assure highway, street, and transit facilities are amenable to bicyclists and pedestrians. Support Our Efforts to Increase Bicycling and Pedestrian Safety and Access Today by joining online: http://www.nybc.net/donate
