Everything Under The Sun: A Journey To Becoming Biking And Walking Friendly

Saturday, April 30, 2016

A Journey To Becoming Biking And Walking Friendly

Creating new bike trails involves mapping out the possibilities.

The US has never really been a bike-riding culture, at least not here in the 21st century. It has taken some amount of grassroots organizing and advocacy efforts to develop organizations supporting bike riders and also setting aside land for bike trails.

BIKE ERIE came together in 2012, through the efforts of two Erie, Pennsylvania, bike enthusiasts, Justin Smith and Eric Brozell. Both had noticed the lack of opportunities and safe spaces for those community members who wanted to utilize more physically energizing forms of transportation, like walking and bike riding.

This organization set out to make these forms of physical transportation safe, attractive, and accessible to the local community. As one of the founders, Justin Smith, explained, "Active transportation is inherently environmentally and economically sustainable."

Although Bike Erie is totally run by volunteers, the members have been hard at work. The organization conducts group bike rides weekly, offers meet-ups, collaborates with other similar groups, and participates in national challenges and commemorations. A blog was recently started to provide awareness, education, and more detailed communication.

Another area in which members are working is in infrastructure and policy. They are advocating the creation of a bike corridor to connect locations within Erie County, so that this healthy type of transportation is more relaxing and enjoyable. They are working on Complete Street Policies for the city of Erie to support the bike corridor, and provide safe travel lanes. They are also seeking bike friendly ordinances and zoning to provide safe places for both riding and biking. An urban trail snakes through some of the city streets already, about 50% complete.

Indoor bike racks at the Palumbo Center provide space for employees to stow their bikes for the work day.

Supporting their efforts, the group has been able to offer some limited services that have helped a small number of local employers to become bicycle friendly. And in the long run, lies the goal of making Erie a bike friendly community. There are five categories that must be addressed, known as the Five E's: Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Evaluation and Planning, and Enforcement. This template on the application to become bicycle friendly gives this volunteer organization a template on which to build their efforts. Although sometimes short on funding, Bike Erie is continuing its hard work and striving to meet more goals.