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Open Minds and Roads for Bicycling! AHTD Finalizes State Rumble Strip Policy On April 4, 2012, the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department released its final policy on the use of rumble strips on public roads in Arkansas. Click here to read or download a copy of the final policy. While not ideal, the new policy outlines a somewhat livable compromise between the Highway Department's concerns in trying to prevent motorists killing themselves and others by running off the roadway (excessive speed and inattention to driving being the primary factors), and the need to keep the roadway accessible and usable by all other modes of transport, like cycling. BACA commented on the initially proposed policy (look way down at the bottom of this web page), and we were pleased to see a number of our comments incorporated in the final policy... Next BACA Meeting is April 5 7:00 p.m. at the Oyster Bar. This will be our Annual Business meeting, with elections of new officers for the coming year, serving from April 2012 to April 2013. We'll also have update on national issues and the results of our Congressional meetings at the National Bike Summit, as well as updates on upcoming National Bike Month activities. A new proposed slate of officers will be published the last weekend in March. Several of our old officers will be stepping back down to the rank and file of our organization, so come out to meet and support the new folks!! All sitting BACA officers subject to election were named for replacement. Here is the list of nominees:
Two other at Large positions, held by Judy McDowell and Emil Mackey, are not currently up for election, since at-large directors serve two-year terms. Welcome to BACA!
We're a bicycling advocacy organization serving the central Arkansas metropolitan area, consisting of Little Rock, North Little Rock, Pulaski County, and the surrounding communities. BACA seeks to provide a unified voice of advocacy for changes in attitude and public policy that will improve the safety, convenience, and acceptance of bicycling within the Little Rock/North Little Rock metropolitan area and surrounding communities in central Arkansas. We envision a future where Arkansans embrace bicycling as an integral part of our way of life; where bicycling is accepted as a safe, practical, and equitable means of travel; and where Arkansans recognize that bicycling creates cleaner, healthier, economically stronger, and more livable communities. Advocacy is defined as the
act of pleading or arguing in favor of something, such as a
cause, idea, or policy; active support.
Our goal is to do so on
behalf of bicycling in Central Arkansas. We exist to advocate
the many benefits of bicycling to our community.
BACA Meetings BACA membership meetings are held on the first Thursday of the Month (with the exception of July and August) at 7:00 p.m. at the Oyster Bar, 3003 W. Markham, in Little Rock. The Board of Directors typically holds its meeting at the same location, same day, at 5:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome - you do not have to be a member. But, if you're interested in becoming a member, membership is free. Just e-mail your name, address, phone number & e-mail address to info@bacar.org. In January 2010, BACA instituted membership dues of $15 per year, or $50 per year at the Advocate level. While Associate membership is free, contributions are always accepted and appreciated. BACA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization; and contributions are deductible to the extent provided by law.
AHTD Proposes new Policy for placing Rumble Strips on State Highways
Clinton Park Bridge Opens to Public
After nearly seven years of advocacy work, the Clinton Presidential Library Park Bridge (formerly the "Rock Island Bridge") is finally completed and open to the public as of October 2nd, 2011. This bridge will be a wonderful asset to bike commuters in Little Rock and North Little Rock, as well as to recreational riders, pedestrians, skaters, and the public as a whole. BACA, and our "Close The Loop" task force, played a a large role in getting this project off dead center, and we owe a big round of thanks to task force chairman Steve Bentley and others who labored long and hard on this task. BACA was given first place in line to cross the new bridge, and we had more than 200 riders in our peleton... all sorts of cyclists, from club riders, racers, cargo bikes, cruiser bikes, mountain bikers, bike polo players, to kids on Strider balance bikes... All the classes of riders that BACA supports and represents. We even had a unicyclist! If you were unable to attend the opening ceremonies, don't worry... Here's the video of the first ride, and first riders over the Clinton Bridge! Little Rock's Mayor Stodola mis-spoke during his remarks at the opening Friday morning... The Loop isn't closed yet... as you can see from the link in the right column of this page, we still have a huge gap in the Trail system along Cantrell Road and the Episcopal School. The Clinton Foundation has upheld their promises and done their part to complete the trail; now the ball is in the City of Little Rock's court to complete the Cantrell Road section and do their part to fix past mistakes. With the recent sales tax election results, we ought to start seeing better, and safer streets, and surely there's something in that packet to finally "Close the Loop." THANK YOU, SPOKES!! BACA owes a huge round of thanks and appreciation to Mat and Regina Seelinger and the Spokes Bike Shop on Kavanaugh for their donation of a GoPro HERO video camera and handlebar mount to BACA's educational programs. The GoPro HERO is a high-density video which allows us to capture live footage out on the roads and trails to document good (and bad) practices as well as examples of road and traffic hazards in our community. Video can be a powerful teaching tool for bike safety as well as motorist and pedestrian education. Already you may have noticed that we've greatly increased the use of video clips from YouTube and Vimeo on our outreach pages. What you can expect in the near future is to see more custom video footage to help with local traffic conditions and problems. Already the HERO has been used to capture video in support of the City of Little Rock and Metroplan's application for a federal TIGER III grant to seek funds for building the "Close the Loop" trail by-pass along the riverbank behind Dillards, and to capture trail user behavior on the Two Rivers Bridge and in Two Rivers Park. Come to BACA's October meeting on "Sharing the Trails" to see what this little gadget can do for BACA and bike safety... And while you're at it, stop by Spokes (at the intersection of Markham and Kavanaugh in Little Rock) and express our thanks to Mat, Regina, and their trusty staff. Buy something while you're at it... They have the best coffee bar in town! Proposed River Rail Expansion would Wipe Out Cycling Routes
Both sides of Little Rock's Main Street would pose this sort of road hazard for cyclists if Metroplan's proposal to extend the River Rail system from Clinton Avenue to Roosevelt Road is adopted. Trolley tracks would extend down the center of both traffic lanes, making the section from 6th street to Clinton Avenue unrideable due to the tracks and on-street parking. Metroplan hosted a public hearing on August 30 to propose an extension of the River Rail system to serve more of the downtown areas in Little Rock and North Little Rock. While we're all for expanding the community's options for public transit, what we found at the hearing was that none of the proposed designs made any accommodations for bicycling... in spite of the City resolution in North Little Rock that requires new construction and street improvements to follow "complete streets" guidelines, as well as Metroplan's previous announcements that they follow complete streets guidelines. Currently Main Street is a major cycling corridor leading from the River Trail system to the South Main community. With the Statehouse Convention Center effectively corking the north end for through traffic, Main offers a usually quiet and calmed route to destinations such as Community Bakery and the shops along South Main. Bike facilities considered by Metroplan and their contractors, URS (of Fort Worth, TX) and Garver Engineering of North Little Rock (who should have known better) considered only the marked sections of the River Trail and the Medical Mile as "bike facilities," noting that "there are no designated bike facilities along ___..." ignoring the fact that under Arkansas law, every traffic lane not on a freeway or controlled access highway is open to bicycling, and many of them are used in that manner. Since the River Rail began operation in the summer of 2004, hundreds of cyclists have been caught up in the trolley tracks, many suffering injuries ranging from bruises and abrasions to concussion and broken bones. Every trolley track poses a significant road hazard to cyclists, such as the situation along Clinton Avenue, which causes most cyclists to have to detour up to two blocks away in order to ride east to the River Market District. If you like riding in the downtown areas, use this link to give Metroplan and their contractors an earful of static, if for nothing other than completely ignoring central Arkansas's growing cycling community, and remind them that more people ride bikes here on a daily basis than ride the River Rail... Additional information as well as maps and design proposals are posted at http://www.metroplan.org. BACA's formal comments to Metroplan can be found here. Sharing the Road (and Trails & Bridges) Goes Both Ways... Aristotle's e-mail server is on the fritz, but a battle is raging on the Arkansas Times blog concerning rude and speeding cyclists on the River Trail as well as the Big Dam and Two Rivers bridges. As BACA's president (and therefore perceived as being the Lord High & Grand Poohbah of Central Arkansas Cycling), there's not a week that goes by that I don't get at least one -- usually more -- complaints from the general public about cyclist speeding by and "buzzing" them on the trail system, or "zoo-bombing" at high speed down the Big Dam Bridge, slaloming between the shocked walkers and runners. We all love cycling with a deep, heartfelt passion, and want everyone to share that passion with us. We all want to go fast(er). But sometimes we're our own worst enemy when we get caught up in the ride, and don't pay enough attention to the other road and trail users around us. The River Trail, especially in its narrow, twisty parts, is no place to practice time-trialing, mass rides, or the latest sprinting or pacelining technique that we learned on last night’s race broadcast on the Versus channel. The trails and roadways are out there for everybody, and we all have a legal duty to act with respect and care for the others out there with us. Failure to follow that duty of due care is what keeps the tort lawyers in business. Right-of-way in America is
based on the principle of “first-come, first-served.” What that
means in real terms is that if there is somebody on the road or in
the lane ahead of you, he (or she) has the right of way and the
right to go first, even if they’re a little bit slower than you are.
The rules of the road – for motor vehicles or bikes either way – say
that you have to take your turn and wait until it’s safe to pass.
Calling “On your left!” doesn’t give you any special privilege or
rights, it’s pretty much the same thing that happens when a car or
truck blow their horn at you as they pass, wanting you to get out of
their way. While the state’s three-foot passing rule refers
specifically to bicyclists, it’s a derned good idea to extend that
same courtesy to other cyclists and to pedestrians when you pass
them. It’s never good manners to “buzz” by anyone at speed… give
them a little space for safety – theirs and your own. There have been rumors of
enforcing a speed limit or other sanctions on cyclists on the
bridges and the trails. I don't want to see that happen if we
can all exercise some common sense, and respect for others.
Let's be careful out there, because none of us are really as good a
cyclist as we usually think we are. As I've been fond of
saying, "Ride no faster than your guardian angel can fly."
Little
Rock Not Bike-Friendly? CNBC.com has identified Little Rock as the 4th most dangerous city (over 150,000 population) in which to be a vehicle driver, or a pedestrian, for that matter. This ranking was based on the number of fatal collisions per 100,000 population. More than one out every four traffic deaths was a pedestrian (26%). Not surprisingly, this fact has attracted some media attention: Taking a quick look around Rock City, it's not hard to figure out why the City's infrastructure supports such a high, tragic death rate. Sidewalks are few, narrow, and ill-maintained. It's not at all uncommon of high-traffic streets such as Markham and Cantrell Road to find the few sidewalks available to be narrow (47 inches wide appears to be the norm in Little Rock), ill-maintained, and only inches away from the traffic lanes. In many places where you have sidewalks, it's not uncommon to have a telephone or utility pole planted in the center of it. The urban freeways, particularly I-30, I-430, and I-630 pose significant obstacles to people needing to walk between their neighborhoods. Along I-30 and I-430, there can be miles between overpasses where pedestrians can cross the freeway. These overpasses commonly don't have sidewalks, either. Of 26 pedestrian fatalities noted in the Little Rock metropolitan area, 14 of these occurred in the I-30 corridor, and we suffered another one only yesterday morning, in Alexander. Without adequate, maintained sidewalk, Little Rock pedestrians often don't have a choice but to walk in the street or along the road shoulders. This makes them vulnerable to the next two killing factors in the equation, distracted and inattentive driving, and speed. Taken in combination, a majority of drivers simply aren't alert or aren't looking for smaller traffic like pedestrians (or cyclists) and at speeds above 35 mph, any collision is very likely to be fatal to the person struck. An additional factor, which can be blamed on the part of the pedestrian, is that these collisions often occur at night, and the pedestrian is wearing dark or non-reflective clothing. Think how many times you've been driving, or biking on the streets or the River Trail system when you encounter a runner or walker outfitted completely in black? You need to make yourself visible! Most drivers aren't psychopaths... if you give them time and a chance to see and recognize you, they won't run over you. Be Visible, Predictable (following the rules of the road) and Alert (to the traffic conditions around you)... these three things are not just good advice, but they can save lives... especially yours! Here's an on-line letter that probably ought to be viral: an impassioned plea for sharing the road: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs033/1102861874122/archive/1106209157277.html
Check us out!!
Proud Member:
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LITTLE ROCK"S GAPING HOLE IN THE RIVER TRAIL... BACA's 2011 Legislative Updates!
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