Happy New Year!!! 2016 is shaping up to be a stellar year for bicycling in the Platinum City of Fort Collins. Not only have several OMG-will-this-never-end type projects finally been completed with bike trails and bike lanes now open for use, but 2016 is going to be the year of the uber-headache for motorists, giving us cyclists not only one more thing to smirk about, but hopefully also catalyzing those of us that still tend to default to the car a chance to try out the bike a little more often. That’s right, the busiest road in Fort Collins — the one that bicyclists aren’t even allowed to use — is getting a facelift, putting travel along College Avenue at an Unbearable Plus™ driving level. What better time to pull your bike down off the garage wall?!
In the meantime, as many of us stick to our warm cars in the cold winter months, let’s be thinking about ways we can get more involved in making sure that bicycling in Fort Collins is safe and comfortable in 2016. The calendar is pretty sparse for bicycle events in January (see Google Calendar below), but that doesn’t mean you can’t get involved some other way.
- Consider keeping abreast of what our local bicycle advocacy organization is doing by signing up to receive their newsletter. Go to the Bike Fort Collins webpage and scroll down to the sign-up box in the lower left corner.
- Encourage your employer to consider becoming a Bike Friendly Business.
- Become a Bike Fort Collins (local advocacy group) or an FC Bikes (bicycle arm of the City of Fort Collins) volunteer this year. There’s always something that needs doing and volunteers help keep the wheels moving in Fort Collins.
Bicycle related articles from the past month
“Germany opens first stretch of bicycle ‘autobahn’,” by Alex Bowden in Road.cc. (29 Dec 2015) “AFP reports that Germany has just opened the first 5km stretch of a traffic-free bicycle highway that is set to span over 100km. Running largely along disused railroad tracks, the network will connect 10 western cities in the Ruhr region.”
“America’s Cities Are Still Too Afraid to Make Driving Unappealing,” by Emily Badger. New Republic. (December 23, 2015) Offering incentives is only going to go so far in getting people to get out of their cars and using other forms of transportation. At some point you have to disincentivize the behavior you’re trying to reduce.
“Letter: Ditch the car, vacation with your bike,” by Chase Pomering – an opinion piece in the Coloradoan (22 Dec 2015). Chase wrote a great letter about the benefits of vacationing by bike.
“Infrastructure & Environment: A State-by-State Look at Traffic Deaths,” by Mike Maciag in Governing.com. “The number of fatal car crashes fell overall last year. But in some states, they were on the rise.”