'Bicycle friendly' meeting tonight

If you want a say in the city's bicycle-friendly initiative, tonight's a night to stand and be heard.

University of Central Arkansas Professor and avid cyclist Peter Mehl has been encouraged by mayor Tab Townsell to help organize a committee that will help the city put wheels under Tuesday night's resolution to seek American League of Bicyclists certification as a bicycle-friendly city and use all of the natural gas severance tax turn-back money to identify and implement alternative transportation programs.

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at UCA's Irby Hall, room 120.

Mehl and a few others who have come to the forefront of the newly energized cyclist movement in Conway will meet regularly in coming months. These meetings will include discussion on which city roads would best be incorporated into a comprehensive bike route network and implementing numerous education and planning programs, but at the first informal meeting tonight he is hoping to find a few residents willing to make a commitment and possibly join the committee.

"I like the idea of anybody that's interested coming out to this," he said.

The local cyclist movement has been active "in fits and spurts" for a number of years, he said, "but things came together nicely with the discovery of the bicycle friendly community thing and the severance tax money will give us the means to really get something started."

Mehl said the Web site, www.cycleconway.com, should also be of interest to local cyclists. This Web site was created locally by Chad Files to "provide a place for people to share information, ask questions, and learn about cycling in our town," according to the site, and hosts an active online community forum.

Upcoming events for local cyclists will include a RideCivil/Critical Manners bicycle ride planned for 5:30 p.m. Aug. 29. Mehl said this will be a "short, leisurely" group ride from The Ride bicycle shop at Meadowlake and Donaghey. He emphasized that this and future RiceCivil rides will differ from "critical mass" rides in that strict adherence to the laws of the road shared by cyclists and motorists alike will be strongly encouraged in the pursuit of coexistence and cooperation between motorized and non-motorized traffic. City leaders and law enforcement personnel are encouraged to take part, according to information on cycleconway.com, and those who break traffic laws "will be asked to leave the ride, sorry."

In critical mass rides, which are held in cities worldwide on the last Friday of each month, cyclists use large numbers to, in the words of some, "take back the streets" for cyclists. In some, though not all cases, "taking back the streets has" involved such acts as intentionally blocking signalized intersections so the "mass" can move through against a red light and being overtly rude to motorists.

Townsell said he's seen critical mass rides in Conway, and they haven't seemed to present any problems, but said "obviously we like this idea that Chad Files has brought to us much better, because it's not just raising awareness of bicycles, it's also teaching those who aren't aware of the rules of the road the rules of the road as they go."

Townsell has also said that of the 84 communities recognized by the League of American Bicyclists, over 30 are also home to Hewlett-Packard locations. It is, seemingly, one of the things a world-leading company like HP looks for when choosing a new location, he said, and it also puts Conway "among the good company" of some of the most progressive cities in the nation.

The city's 10-step bicycle-friendly community action plan, adopted by council resolution Tuesday, was copied-and-pasted onto the council's agenda directly from the League of American Bicyclists Web site, www.bikeleague.org.

The 10 steps are:

1. Adopt a target level of bicycle use (e.g. percent of trips) and safety to be achieved within a specific timeframe, and improve data collection necessary to monitor progress.

2. Provide safe and convenient bicycle access to all parts of the community through a signed network of on- and off-street facilities, low-speed streets, and secure parking. Local cyclists should be involved in identifying maintenance needs and ongoing improvements.

3. Establish information programs to promote bicycling for all purposes, and to communicate the many benefits of bicycling to residents and businesses (e.g. with bicycle maps, public relations campaigns, neighborhood rides, a ride with the Mayor)

4. Make the City a model employer by encouraging bicycle use among its employees (e.g. by providing parking, showers and lockers, and establishing a city bicycle fleet).

5. Ensure all city policies, plans, codes, and programs are updated and implemented to take advantage of every opportunity to create a more bicycle-friendly community. Staff in all departments should be offered training to better enable them to complete this task.

6. Educate all road users to share the road and interact safely. Road design and education programs should combine to increase the confidence of bicyclists.

7. Enforce traffic laws to improve the safety and comfort of all road users, with a particular focus on behaviors and attitudes that cause motor vehicle/bicycle crashes.

8. Develop special programs to encourage bicycle use in communities where significant segments of the population do not drive (e.g. through Safe Routes to Schools programs) and where short trips are most common.

9. Promote intermodal travel between public transport and bicycles, e.g. by putting bike racks on buses, improving parking at transit, and improving access to rail and public transport vehicles.

10. Establish a citywide, multi-disciplinary committee for non-motorized mobility to submit to the Mayor/Council a regular evaluation and action plan for completing the items in this Charter.

(Staff writer Joe Lamb can be reached by e-mail at joe.lamb@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1238. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)