Of the many programs I have worked on, the most popular and most successful has been the annual Bike to Work Challenge. The Bike to Work Challenge is a twenty week long challenge that begins in May, coinciding with national bike month, and runs through the middle of September. Participants in the challenge are encouraged to ride to work at least one day each week. Through a website that is dedicated to the challenge, participants log their miles, and are provided with a report showing how much fuel they have saved and how many pounds of carbon dioxide, they have saved from being emitted. This was the third year for the challenge. We had 150 participants log 42,000 miles. Over the past three years the challenge has logged almost 125,000 miles which saved 111,000 pounds of CO2. The riders have saved 5,700 gallons of gas, which equates to about $19,000. The challenge recently wrapped up, and many of this year’s riders have pledged to ride again next year.
The Bike to Work Challenge demonstrates that, when properly encouraged, people are willing to change their habits and rethink how they get to work. To reward each participant, we present them with a small prize package and a certificate displaying their miles for the year. The best prize is a smaller waistline. To promote the Bike to Work Challenge, we visit many of the region’s employers to talk with people about signing up. The single and largest opposition I hear is that the roads are just not safe to ride on, and there are no bike paths near my home or my office. This sentiment is very common, and as a participant in the challenge, I can validate that statement.
My experience working with the Bike to Work Challenge, and as an avid recreational cyclist have made it evident that we have a lot of room for improvement in Pennsylvania. The list of needs is lengthy, however there are some easy fixes that would have significant impacts for cyclists. There are improvements that can be made that benefit both motorists and cyclists, improvements that will benefit bicycle commuters, and improvements that will benefit the recreational cyclist.
Pennsylvania has more roads than most other states. We have more roads than all of our neighbors combined (excluding New York, however, we have more roads). State roads are about one third of the roads, municipal roads make up two-thirds of the roads in the state, however most of the vehicle miles traveled are on state owned roads. It is fair to say we love our roads in Pennsylvania. What we don’t love, it seems, is good quality roads. Thirty eight percent of all roads in the state have been rated as poor quality. We all know it when we are on a poor quality road, there are potholes, cracks, uneven pavement, puddling after a rain storm, and broken pavement at the edges. For a motorist these elements can cause premature wear to tires, brakes, and shock absorbers. Hitting a pothole can cause damage to the tire and wheel, but mostly makes for an uncomfortable ride. Things like potholes and cracks are an inconvenience for a motorist, but to a cyclist, they can be extremely dangerous. The bar jarring experience of hitting a pothole in a car can throw a cyclist from their bike. A broken pavement edge makes it impossible for a cyclist to safely reenter the pavement, and uneven pavement reduced breaking capacity. More than poor pavement quality, there are many safety concerns that make cycling dangerous. Limited or non-existent shoulders force cyclists into travel lanes, poor sight lines around curves create a blindspot.
Investing in improving road quality conditions benefits all Pennsylvanians. Motorists will be able to extend the life of their vehicles and have a more enjoyable driving experience, while cyclists will benefit from having a safe place to ride. Many of the fixes will make the roads safer for both bicycles and motorists. It is important that when improvements are being planned, that elements to make it safer for bicyclists be included.
Bicycle commuting is a great way to address some of the most significant challenges we face in society. The benefits of bicycle commuting are three-fold: a bicycle commuter is not burning fossil fuels, or releasing harmful exhaust fumes. A bicycle commuter is not adding to congested highways, and requires much less expensive amenities than an automobile. Bicycle commuting is a great form of exercise, which addresses the obesity problem. Making it more convenient for bicycle commuting is a challenge, our past decisions in land use and transportation planning have made for a significant barrier. We have developed our land with a primary focus on the automobile. This focus separated land uses and spread development far across the land. Very few people live close to their work, and the roads they take to get to work are typically highways. Those two elements make bicycle commuting a challenge. To effectively reduce congestion, we need to make driving an option.
How do we do this? First, encourage mixed use and traditional neighborhood development. These two land use strategies place office and retail space closer to the home by not having separate districts for each use. Think of boroughs as being the first mixed use developments in Pennsylvania. Building walkable and bikeable communities means that the automobile is only one option of many when it comes to transportation choices. Sidewalks and bike lanes provide more transportation options for people that live closer to work. Article VII-A of The Municipalities Planning Code provides clear directions on how to accomplish this type of development. We should incentivize the development of Traditional Neighborhood Development, rather than continuing sprawl development.
Lastly, Pennsylvania has some of the most breathtaking vistas overlooking farms and fields that have remained unchanged for a century. There are quaint villages, rolling hills, and wonderful natural features, all sites best seen from a bicycle. It has been said that, you never truly appreciate the topography of a region until you have ridden over it on a bicycle. Recreational cyclists are the people that enjoy riding comfortably down a trail, stopping to take in the views, and maybe eat lunch in a village along the way. Pennsylvania is ripe to attract bicycle tourists, but we must first invest in the facilities they need. To accommodate recreational cyclists, we must expand our network of off-road bike trails. In greater Philadelphia we are lucky to have a great trail network, one that is continuing to be built. The Schuylkill River Trail sees thousands of cyclists each week during the warmer months. Because of the visionary efforts of many, cyclists will one day be able to ride from Pottsville to Philadelphia and never have to mix with traffic on the road. In the northern tier of PA, the Pine Creek Trail takes cyclists through the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, all along the banks of the Pine Creek, all on a former railroad bed. The Great Allegheny Passage, which begins just outside Pittsburgh, connects to Washington D.C. via a dedicated right of way, available only to bicycles and pedestrians. These great trails are economic engines for many of the areas they travel through, and inject millions of dollars each year into the local economies. Expanding the trail network throughout Pennsylvania will grow our tourism economy and provide opportunities for jobs and entrepreneurs in places that they may have not existed otherwise.
I have explained how investing in bicycle facilities can have a significant net positive impact for Pennsylvania, so how do we do it? Unlike its motorized counterpart the automobile, bicycles do not require extremely expensive infrastructure. For only a small fraction of the amount invested in our highway network, we can dramatically increase the options for cyclists. Before we increase the amount we spend on bikes, it is important that we have a well qualified, full time, bicycle coordinator within the department of transportation. PennDOT is well staffed with engineers and project managers whose sole focus is highways, bridges, transit and freight rail transportation, however, the bicycle and pedestrian coordinator is only one man and only a part-time position. It is imperative that this position is fully staffed so that bicycle and pedestrian needs are properly addressed within the department. It is an impediment to expanding bicycle facilities that we do not have a champion within the department of transportation.
It is also important that we dedicate funding, on an annual basis, to building the bicycle and pedestrian network. As the legislature reviews the recent Transportation Funding Advisory Commission report for ideas on modernizing the transportation infrastructure, including funding for bicycle facilities must be considered. The costs to building trails, and including full width shoulders is only minor compared to the costs associated with expanding highways and extending transit lines. One of the recommendations in the TFAC report is to amend Act 44 of 2007 to reallocate one hundred percent of the payment made by the Turnpike to fund transit. Consider dedicating a portion of those funds to the bicycle and pedestrian facilities. Current and projected income from the PA Turnpike is $450 million per year. Dedicating even as little as five percent will will have a significant and meaningful impact on bicycle facility development. We can build a lot of facilities with an annual dedicated budget of $20 million. Fully funding a bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure improvement program yields much greater return than any other transportation improvements. In most cases, the right of ways already exist and only need minor modification for accommodation.
I hope that through this article I have made it evident that investing in bicycle facilities will greatly improve Pennsylvania. As we look to the future of transportation in the commonwealth, we should place a greater emphasis on the bicycle. Doing so will have long lasting impacts that make Pennsylvania the best place to live and do business in the US.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Shayne Trimbell
