Volunteers Needed for Bike Counts in Center City and University City
The Bicycle Coalition, in partnership with Center City District and University City District, is conducting bike counts in Center City and University City. Would you like to be a part of this historic undertaking? All you need is a pen and 90 minutes during the morning or evening rush hour on any weekday between April 3rd and May 12th. To volunteer, go to this link
This is the legacy blog of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. It is an archive of posts from 2003 to 2014. Making your ride better since 1972. https://www.bicyclecoalition.org
Friday, March 31, 2006
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
No Deal Yet on the Pro Cycling Tour
No Deal Yet on the Pro Cycling Tour
With just 9 Weeks to go, there is still no word on the fate of the Pro Cycling International Championships scheduled for June 11. An official announcement that was supposed to occur last week has not happened.
City and State officials are working with Threshold Sports to finalize a deal, stay tuned.
The events predecessor the US Pro Cycling Championship was the largest one day prize in the country previous winners included Olympic Speed Skater Eric Heiden in 1985 and a young Lance Armstrong in 1993.
With just 9 Weeks to go, there is still no word on the fate of the Pro Cycling International Championships scheduled for June 11. An official announcement that was supposed to occur last week has not happened.
City and State officials are working with Threshold Sports to finalize a deal, stay tuned.
The events predecessor the US Pro Cycling Championship was the largest one day prize in the country previous winners included Olympic Speed Skater Eric Heiden in 1985 and a young Lance Armstrong in 1993.
In the Northeast the Hits Keep on Coming
Family crossing Castor Avenue struck by van
Two children and their mother were seriously injured by a van as it turned left onto Castor Avenue at about 7:45 a.m Monday as they crossed a street on their way to a day care facility in Oxford Circle.
The mother and two children were in critical condition, no charges have been filed against the driver.
Driver Convicted in 2004 Death on Harbison Avenue
A 30 year old man has been convicted for the Thanksgiving Day 2004 drunken hit-and-run death of a Somerton boy is facing a possible 17 years or more in state prison following his conviction last week on felony charges.
12-year-old Peter Roberto Jr. as the youth tried to cross busy Harbison Avenue, near Comly Street, at 6:45 that evening. Peter’s cousin, Lou Roberto, has created a Web site to memorialize the youth — www.peterrobertojr.com
Mayfair Works to Change Driver Behavoir
The Mayfair civic association has purchased a portable speed radar trailer that will be placed on busy neighborhood streets to show motorists whether they are obeying the speed limit.
The group bought the device from Information Display Technology, a California company, for $6,190. It received funding from the state Department of Community and Economic Development, with the assistance of Pennsylvania House Speaker John Perzel (R-172nd dist.).
Mayfair has seen a string of pedestrian deaths including two hit and runs, one of which claimed the life of a popular nun who ironically witnessed a pedestrian death the week two blocks north the week before.
Two children and their mother were seriously injured by a van as it turned left onto Castor Avenue at about 7:45 a.m Monday as they crossed a street on their way to a day care facility in Oxford Circle.
The mother and two children were in critical condition, no charges have been filed against the driver.
Driver Convicted in 2004 Death on Harbison Avenue
A 30 year old man has been convicted for the Thanksgiving Day 2004 drunken hit-and-run death of a Somerton boy is facing a possible 17 years or more in state prison following his conviction last week on felony charges.
12-year-old Peter Roberto Jr. as the youth tried to cross busy Harbison Avenue, near Comly Street, at 6:45 that evening. Peter’s cousin, Lou Roberto, has created a Web site to memorialize the youth — www.peterrobertojr.com
Mayfair Works to Change Driver Behavoir
The Mayfair civic association has purchased a portable speed radar trailer that will be placed on busy neighborhood streets to show motorists whether they are obeying the speed limit.
The group bought the device from Information Display Technology, a California company, for $6,190. It received funding from the state Department of Community and Economic Development, with the assistance of Pennsylvania House Speaker John Perzel (R-172nd dist.).
Mayfair has seen a string of pedestrian deaths including two hit and runs, one of which claimed the life of a popular nun who ironically witnessed a pedestrian death the week two blocks north the week before.
City Controller Seeks to Corrall Pedestrians
City Controller Seeks to Corral Pedestrians
From the Northeast Times
On the Boulevard,it’s crosswalk crosshairs
By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer
Soon after taking office, City Controller Alan Butkovitz directed his staff to videotape pedestrians crossing Roosevelt Boulevard at designated crosswalks.
Last week, he shared the findings with the news media.
The tape showed some pedestrians hustling across the 12-lane thoroughfare to beat traffic and others merely walking at a leisurely pace.
"That van just missed that man," Butkovitz pointed out, as a man strolled across the Boulevard near Benner Street.
State law allows pedestrians to cross streets that are marked with white striped lines. Motorists are obligated to stop.
"Nobody does that," Butkovitz said.
The city controller wants to find a solution. While pedestrians are allowed to walk across striped areas, he said, motorists rarely obey the law and are not ticketed for not stopping.
"We’re giving a confusing signal about what the law is," he said.
Butkovitz, a Democrat who took office in January, has written a letter to Allen D. Biehler, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The letter calls the Boulevard "one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in the nation" and says crosswalks pose a "threat to pedestrian safety."
It makes the following recommendations:
• The immediate removal of all white lines that designate these areas as crosswalks.
• The installation of metal barriers to block pedestrians from crossing the Boulevard at non-lighted spots.
• The removal of those fluorescent yellow-green signs indicating the areas as pedestrian crosswalks.
• Installation of new signage stating "Pedestrian Crossing Prohibited."
• A request that SEPTA buses stop only at traffic-lighted intersections.
• More police presence to stop pedestrians from crossing the Boulevard and to ticket speeding motorists.
Butkovitz said the crosswalks are dangerous because of the speed of motorists. The posted speed limits on the Boulevard are 40 mph south of Cottman Avenue and 45 mph north of that intersection. Few obey the speed limit, according to the controller.
"It’s more like fifty-five to sixty," he said.
A Castor Gardens resident, Butkovitz said the Boulevard is simply not pedestrian-friendly. As many as 106,000 vehicles travel the highway each day, and 16 people died in accidents in 2005.
Butkovitz is tackling the issue because he sees the job of the controller as the city’s fiscal watchdog and more.
"We’re not just bean counters," he said.
Gene Blaum, assistant press secretary for PennDOT’s District 6, said his department would be part of the discussion.
"We will work in partnership with the city," he said.
There are nine crosswalks on the 14-mile Boulevard. They are located at Garland Street/Smylie Road, Lardner/Benner Street, Disston Street/Longshore Avenue, Friendship/Brighton Street, St. Vincent Street, Faunce/Revere Street, Loney Street, Bowler Street and north of Red Lion Road.
Some of the crosswalks aren’t used much. Others are, including the one at Brighton Street that leads to a Kmart.
As part of the 2002 Roosevelt Boulevard Task Force, local and state officials recommended that the crosswalks be repainted and signs installed.
However, Butkovitz sides with the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration’s report, Safety Effects of Marked versus Unmarked Crosswalks at Uncontrolled Locations.
Issued in September 2005, it argued that crosswalks give pedestrians a "false sense of security." The report recommended that crosswalks be installed only at school zones, on lightly traveled streets and at locations with stop signs or traffic lights.
Butkovitz would favor additional traffic lights at crosswalks, but understands that might throw off the speed of motorists and the timing of lights, causing rear-end accidents.
The controller would also support crossing above street level, but realizes that construction of overhead pedestrian ramps would be costly.
Jaywalkers should receive $300 tickets, he said. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or waring@phillynews.com
I guess that eliminating pedestrians seems like the easy solution, the path of least resistance (a pun?). We can always make pedestrians walk a half mile out of their way because chances are if you walk on Roosevelt Boulevard chances you are not someone who is in political power. No one wants to deal with the real problem speeding!
"Only a nobody walks in LA" - Missing Persons
From the Northeast Times
On the Boulevard,it’s crosswalk crosshairs
By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer
Soon after taking office, City Controller Alan Butkovitz directed his staff to videotape pedestrians crossing Roosevelt Boulevard at designated crosswalks.
Last week, he shared the findings with the news media.
The tape showed some pedestrians hustling across the 12-lane thoroughfare to beat traffic and others merely walking at a leisurely pace.
"That van just missed that man," Butkovitz pointed out, as a man strolled across the Boulevard near Benner Street.
State law allows pedestrians to cross streets that are marked with white striped lines. Motorists are obligated to stop.
"Nobody does that," Butkovitz said.
The city controller wants to find a solution. While pedestrians are allowed to walk across striped areas, he said, motorists rarely obey the law and are not ticketed for not stopping.
"We’re giving a confusing signal about what the law is," he said.
Butkovitz, a Democrat who took office in January, has written a letter to Allen D. Biehler, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The letter calls the Boulevard "one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in the nation" and says crosswalks pose a "threat to pedestrian safety."
It makes the following recommendations:
• The immediate removal of all white lines that designate these areas as crosswalks.
• The installation of metal barriers to block pedestrians from crossing the Boulevard at non-lighted spots.
• The removal of those fluorescent yellow-green signs indicating the areas as pedestrian crosswalks.
• Installation of new signage stating "Pedestrian Crossing Prohibited."
• A request that SEPTA buses stop only at traffic-lighted intersections.
• More police presence to stop pedestrians from crossing the Boulevard and to ticket speeding motorists.
Butkovitz said the crosswalks are dangerous because of the speed of motorists. The posted speed limits on the Boulevard are 40 mph south of Cottman Avenue and 45 mph north of that intersection. Few obey the speed limit, according to the controller.
"It’s more like fifty-five to sixty," he said.
A Castor Gardens resident, Butkovitz said the Boulevard is simply not pedestrian-friendly. As many as 106,000 vehicles travel the highway each day, and 16 people died in accidents in 2005.
Butkovitz is tackling the issue because he sees the job of the controller as the city’s fiscal watchdog and more.
"We’re not just bean counters," he said.
Gene Blaum, assistant press secretary for PennDOT’s District 6, said his department would be part of the discussion.
"We will work in partnership with the city," he said.
There are nine crosswalks on the 14-mile Boulevard. They are located at Garland Street/Smylie Road, Lardner/Benner Street, Disston Street/Longshore Avenue, Friendship/Brighton Street, St. Vincent Street, Faunce/Revere Street, Loney Street, Bowler Street and north of Red Lion Road.
Some of the crosswalks aren’t used much. Others are, including the one at Brighton Street that leads to a Kmart.
As part of the 2002 Roosevelt Boulevard Task Force, local and state officials recommended that the crosswalks be repainted and signs installed.
However, Butkovitz sides with the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration’s report, Safety Effects of Marked versus Unmarked Crosswalks at Uncontrolled Locations.
Issued in September 2005, it argued that crosswalks give pedestrians a "false sense of security." The report recommended that crosswalks be installed only at school zones, on lightly traveled streets and at locations with stop signs or traffic lights.
Butkovitz would favor additional traffic lights at crosswalks, but understands that might throw off the speed of motorists and the timing of lights, causing rear-end accidents.
The controller would also support crossing above street level, but realizes that construction of overhead pedestrian ramps would be costly.
Jaywalkers should receive $300 tickets, he said. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or waring@phillynews.com
I guess that eliminating pedestrians seems like the easy solution, the path of least resistance (a pun?). We can always make pedestrians walk a half mile out of their way because chances are if you walk on Roosevelt Boulevard chances you are not someone who is in political power. No one wants to deal with the real problem speeding!
"Only a nobody walks in LA" - Missing Persons
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Chicago Envy
Chicago Envy
Chicago's dedication to a complete bicycle infrastructure was in evidence on a recent trip to the city. This success is a result of a long cultivated partnership between the City of Chicago and the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. This is the type of partnership that we are just beginning to forge in Philadelphia.
Consider:
Bike the Drive - Similar to Bike New York, the city closes Lake Shore Drive and draws over 20,000 cyclists.
A True Bike Network - While bike lane mileage count when compared to Philadelphia is less (120 miles in Chicago vs 200 miles in Philadelphia), the integrated approach and signage makes the system more effective.
10,000 Bike Racks - Which means bike racks are located in virtually every business district, every park, every beach etc.
Bike Racks inside CTA Transit Stations - The location of these bike racks inside the fare gates provides covered parking and offers greater security.
The Millenium Park Bike Station - Commute to work without carrying a lock, get your bike fixed, take a shower, rent a bike, buy bike accessories, sit on the patio and relax. The bike s station is a combination bike shop, manned bike locker, cafe and health club.
Two elements not yet in Philadelphia,
a sharrow (shared lane marking with chevrons)
complemented with bike route navigational signage.
Chicago's dedication to a complete bicycle infrastructure was in evidence on a recent trip to the city. This success is a result of a long cultivated partnership between the City of Chicago and the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. This is the type of partnership that we are just beginning to forge in Philadelphia.
Consider:
Bike the Drive - Similar to Bike New York, the city closes Lake Shore Drive and draws over 20,000 cyclists.
A True Bike Network - While bike lane mileage count when compared to Philadelphia is less (120 miles in Chicago vs 200 miles in Philadelphia), the integrated approach and signage makes the system more effective.
10,000 Bike Racks - Which means bike racks are located in virtually every business district, every park, every beach etc.
Bike Racks inside CTA Transit Stations - The location of these bike racks inside the fare gates provides covered parking and offers greater security.
The Millenium Park Bike Station - Commute to work without carrying a lock, get your bike fixed, take a shower, rent a bike, buy bike accessories, sit on the patio and relax. The bike s station is a combination bike shop, manned bike locker, cafe and health club.
Two elements not yet in Philadelphia,a sharrow (shared lane marking with chevrons)
complemented with bike route navigational signage.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Latest Hit and Run Fatalities
Latest Hit and Run Fatalities
(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA Philadelphia Police are searching for a hit and run driver who struck and killed a pedestrian in the Wissinoming section of Philadelphia early Saturday morning.
Police believe it was a young man that was killed while he was crossing Harbison Avenue near Glenloch around 2:30 a.m.
Authorities are looking for one and possibly two vehicles that one eyewitness said were racing at high speeds along Harbison.
A witness saw the cars racing along the road. “We saw them racing and they started going at least 100 (miles per hour) and turned the corner and we lost them at the turn a little bit and we drove up and heard this loud ‘bang’ and we pulled up and we just had to stop really fast and the guy was laying in the middle of the road.”
(CBS 3) BERLIN, NJ Investigators impounded a car that they believe struck and killed a South Jersey man in a hit-and-run early Sunday morning.
Warren Grumbling, 59, was struck around 2 a.m. early Sunday morning at Cross Keys and Colonial Park Roads in Berlin, New Jersey while he was on his way to work.
The car struck Grumbling as he was walking his usual 2.5 mile trek to work at the Berlin Circle Plaza Shoprite.
A photo on the website clearly shows that there are no sidewalks where the crash took place.
A good website that tracks Hit and Run Fatalities across the nation is at www.deadlyroads.com
(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA Philadelphia Police are searching for a hit and run driver who struck and killed a pedestrian in the Wissinoming section of Philadelphia early Saturday morning.
Police believe it was a young man that was killed while he was crossing Harbison Avenue near Glenloch around 2:30 a.m.
Authorities are looking for one and possibly two vehicles that one eyewitness said were racing at high speeds along Harbison.
A witness saw the cars racing along the road. “We saw them racing and they started going at least 100 (miles per hour) and turned the corner and we lost them at the turn a little bit and we drove up and heard this loud ‘bang’ and we pulled up and we just had to stop really fast and the guy was laying in the middle of the road.”
(CBS 3) BERLIN, NJ Investigators impounded a car that they believe struck and killed a South Jersey man in a hit-and-run early Sunday morning.
Warren Grumbling, 59, was struck around 2 a.m. early Sunday morning at Cross Keys and Colonial Park Roads in Berlin, New Jersey while he was on his way to work.
The car struck Grumbling as he was walking his usual 2.5 mile trek to work at the Berlin Circle Plaza Shoprite.
A photo on the website clearly shows that there are no sidewalks where the crash took place.
A good website that tracks Hit and Run Fatalities across the nation is at www.deadlyroads.com
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Haverford Twp. police investigating car-bike crash
Haverford Twp. police investigating car-bike crash
Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Sat, Mar. 11, 2006
Haverford Township police are continuing their investigation into a car-and-bicycle accident on West Chester Pike, Sgt. Michael Glenn, police spokesman, said in a news release yesterday.
A 14-year-old Havertown boy was crossing the westbound lanes of the 400 block of West Chester Pike on his bicycle Thursday shortly after 5 p.m., when he was struck by a 2006 Volkswagen Passat traveling west.
The teen had serious head injuries and was flown to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The names of the victim and the driver of the Passat, a 25-year-old Yeadon man, were not released.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Posted on Sat, Mar. 11, 2006
Haverford Township police are continuing their investigation into a car-and-bicycle accident on West Chester Pike, Sgt. Michael Glenn, police spokesman, said in a news release yesterday.
A 14-year-old Havertown boy was crossing the westbound lanes of the 400 block of West Chester Pike on his bicycle Thursday shortly after 5 p.m., when he was struck by a 2006 Volkswagen Passat traveling west.
The teen had serious head injuries and was flown to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The names of the victim and the driver of the Passat, a 25-year-old Yeadon man, were not released.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Bike Summit a Big Success
Bike Summit a Big Success!
The Bicycle Coalition got to meet with the offices of 16 Local Representatives and Senators during the National Bike Summit in Washington last week.
PA
1-Brady
2-Fattah
3-Schwartz
6-Gerlach
7-Weldon
8-Fitzgerald
15 - Dent
Specter
Santorum
NJ
1- Andrews
2- LoBiondo
3-Saxton
Menendez
DE
At Large - Castle
Biden
Carper
We asked for the advancement of earmarks for the Philadelphia Bike Plan and the completion of the Schuylkill River Trail between Manayunk and East Falls. Rep. Andrews called the Delaware River Port Authority CEO James Mathuessen on the phone asking for (and getting) a meeting with the Bicycle Coalition. In Delaware we asked for a bike/ped bridge over the Delaware Canal and a joint letter for better bicycle and pedestrian accommodations on Route 1 at the beach.
Me, Matt and Bob Evaul meeting with Congressman Andrews
The Bicycle Coalition got to meet with the offices of 16 Local Representatives and Senators during the National Bike Summit in Washington last week.
PA
1-Brady
2-Fattah
3-Schwartz
6-Gerlach
7-Weldon
8-Fitzgerald
15 - Dent
Specter
Santorum
NJ
1- Andrews
2- LoBiondo
3-Saxton
Menendez
DE
At Large - Castle
Biden
Carper
We asked for the advancement of earmarks for the Philadelphia Bike Plan and the completion of the Schuylkill River Trail between Manayunk and East Falls. Rep. Andrews called the Delaware River Port Authority CEO James Mathuessen on the phone asking for (and getting) a meeting with the Bicycle Coalition. In Delaware we asked for a bike/ped bridge over the Delaware Canal and a joint letter for better bicycle and pedestrian accommodations on Route 1 at the beach.
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