Attention Northeast Cyclists - Come to the Philadelphia Cycling Committee Meeting

On Tuesday November 16th BCGP will hold its monthly Philadelphia Cycling Committee -meets at the Bicycle Coalition Office, 1500 Walnut Street, Suite 1107, Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 6:30 PM (6:00 PM refreshments).

Since the Bike/Ped Plan Phase Two is underway, and the initial civic engagement meetings in the northeastern part of the city were not well attended, Therefore we are asking cyclists from Northeast Philadelphia to come to Tuesday's meeting to learn more about the City's Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan. We'll have the map out and forward your suggestions and input to the plan's consultant.

Alternatively you can mark your suggestions on Community Walk a google map based website setup by the consultants that allows you to pinpoint suggested problems. The login is WalkBikePhilly and the password is WalkBikePhilly.

Center City Bike Plan Meeting Tonight

Pedestrian/Bicycle Plan Public Meeting -- Center City

6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Municipal Services Building Rooms X, Y, and Z, 16th floor
1401 JFK Boulevard
Philadelphia, Pa

Philadelphia's Pedestrian/Bicycle Plan Meetings Underway

South Philadelphia Mtg 4_16_09 (5)
Originally uploaded by Philly Bike Coalition

Last night, at the Fels Community Center on South Broad Street, the first of four public meetings were held to discuss how to improve Philadelphia's streets and sidewalks for pedestrians and bicyclists.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 21 from 6:30-8:30pm at Municipal Services Building Rooms (1400 JFK Boulevard) Conference Room X, Y, and Z on the 16th floor.

Please come to a meeting, or fill out the online questionnaire, or both!

Additionally meetings in North Philadelphia and Northwest Philadelphia are being planned for May.

Upcoming Active Transportation Proposal

This coming Monday, October 20, 2008, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy will release to Congress "Active Transportation for America", a report calling for a greater federal investment in walking and biking. Rails to Trails is seeking an expansion of "Non-Motorized Pilot Program" under the Transportation Bill to "dozens more communities and attract a level of investment sufficient to enable active transportation to play a significantly larger role in meeting America's mobility needs." Rails to Trails is spearheading this effort under its 2010 Campaign for Active Transportation.

Also on Monday, over 40 cities and towns across the country will release their "active transportation" case statements, in which they present plans for how they will make their communities safe for increased bicycling and walking. Municipal, county and state transportation and planning departments teamed up development corporations and community groups to prepare these plans.

Camden and northern Delaware (Newark, Wilmington and New Castle County) are two communities in the Delaware Valley that prepared case statements. Altoona and Blair County, was the only PA community to prepare one. (We're not sure where PennDOT or the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission was on this effort, but obviously, it wasn't a priority).

The fact that Chicago, Seattle, Washington DC, Baltimore, Twin Cities, Portland Ore., New Orleans and San Diego all prepared statements speaks volumes about how much work Philadelphia needs to do to catch up with other major cities in developing a cohesive vision for how it will transform itself into a safer place to bike and walk. This underscores the importance of the planning process underway by the City Planning Commission to develop a Bicycle/Pedestrian Plan by 2010, which will propose how to close the gaps in the bike lane network, to improve pedestrian connections and to update bicycling and pedestrian ordinances and policies. The Bicycle Coalition sits on the Plan's Steering Committee and is also working to identify and promote important projects for funding in the next federal Transportation bill.