I guess we should point out that May is Bike to Work Month. If you have been thinking about trying to commute to work by bike it’s a great time to get some help over the initial challenges. The full calendar of events is at Cascade Bike Club.

May 16th is Bike to Work Day. Stop by the City’s booth at West Lake Sammamish Parkway and SR-900 from 6am to 10am.

Here’s an event close by that will extend bicycle transportation to our neighbors in Africa.

The ARAS Bikes for Africa Project

YOUR USED BICYCLE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN AFRICA!

In Ghana, an impoverished country, the main form of transportation is walking - lucky ones ride a bike to work, school and the market.

Please consider donating your bike to ARAS, a local non-profit foundation that is supporting the African Bike Project.

All bikes accepted, regardless of their condition or size (no tricycles).

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

BIKE DROP OFF:

Saturday, May 17th 9am-1pm

Sammamish City Hall 801 228th Ave SE

For more information: Mary Trask 425 868-8448

Unfortunately I can’t make it to this, but maybe you can:

Livable Copenhagen: The Design of a Bicycle City
May 9, 12 - 1:15 p.m.
University of Washington, Gould Hall, Room 435

Cycling is on the rise in Pacific Northwest cities, yet in Copenhagen, Denmark, more than a third of all commuters get to work on a bike. Alyse Nelson studied bicycle planning during the fall of 2006 and winter of 2007 to try to learn how the Danes created such a bicycle-friendly city. Her presentation will make the case for bicycle cities, present planning principles that make the bicycle a prevalent mode of transportation in Copenhagen, and provide details on how the bicycle fits on the street and in the city. The presentation will end with conclusions learned from Copenhagen and time for a broader dialogue with the audience.

(Lifted from the Cascade Bicycle Club “Braking News” email newsletter.)

Report back if you go!

Edited to add: If, like me you can’t make it to the lecture you can still read the paper this talk is based on:  Livable Copenhagen: The Design of a Bicycle City

WSDOT is working on their long-range (2008-2027) plan for pedestrian and bicycle facilities. Here’s a notice about the final public meeting on the topic. Note also the link and phone number for responding directly. I haven’t reviewed the plan. Let us know if you see anything to get excited about.

Final Public Hearing for State Plan—Mark Your Calendar

When: April 25, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Where: REI downtown Seattle

Join us for the Washington DOT’s last local public hearing for the 2008-2027 update of the state’s Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan. See what they’re thinking and add your voice for more and better options for bicycling.

The 60-day public comment period for the Draft Plan is open thru May 2008. You can review the background papers and the Draft Plan by visiting www.wsdot.wa.gov/bike/bike_plan.htm. Comments can be submitted either through the website or by calling the toll free number: 1-866-375-6729.

Public Hearing Calendar Listing

Next week is National Public Health Week, and part of the observance is the designation of Tuesday, April 8 as “Travel Differently Day”.

So if you’ve been looking for an excuse to walk to work or ride your bike to the store or ride the bus for a night on the town, here’s a little extra incentive. Lots more info at the link above.

In addition to NPHW, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is promoting ped/bike transportation with their Burn Calories, Not Carbon!™ Pledge. By telling them that you’re committing to get around under your own power you give them valuable ammunition to advocate for more trails all around the country. Win-win!

The city just posted the agenda for the 4/10 transportation committee meeting.

I had taken a group of action items at our last meeting relating to the Complete Streets projects for this year. After a quick meeting with Gary Costa and Rory Cameron from Public Works Engineering, I felt that enough of our issues were already being addressed that it didn’t make sense to do a formal letter from GAIT or solicit letters from our membership.

I’d welcome feedback about this decision. My rationale is that I want GAIT’s relationship with the city to be collaborative as much as possible. I’m sure there will be cases where we will need to be firm and disagree with some course that doesn’t serve ped/bike/bus needs, but I don’t think this is it.

Anyway, the CTC (Council Transportation Committee) agenda above still refers to the Village Park Drive project, but it’s my understanding that it’s on there so it can be removed from the list of bike lane striping projects.

I plan to attend the meeting this month (5pm April 10th in the Pickering Room at City Hall Northwest). If anyone else can make it that would be a great way for us to start showing the city the depth of support for ped/bike/bus issues in Issaquah.

GAIT will have a table at the Saturday March 8th Hobby and Volunteer Expo at the Pickering Barn.

This event has always encouraged people to have “activities” at their booth to keep things interesting. My thought for an activity was to play “stump the non-driver”, i.e., have people say where they go in Issaquah and talk about how they could do that with less reliance on their cars.

I plan to also have some basic flyers (maybe with a simple map on the back) and a signup sheet for the mailing list.

Here’s the info from the city about the expo. If you would like to help out at the table, or with getting stuff ready beforehand, let me know!

Hobby & Volunteer Expo

• For all ages!

• Saturday, March 8th

• At Pickering Barn

• 10:00am-2:00pm

• FREE admission

Discover local clubs, hobby groups, service organizations, and community activities for you and your family. The Issaquah community has numerous ways to get involved and volunteer!

Here’s Councilman David Kappler who found the route:

The city staff who did a lot of the work:

Some of the first walkers and cyclists preparing to cross Front Street:

Not shown are representatives from the many and varied organizations who supported the trail.

Mayor Ava Frisinger cut the ribbon for the High Point connector this morning. I’ll post some pictures later if any of them turned out, but I’ll have a hard time saying anything better than what local bicycle activist Kent Peterson wrote about the trail.

At 10am on Wednesday 11/28 there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new trail. Given the snappy name of “I-90 Issaquah-High Point Trail Connector”, the new link connects the trails at the Sunset Interchange (exit 18 off I-90) with the East Lake Sammamish Trail where it crosses under I-90. The trail is completely separate from the streets except for a signalized crossing of Front Street just north of I-90.

View Larger Map

This is a largely transportation-oriented trail rather than being strictly recreational. From the Sunset Interchange you can go three (now four) different directions: up the hill to the Issaquah Highlands, east to Preston on the High Point trail, or down along Sunset Way into downtown Issaquah. At the other end, the East Lake Sammamish trail will take you either back into Issaquah or along the east shore of Lake Sammamish all the way to Redmond.

I plan to be there for the opening. There’s more information on the Cascade Bike Club events calendar also on the City of Issaquah website though the details there are buried in a PDF.