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Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas:

Open Minds and Roads for Bicycling!

As many have heard by now, Little Rock was not successful in their bid for one of the TIGER III federal stimulus grants to help fund the “River Bluffs” trail bypass around the Cantrell/LaHarpe corridor on the southern leg of the Arkansas River Trail.  While this is a setback, it’s not the end of the story… we just need to keep working with the community leaders to find a different path around this obstacle.

While I am sorely disappointed that the grant application wasn’t funded, in a way, I’m not surprised, either.  In BACA’s advocacy efforts leading up to and during the National Bike Summit this past year, and in other campaigns since then, I personally sat across the table or alongside every member of the Arkansas congressional delegation, and with the sole exception of Mike Ross, our 4^th District representative (who’s retiring next year), every single one of them told me straight up that they were sent to Congress to control runaway costs, and that recreational facilities should (and must) be funded by the local communities that stood to benefit from them – they were not priorities for funding at the national level.  In conversations with Boozman, Womack, Crawford, and Griffin, even the “Recreational Trails Program” from the SAFETEA-LU authorization stood to be eliminated if for no other reason that it was officially named a “recreational” program.

I went back and carefully read through Metroplan’s application, and while they were very careful not to use the word “recreation,” in keeping with the past year’s lessons dealing with the Republican delegates and their supporters, one phrase that was consistently used was “bike trail.” And in the design presented, River Bluffs was a straight pipe from Gill Street to the end of the Medical Mile, with no exits (or destinations) in between.  All the illustrations tended to show recreational riders, hikers, and runners, not commuters actually “going somewhere.”  That may have been enough to flag us as a recreational project, below the cut-off for funding.

At Metroplan’s request, BACA member Bud Laumer (who moonlights as the State’s bicycle & pedestrian coordinator for the Arkansas Department of Cars & Trucks, looked closely at the successful applications which included biking and walking facilities, and found a common trend:

At any rate, as Bud has astutely noted, we need to re-look at the way we present our projects in terms of the transportation advantages they provide, and like it or lump it, we all need to be in the game:  cyclists, motorists, pedestrians, and public transit, in order to be effective.

Here's wishing you a very merry and blessed Christmas and holiday season, and peace in the coming New Year...

The Friendly Folks at BACA...    

Little Rock & Metroplan apply for TIGER III grant to Close the Loop...

Little Rock and Central Arkansas Metroplan recently submitted a TIGER III grant application for federal assistance in constructing an engineered bike and pedestrian trail along the south bank of the Arkansas River, behind the Dillards complex, to "Close The Loop" on the Arkansas River Trail with what will be a spectacular finish... provided the City is successful in being awarded the grant!

A public hearing was held the week before last to reveal the proposed design, seek public comments, and satisfy the public participation component of the grant application.  If you haven't gotten a chance to see what's being planned, here's a look:

A copy of the grant application itself is here (warning: huge honkin' 8+ Mb download); and makes good reading on its own for the amount of research that Metroplan has put behind this...

Some of the hardcore utility riders have complained about the lack of exits or lateral connections for commuters along the new path, because as shown in this design, it's a simple funnel from Gill Street to the end of the Medical Mile and back.  But there's a bit of a reason for that:  Dillards has shown themselves for some time that they're not State Farm (not that good a neighbor) and like their neighbors across the street, they're not fond of the idea of having bicyclists anywhere around their campus.

At any rate, they're planning a spectacular addition to the River Trail which will definitely do the job of Closing The Loop...  We should hear from DoT about the success of the grant process in late December, and we are definitely hoping that DoT doesn't leave a lump of coal in the Mayor's stocking...

AHTD Proposes new Policy for placing Rumble Strips on State Highways

Clinton Park Bridge Opens

to Public

After nearly seven years of advocacy work, the Clinton Presidential Library Park Bridge (formerly the "Rock Island Bridge") is finally completed and open to the public as of October 2nd, 2011.  This bridge will be a wonderful asset to bike commuters in Little Rock and North Little Rock, as well as to recreational riders, pedestrians, skaters, and the public as a whole.  BACA, and our "Close The Loop" task force, played a a large role in getting this project off dead center, and we owe a big round of thanks to task force chairman Steve Bentley and others who labored long and hard on this task.  BACA was given first place in line to cross the new bridge, and we had more than 200 riders in our peleton... all sorts of cyclists, from club riders, racers, cargo bikes, cruiser bikes, mountain bikers, bike polo players, to kids on Strider balance bikes... All the classes of riders that BACA supports and represents.  We even had a unicyclist!

If you were unable to attend the opening ceremonies, don't worry...  Here's the video of the first ride, and first riders over the Clinton Bridge!

Little Rock's Mayor Stodola mis-spoke during his remarks at the opening Friday morning...  The Loop isn't closed yet...  as you can see from the link in the right column of this page, we still have a huge gap in the Trail system along Cantrell Road and the Episcopal School.  The Clinton Foundation has upheld their promises and done their part to complete the trail; now the ball is in the City of Little Rock's court to complete the Cantrell Road section and do their part to fix past mistakes.  With the recent sales tax election results, we ought to start seeing better, and safer streets, and surely there's something in that packet to finally "Close the Loop."

THANK YOU, SPOKES!!

BACA owes a huge round of thanks and appreciation to Mat and Regina Seelinger and the Spokes Bike Shop on Kavanaugh for their donation of a GoPro HERO video camera and handlebar mount to BACA's educational programs.  The GoPro HERO is a high-density video which allows us to capture live footage out on the roads and trails to document good (and bad) practices as well as examples of road and traffic hazards in our community.

Video can be a powerful teaching tool for bike safety as well as motorist and pedestrian education.  Already you may have noticed that we've greatly increased the use of video clips from YouTube and Vimeo on our outreach pages.  What you can expect in the near future is to see more custom video footage to help with local traffic conditions and problems.  Already the HERO has been used to capture video in support of the City of Little Rock and Metroplan's application for a federal TIGER III grant to seek funds for building the "Close the Loop" trail by-pass along the riverbank behind Dillards, and to capture trail user behavior on the Two Rivers Bridge and in Two Rivers Park.  Come to BACA's October meeting on "Sharing the Trails" to see what this little gadget can do for BACA and bike safety...

And while you're at it, stop by Spokes (at the intersection of Markham and Kavanaugh in Little Rock) and express our thanks to Mat, Regina, and their trusty staff.  Buy something while you're at it...  They have the best coffee bar in town!

Proposed River Rail Expansion would Wipe Out Cycling Routes

Both sides of Little Rock's Main Street would pose this sort of road hazard for cyclists if Metroplan's proposal to extend the River Rail system from Clinton Avenue to Roosevelt Road is adopted.  Trolley tracks would extend down the center of both traffic lanes, making the section from 6th street to Clinton Avenue unrideable due to the tracks and on-street parking.

Metroplan hosted a public hearing on August 30 to propose an extension of the River Rail system to serve more of the downtown areas in Little Rock and North Little Rock.  While we're all for expanding the community's options for public transit, what we found at the hearing was that none of the proposed designs made any accommodations for bicycling...  in spite of the City resolution in North Little Rock that requires new construction and street improvements to follow "complete streets" guidelines, as well as Metroplan's previous announcements that they follow complete streets guidelines.  Currently Main Street is a major cycling corridor leading from the River Trail system to the South Main community.  With the Statehouse Convention Center effectively corking the north end for through traffic, Main offers a usually quiet and calmed route to destinations such as Community Bakery and the shops along South Main.

Bike facilities considered by Metroplan and their contractors, URS (of Fort Worth, TX) and Garver Engineering of North Little Rock (who should have known better) considered only the marked sections of the River Trail and the Medical Mile as "bike facilities," noting that "there are no designated bike facilities along ___..." ignoring the fact that under Arkansas law, every traffic lane not on a freeway or controlled access highway is open to bicycling, and many of them are used in that manner. 

Since the River Rail began operation in the summer of 2004, hundreds of cyclists have been caught up in the trolley tracks, many suffering injuries ranging from bruises and abrasions to concussion and broken bones.  Every trolley track poses a significant road hazard to cyclists, such as the situation along Clinton Avenue, which causes most cyclists to have to detour up to two blocks away in order to ride east to the River Market District.

If you like riding in the downtown areas, use this link to give Metroplan and their contractors an earful of static, if for nothing other than completely ignoring central Arkansas's growing cycling community, and remind them that more people ride bikes here on a daily basis than ride the River Rail...

Additional information as well as maps and design proposals are posted at http://www.metroplan.org.

BACA's formal comments to Metroplan can be found here.

Sharing the Road (and Trails & Bridges) Goes Both Ways...

Aristotle's e-mail server is on the fritz, but a battle is raging on the Arkansas Times blog concerning rude and speeding cyclists on the River Trail as well as the Big Dam and Two Rivers bridges.

As BACA's president (and therefore perceived as being the Lord High & Grand Poohbah of Central Arkansas Cycling), there's not a week that goes by that I don't get at least one -- usually more -- complaints from the general public about cyclist speeding by and "buzzing" them on the trail system, or "zoo-bombing" at high speed down the Big Dam Bridge, slaloming between the shocked walkers and runners.

We all love cycling with a deep, heartfelt passion, and want everyone to share that passion with us.  We all want to go fast(er).  But sometimes we're our own worst enemy when we get caught up in the ride, and don't pay enough attention to the other road and trail users around us.  The River Trail, especially in its narrow, twisty parts, is no place to practice time-trialing, mass rides, or the latest sprinting or pacelining technique that we learned on last night’s race broadcast on the Versus channel. The trails and roadways are out there for everybody, and we all have a legal duty to act with respect and care for the others out there with us. Failure to follow that duty of due care is what keeps the tort lawyers in business.

Right-of-way in America is based on the principle of “first-come, first-served.” What that means in real terms is that if there is somebody on the road or in the lane ahead of you, he (or she) has the right of way and the right to go first, even if they’re a little bit slower than you are. The rules of the road – for motor vehicles or bikes either way – say that you have to take your turn and wait until it’s safe to pass. Calling “On your left!” doesn’t give you any special privilege or rights, it’s pretty much the same thing that happens when a car or truck blow their horn at you as they pass, wanting you to get out of their way. While the state’s three-foot passing rule refers specifically to bicyclists, it’s a derned good idea to extend that same courtesy to other cyclists and to pedestrians when you pass them. It’s never good manners to “buzz” by anyone at speed… give them a little space for safety – theirs and your own.

Cyclists are probably the first folks to yell about “sharing the road” when someone infringes on our right of way, but in many cases we’re not willing to extend that same courtesy toward others who might be a little slower than we are. “Share the Road” means just that – each taking their proper turn and extending the same courtesy toward others that we would expect for ourselves.

There have been rumors of enforcing a speed limit or other sanctions on cyclists on the bridges and the trails.  I don't want to see that happen if we can all exercise some common sense, and respect for others.  Let's be careful out there, because none of us are really as good a cyclist as we usually think we are.  As I've been fond of saying, "Ride no faster than your guardian angel can fly."

North Little Rock expands bike paths northward with planned purchase of abandoned rail spur

North Little Rock Reacts to Road Hazard
on Harper's Loop Route

Cyclists riding North Little Rock's popular Harper's Loop route have long been plagued by the sharply diagonal crossing of the Arkansas Midland Railroad at the intersection of Crockett and Lincoln streets.  The rails here nearly parallel the roadway, and if you don't pay close attention, it's easy to get your front wheel trapped in the rails and suffer a nasty fall:

Arkansas Midland rail crossing at the intersection of Lincoln and Crockett on Harper's Loop.  Note that the rail line is very nearly parallel to the crossed roadway, creating a significant hazard for bikes. Left - looking east; right, looking west, back toward the downtown area. This is still an occasionally active track for freight, so closing and pulling the rails was not an option.
Why cyclists should avoid getting tangled up in railroad and trolley tracks... Photo: courtesy of Chris Daigle		Rail crossings present a significant fall hazard for cyclists because the gap between the rails and the road crossing provide a perfect opportunity to trap a bicycle wheel and cause a diverting fall -- straight and hard to the pavement. Plus, the smooth metal surface of the rail is slippery, even more so when conditions are damp or wet.  Prudent riders will always try to cross rail or trolley tracks with their front wheel as perpendicular [at right angles] to the rails as possible, and avoid riding close and parallel to the tracks. In early August, a cyclist fell on the tracks here at the Midland crossing, and fell face-first to the pavement, suffering cracked bones in her wrist and a shocking facial bruises.  Fortunately she was wearing a bike helmet, which performed its duty in helping prevent a more serious injury.  A complaint was forwarded to BACA, and we made some key contacts to see what could be done. Response was swift...  within 24 hours the NLR Bike-Friendly Committee was convened at the rail crossing, with the Mayor, city traffic manager, and street department director in attendance.  Within the next 24 hours, the City had completed improvements to the site to make it safer for cyclists and indicate the safest way to cross the tracks.
Rail crossing warning signs were erected on both sides of the tracks, and a bike lane was striped to indicate the proper path to follow when approaching the tracks, encouraging riders to cross at a proper right angle.   Gaps near the rails were also filled with asphalt, leaving room on the inner edge for the railcar wheels to work properly. Informally dubbed "Ramona's Crossing" after our hapless victim, the efforts here are a great success story in the partnership between the local cycling community and North Little Rock's city leadership...  one of the clear indicators of just what makes a community really "bicycle-friendly." And since Arkansas's railroads (as well as the Arkansas Department of Cars and Trucks) seem to be incapable of matching roadways and railroad at right angles anywhere near here, here's a nice reminder about safe methods to cross railroad (and trolley) tracks.  A little pedantic, but it's some good information:

Little Rock Not Bike-Friendly?
Guess What... Pedestrians are Having a Real Hard Time, Too!

CNBC.com has identified Little Rock as the 4th most dangerous city (over 150,000 population) in which to be a vehicle driver, or a pedestrian, for that matter.   This ranking was based on the number of fatal collisions per 100,000 population.  More than one out every four traffic deaths was a pedestrian (26%).  Not surprisingly, this fact has attracted some media attention:

• KATV/Channel 7 coverage

• KTHV/Channel 11 coverage

Taking a quick look around Rock City, it's not hard to figure out why the City's infrastructure supports such a high, tragic death rate.  Sidewalks are few, narrow, and ill-maintained.  It's not at all uncommon of high-traffic streets such as Markham and Cantrell Road to find the few sidewalks available to be narrow (47 inches wide appears to be the norm in Little Rock), ill-maintained, and only inches away from the traffic lanes.   In many places where you have sidewalks, it's not uncommon to have a telephone or utility pole planted in the center of it.   The urban freeways, particularly I-30, I-430, and I-630 pose significant obstacles to people needing to walk between their neighborhoods. Along I-30 and I-430, there can be miles between overpasses where pedestrians can cross the freeway.  These overpasses commonly don't have sidewalks, either.  Of 26 pedestrian fatalities noted in the Little Rock metropolitan area, 14 of these occurred in the I-30 corridor, and we suffered another one only yesterday morning, in Alexander. 

Without adequate, maintained sidewalk, Little Rock pedestrians often don't have a choice but to walk in the street or along the road shoulders.  This makes them vulnerable to the next two killing factors in the equation, distracted and inattentive driving, and speed.  Taken in combination, a majority of drivers simply aren't alert or aren't looking for smaller traffic like pedestrians (or cyclists) and at speeds above 35 mph, any collision is very likely to be fatal to the person struck.

An additional factor, which can be blamed on the part of the pedestrian, is that these collisions often occur at night, and the pedestrian is wearing dark or non-reflective clothing.  Think how many times you've been driving, or biking on the streets or the River Trail system when you encounter a runner or walker outfitted completely in black?  You need to make yourself visible!  Most drivers aren't psychopaths... if you give them time and a chance to see and recognize you, they won't run over you.  Be Visible, Predictable (following the rules of the road) and Alert (to the traffic conditions around you)...  these three things are not just good advice, but they can save lives... especially yours!

Two Rivers Bridge Opens,
Expands Western Horizons...

July 8 saw the dedication of the new Two Rivers Bridge connecting the west end of the Arkansas River Trail to Two Rivers Park and roads leading westward to Pinnacle Mountain State Park and onward.  A special treat was a visit by U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, one of our strongest advocates for bicycling at the federal level.

Here, we make sure that Secretary LaHood gets a BACA t-shirt, as he makes his remarks on the bridge opening.

Cyclists, skaters, hikers, and others enjoy the first chance to bike and hike the Two Rivers Bridge.

Here's an on-line letter that probably ought to be viral:  an impassioned plea for sharing the road:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs033/1102861874122/archive/1106209157277.html

Welcome to BACA! 

We're a bicycling advocacy organization serving the central Arkansas metropolitan area, consisting of Little Rock, North Little Rock, Pulaski County, and the surrounding communities.  BACA seeks to provide a unified voice of advocacy for changes in attitude and public policy that will improve the safety, convenience, and acceptance of bicycling within the Little Rock/North Little Rock metropolitan area and surrounding communities in central Arkansas.  We envision a future where Arkansans embrace bicycling as an integral part of our way of life; where bicycling is accepted as a safe, practical, and equitable means of travel; and where Arkansans recognize that bicycling creates cleaner, healthier, economically stronger, and more livable communities.

Advocacy is defined as the act of pleading or arguing in favor of something, such as a cause, idea, or policy; active support. Our goal is to do so on behalf of bicycling in Central Arkansas. We exist to advocate the many benefits of bicycling to our community.

In support of our vision, BACA strives to:

• Work with public and private agencies to improve access to and use of existing transportation and recreational facilities by cyclists; and to support and assist in the planning, development and implementation of additional bicycle facilities to connect all parts of the communities served by BACA;

• Advocate and support the needs of cyclists and other users of bicycle-compatible means of transportation and recreation during the preparation, development, and construction of transportation-related plans and projects;

• Promote and support the safe and equitable use of the public and private roadways by all users – including motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians;

• Provide a resource for bicycle education and safety information, activities, and training, to include the healthful benefits of bicycling;

• Encourage and support central Arkansas communities and local businesses in seeking, attaining, and improving designation as “Bicycle-Friendly Communities” and “Bicycle-Friendly Businesses” under the criteria of the League of American Bicyclists’ Bicycle-Friendly America program;

• Increase public awareness of the benefits of bicycling and other forms of active transportation; and

• Act in cooperation with other community, regional, and statewide organizations sharing common interests to achieve the above-stated vision.

BACA Meetings

BACA membership meetings are held on the first Thursday of the Month (with the exception of July and August) at 7:00 p.m. at the Oyster Bar, 3003 W. Markham, in Little Rock. The Board of Directors typically holds its meeting at the same location, same day, at 5:30 p.m.  Everyone is welcome - you do not have to be a member. But, if you're interested in becoming a member, membership is free. Just e-mail your name, address, phone number & e-mail address to info@bacar.org. 

In January 2010, BACA instituted membership dues of $15 per year, or $50 per year at the Advocate level.  While Associate membership is free, contributions are always accepted and appreciated. BACA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization; and contributions are deductible to the extent provided by law.

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