Wheels are turning for bicycle-friendly improvements
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Wed May 27 2009
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Posted May 27, 2009
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statewide
BY SARAH BZDEGA
Though gasoline prices were down from around $4 a gallon from last year's Bike to Work Week, registration was up 18 percent this year after a 30 percent jump in 2008.
This is just one sign of a growing population of people who ride bicycles more than recreationally. As a result, Des Moines is starting to address issues such as bike lanes and awareness of cyclists on the roads by hiring a Portland, Ore.-based firm to create a master bike plan, along with other efforts. Many companies also are adding showers and lockers to make alternative modes of transportation more convenient.
"Some of this is just finally getting together," said Carl Voss, a longtime bicyclist and co-founder of the Des Moines Bicycle Collective, which ran Bike to Work Week this year. "We're far behind other Midwest cities in terms of bike accommodations, but I'm confident we can do some catching up."
Started by avid bicyclists Voss, Kent Newman and Kim West over a cup of coffee and a beer, the Bicycle Collective has helped provide a central gathering place for bike enthusiasts with a retail and repair shop at 617 Grand Ave. across from the Ruan Center. The group also has donated several bicycles to children and refugees, provided outreach programs at local schools and advocated for bike-friendly improvements.
The collective's budget this year is $50,000, up from $33,0000 last year, which partially covers a part-time manager. Voss said the group has already had to turn people away, because it doesn't have enough volunteers and needs more funding to not only donate bikes, but also provide items such as bike racks and bags that make cycling as a primary mode of transportation easier.
Corporations also are supporting a growing number of employees who bike to work, with services such as lockers and showers. Wells Fargo & Co., which had the highest participation in Bike to Work Week among employers with 143 registrants, added showers to its newest building constructed downtown in 2006. The company, along with Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. and ING Groep NV, has covered bike racks in its parking garages, and Nationwide added bike lockers based on employee feedback. It also offers showers in its fitness facility; ING does not.
City involvement
In an effort to receive a higher Bicycle Friendly Community designation from the League of American Bicyclists and to increase the use of bicycles as a form of transportation, the Des Moines City Council approved a nearly $200,000 contract with Alta Planning + Design to provide consulting services for the development of a bicycle and trails master plan at its April 6 meeting. A planning summit is expected for this July.
Steve Durrant, senior landscape architect at Alta in Portland, said plans like this are becoming common. "I think almost every city in the country is aware that bicycling and walking are very important means of transportation, not just for recreation but really as ways for people to get around with many benefits," he said, "and I think the cities are looking at how to capitalize on those benefits."
The level of participation in the Mayor's Annual Ride for Trails and the amount of interest in biking in general impressed Durrant when he visited Des Moines in April. But he added that though the city and the state have one of the best trail systems in the nation, their road accommodations for biking are not as developed as those in other parts of the country.
Listing the environmental and health benefits of biking as an incentive to support this type of travel, Don Tripp, director of the Des Moines Parks and Recreation Department, agreed that the city needs to look at how to better link a "terrific recreational trail system onto the streets so you can actually use bicycles as a means of transportation."
But he also pointed out efforts already in progress. The Parks and Recreation Board is expected to vote on adding bike lanes to Urbandale Avenue in Beaverdale at its next meeting. When the city plans road and bridge construction or improvements, it now considers how to better accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians, such as adding a lane for bikes over the Southeast Connector bridge currently under construction near Principal Park.
Voss said the city also has recalibrated five intersections to detect bikes, which has helped prevent bicyclists from running red lights because the lights wouldn't change unless a car came.
But more still needs to be done. "The city does a great job with trails, but trails don't always go where people want them - to get to work, get to the coffee shop, get to the hardware store to run an errand," Voss said. But, he added, "some of the logjams are starting to get freed up, I think."
Voss, who wears a Livestrong yellow bracelet, has lived and biked around Des Moines since the 1970s. He helped raise money for what he claims was the first city trail, a one-mile stretch of what is now the Bill Riley Trail.
West Des Moines also has made biking a priority. In December, the city formed a 10-member Bicycle Advisory Committee to look at the feasibility of adding bike lanes to some roads. It expects to have a report with recommendations this fall.
A new incentive - a $20 per month federal tax credit that began at the first of this year - could further encourage bike commuting. Under the measure, employers can offer bike commuters a monthly credit of up to $20 to offset the cost of buying, repairing or maintaining their bikes, and deduct the credit from their corporate taxes. But so far, Voss said, he hasn't heard of companies offering this benefit
Awareness still needed
Though infrastructure for bicycling has improved, "Des Moines and Iowa will never become bike friendly until attitudes have changed," said West of the Bicycle Collective, referring not just to motorists who harass bicyclists, but also law enforcement officers who could better enforce bike safety laws by ticketing or prosecuting motorists who hit cyclists.
West was opposed to the bike safety bill that passed in the Iowa Senate this year but didn't make it through the House of Representatives. "We don't need new laws," he said. "The laws we have are just fine. All we need are prosecutors with the balls and backbone because the laws are there."
Durrant of Alta said his research shows that the more people ride their bikes on the roads, the fewer crashes actually occur, because drivers begin to expect to see cyclists on the road and are more aware of them. But, Voss also admits, bicyclists need to do their part, such as not running stoplights or riding up beside cars, which makes motorists nervous.
West has tried to raise awareness by becoming something of a spokesman for the bicycling community. His Sunday night cycling radio program on KXNO has made its way into the top 10 for Web activity among the station's programs, he said. "Cyclists need a voice, and for better or worse, that's me," he said, but added that he encourages all bicyclists to speak up.
He also has talked with employees at companies including Kum & Go LC and Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. and has been working with schools to provide bike education and activities. Some students even call him "Mr. Bike."
Good habits start early and ones that start early are the hardest ones to break," said West, who began riding when he was a toddler and now more than 50 years later is still just as passionate about it.
He used to ride his bike to the funerals of those killed while bicycling and now makes an effort to visit injured cyclists in the hospital and interview them for his radio show.
"What it shows is the cycling community is a community and we care," he said.
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