Sponsored by Ride Solutions, the Roanoke Valley Regional Commission and the New River Valley Planning District Commission, the Roanoke Bike Summit will be held Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 27-28, at the Roanoke Higher Education Center. The purpose is to help area municipalities, universities and businesses work toward achieving a Bicycle Friendly award from the League of American Bicyclists. Target audience is officials and staff from these entities, and key citizen volunteers. But all are welcome, and the Summit is free of charge.

Three sessions will be offered:

• Bicycle Friendly University, Monday, Feb. 27, 9:00am-noon
• Bicycle Friendly Business, Monday, Feb. 27, !:30-3:30pm
• Bicycle Friendly Community, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 9:00am-noon

Again — all are welcome, but advance registration is requested. Register online.

Download the official announcement (PDF).

Also check out Bike Roanoke.

While much of the US struggles with congested and crumbling roads and bridges, the opposite is also a problem — overbuilt infrastructure with excess, unused capacity. Richmond’s MLK bridge is the poster child, overbuilt decades ago for traffic that never appeared, yet unsuited for present use which includes a lot of bike and pedestrian traffic. With luck, change is in the works. Please see the story at NBC12.com, with pictures: City planning to enhance MLK Bridge.

If you build it, will they come? They sure did in Chicago, as shown in this Streetsblog video:

There’s already plenty of bike-ped traffic on the MLK, but the improvements would bring a lot more.

We’re pleased about NBC12′s coverage of Richmond’s new sharrows. But perhaps we should remind everyone why America’s traffic engineers have decided to use sharrows, to prevent the most common bike safety problems:

• To remind cyclists to ride with traffic
• To encourage cyclists to stay clear of the “door zone”
• To encourage cyclists to take the lane, and prevent motorists from squeezing by
• To remind motorists to expect cyclists in the lane, and that they have a right to be there

The Pedestrian, Bicycle and Trails Coordinator for the City of Richmond talks about how businesses can help Richmond be a bike-friendly city.

Read more at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Before his current post, Mr. Helmboldt was the statewide bike-ped and mobility coordinator for VDOT.  Richmond is lucky to have him!

Roanoke’s Cityworks XPO, “a festival conference” of “big ideas for small cities,” takes place this week, Thursday through Saturday, October 27-29.

One of those big ideas is bicycling. To help further that cause, Mia Birk will present her “Joyride” talk. Southwest Virginia cyclists, and especially planners, should not miss this. The rest of the program looks great too.

As the Bicycle Program Manager for Portland, Oregon, Ms. Birk led that city’s transformation to becoming America’s most bicycle friendly city. Now a principal of Alta Planning, she and her firm help other cities attain what Portland has achieved.

If you can’t see Ms. Birk in Roanoke, you might catch her Thursday, October 27 in Charlottesville.

At the very least, read her book, and watch her video from TEDx Portland:

Mia Birk, the former Bicycle Program Manager and driving force behind Portland’s efforts to become one of the most bike friendly cities in the United States, will be presenting the story in Charlottesville, October 27.

Ms. Birk is now a principal with Alta Planning, and the author of “Joyride: Pedaling toward a Healthier Planet.”

Learn the inspiring story of Portland’s transformation including the programs, plans, and policies, while sharing experiences and strategies that have led to their balanced and sustainable transportation system.

Mia will demonstrate the dramatically positive impact this change can have on a neighborhood, a city and the way people in it live.

October 27, 7 – 9 p.m.

Albemarle County Office Building – Lane Auditorium,

401 McIntire Road

Charlottesville, VA

RVA News Editor Nathan Cushing recently  interviewed Richmond’s new Bicycling, Pedestrian and Trails Coordinator, Jakob Helmboldt  on how he will approach his job and what changes the city can expect.

Despite author and former Portland Bike planner Mia Birk’s recent presentation in the capitol city sponsored by the VBF, titled, “Could Richmond Be the Next Portland”, Humboldt states in the interview, “Richmond isn’t going to be the next Portland. We’re going to be the first Richmond.”  He maintains that “Every community has their own unique issues….and challenges.”

The article states, whatever changes come about in Richmond will not be (Helmboldt’s)  sole doing but that of the community. He sees himself as a true coordinator, an implementer, not a grand designer.

View Larger Map

Roanoke has a new map for its greenway system, including the Roanoke River Greenway and Lick Run Greenway, which run along the river and and out to the Valley View Mall; also the Mill Mountain Greenway, Tinker Creek Greenway, Wolf Creek Greenway, Murry Run Greenway, and the Hanging Rock Battlefield Trail.

Zoom in and click on any of the blue lines that represent a greenway. A popup will appear, with a link to a PDF map of that greenway — which you can then print to take with you.

This is a really nice map. So nice, that it received an Excellence in Regional Transportation Award from the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO).

According to NADO President Tim Ware, “Such initiatives are central to fostering economic growth in our nation’s communities by promoting effective transportation networks.”

We agree. We’d also like to offer our thanks, and congratulations, to the Roanoke Valley Allegheny Regional Commission, for doing such a great job.

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors has initiated a community outreach effort to receive input from the public on a proposed list of prioritized bicycle and pedestrian improvements countywide.

The meetings will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on the following dates, at the following locations: 

• Thursday, June 23, 2011: Guilford Elementary School, 600 West Poplar Street, Sterling
• Monday, June 27, 2011: Mill Run Elementary School, 42940 Ridgeway Drive, Ashburn
• Wednesday, June 29, 2011: Loudoun County Government Center, 1 Harrison Street, S.E., Leesburg

For more  meeting details, click here or to see a map of the proposed projects, click here.

The Roanoke Valley Alleghany Regional Commission will host the following webinars from the APBP Professional Development Webinar Series in 2011. All webinars will be held at the Regional Commission (upstairs conference room) located at 313 Luck Avenue, Roanoke, VA 24010. All webinars are offered free of charge for participants, but RSVP is requested. Please contact Shane Sawyer at 540.343.4417 or ssawyer@rvarc.org to reserve your seat. Directions to the Regional Commission are available at http://www.rvarc.org/contact.htm.

Complete Streets: State of the Practice
Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Design Manuals and Guides
Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Using Social Media to Improve Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities
Wednesday, May 18, 2011, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Bicycle and Pedestrian Facility Design within a Constrained Right-of-Way
Wednesday, June 15, 2011, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Crosswalk Policies, Designs and Signals
Wednesday, July 20, 2011, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Designing and Retrofitting Bridges for Active Transportation
Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Multimodal Level of Service
Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Parking: Buffers, Bikes and Cars
Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Additional information on the APBP Professional Development Webinar Series is available at http://apbp.site-ym.com.

Shane Sawyer
Regional Planner
Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission
P.O. Box 2569
Roanoke, VA 24010
Voice: 540-343-4417, Fax: 540-343-4416
Email: ssawyer@rvarc.org
www.rvarc.org