The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is seeking qualified candidates for two, full-time,  bike related positions in the Commonwealth.  VDOT has posted openings for the Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Planner  and Safe Routes to School Coordinator .

Deadline to apply for these positions is September 16.  The jobs are based in Richmond.

The VBF urges people who are passionate about cycling and pedestrian issues to apply for these positions and help us work to make Virginia a bike friendly state for all of our citizens.

The deadline to submit comments for VTrans 2035 — Virginia’s long-range transportation plan — is Friday, July 30. VBF representatives attended several public meetings to offer input, but the bicycle parts are still very weak. In fact there is almost no bicycle content at all. Needless to say, with bicycling an increasingly important part of the transportation system, it deserves to be treated as such in Virginia’s long-range transportation plan.

From Bruce Wright of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling:

“There are no specific recommendations included in the plan. While it is stated that “Forty-nine percent of active bicyclists who did not currently commute by bicycle said they would sometimes commute by bicycle if there were safe bike lanes,” there is little in the plan that would lead toward that goal. The Bike Policy Plan is stalled and now that the statewide bicycle coordinator position is vacant no progress is being made.

Cyclists should send comments on the plan to statewideplan@VDOT.Virginia.Gov, asking that the state bicycle coordinator position be filled as soon as possible. The position is federally funded and there is no reason for it to be vacant. There also need to be specific bicycle facility recommendations included in the plan. There are several pages of very detailed highway recommendations for each region. The same should be true for bicycle recommendations such as: Improved bicycle access to park and ride facilities, including better bicycle parking at those facilities, improvements to existing roads to improve bicycle access such as paved shoulders or restriping for bike lanes, recommendations for construction of new bicycle facilities, and other bicycle facility recommendations.

There also needs to be a goal for funding of bicycle improvements. A portion of the Virginia Motor Fuels Tax could be dedicated to bicycle improvements. Several pages of the document are devoted to ideas regarding Funding of Public Transportation. Similar recommendations are needed for funding bicycle infrastructure, including funds for bicycle improvements on existing roads such as U.S. Bike Routes 1 & 76, funding for regionally significant non-motorized facilities such as the Capital Trail, and funding for other bicycle infrastructure such as bicycle storage facilities at state buildings, park and ride lots, and other state facilities.”

In a blog post earlier this month, Bruce touched on some specifics that should be included in VTrans. Here are a few that you can include in your submitted comments:

• Immediately fill the statewide bike/ped/mobility coordinator position, which is federally funded
• Bicycling improvements such as paved shoulders, wide curb lanes, and restriping for US Bicycle Routes 1 and 76, which are important for tourism, economic development, and recreation
• Development and construction of new, regionally significant bicycle routes, for both transportation and recreation/tourism
• Identify and mprove existing regional and local bike corridors, to improve safety, and encourage more bicycle use
• Development and construction of new, regionally significant bicycle facilities such as park and ride, and rails with trails
• Improve bike access and parking at park and ride facilities, and all state government buildings
• Improve maintenance of bicycle facilities – plowing, sweeping, broken pavement
• Develop plans to fund the above

Please submit your comments via e-mail to statewideplan@VDOT.Virginia.Gov by July 30, 2010.

Organizers aim to create Action Plan for Bicycle Friendly Community

CHARLOTTESVILLE – The 2010 Bike Ballot is open for voting from Monday, June 21 through Thursday, July 15th at bikecharlottesville.org. The ballot consists of a series of simple questions that invite you to choose the most important projects to make the Charlottesville area more bicycling-friendly. The results will be presented to local officials later this summer, and an action plan will be developed to drive progress on the top-voted projects.

The options listed on the 2010 Bike Ballot are the top ideas that resulted from the 2010 Bike Summit, which was held on May 22 at CitySpace. More than 75 cyclists and community members attended, where they brainstormed dozens of ideas to make the Charlottesville area more bicycling-friendly. At the end, each participant voted for the projects they felt were the most important. Says Vince Caristo, executive director of the Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation, “We had a nice turnout, had some fun, got a bunch of great ideas up on the wall, and hopefully we can turn this into a mandate for change”.

Following the first Charlottesville-area Bike Summit in 2006, over 400 people weighed in on the online survey for the most important projects. This led to a list of prioritized bicycling improvements, called the “Top 5 Priority Bicycling Projects”, which was presented to local officials. While slow, progress has been made in all areas. In January, Charlottesville trails planner Chris Gensic called this list of priority improvements “the best thing that’s ever been done for bike advocacy in the city.” This year, the effort is aimed boosting the region to a Silver rating in the League of American Bicyclists’ “Bicycling Friendly Communities” program. The League evaluates communities in the areas of engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation. In 2008, the Charlottesville area earned a Bronze rating, and is due to reapply in 2012.

Founded in 2001, ACCT is dedicated to promoting sustainable land-use and alternative transportation in the Charlottesville region. Founded in 2010, Bike Charlottesville is a coalition of cycling clubs, advocacy organizations, retailers, employers, and individuals from in and around Charlottesville dedicated to promoting safe cycling for transportation, recreation, and sport.

Ror More Information, contact:

Vince Caristo, Executive Director
Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation
vince@transportationchoice.org
434.295.6554

Heather Higgins, Spokesperson
Bike Charlottesville
hey@bikecharlottesville.org
434.760.3330

From the League of American Bicyclists:

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) has targeted the federal Safe Routes to School program established under the 2005 Federal Surface Transportation Bill (SAFETEA-LU) as wasteful government spending in his weekly “YouCut program”.

Each week representative Cantor asks people to vote for which of five options they would cut from the federal budget. Republicans then hold a floor vote in the House of Representatives to try to eliminate the program that gets the most votes.

This week, the federal Safe Routes to School program is one of Rep. Cantor’s targets. He argues that SRTS duplicates other bicycling and walking programs, and that bicycling and walking infrastructure is a local government responsibility. We need your help making sure that Members of Congress understand the value of Safe Routes to School and support it.

Please take a few minutes to send a message to your Member of Congress to ask them to vote against any effort to cut Safe Routes to School.

If you are a resident of Virginia’s 7th District:

• Call Rep. Cantor’s office at 202-225-2815
• Tell whoever answers the phone that you are a constituent and have a message for Rep. Cantor
• Provide your name and where you live
• Use the following talking points to give a succinct message on Safe Routes to School:
• I’m calling because I heard that the Safe Routes to School program is included in Congressman Cantor’s YouCut program this week.
• This is a program that Congressman Cantor should be supporting — please do not cut Safe Routes to School.
• Children in our communities are facing so many safety dangers, and schools are struggling with busing costs. Safe Routes to School is the only federal program that can help with these issues. It is not wasteful or duplicative.
• I hope Congressman Cantor reconsiders and supports Safe Routes to School.

Thanks also to Stephanie Smith of the Active Williamsburg Alliance for the above alert.

Michele Santilhano's 2010 RAAM crew. Michele is second from the right.

VBF president Champe Burnley is tagging along with this year’s RAAM, as part of the support crew for endurance sports superwoman Michele Santilhano.

Riders left Oceanside, CA on Tuesday, June 8. There are no scheduled rest stops. Riders simply go as long and hard as they can, and the first one to Annapolis wins.

RAAM is undoubtedly the world’s toughest bicycle race. As an endurance event it’s probably more like climbing Mt. Everest than riding the Tour de France. Michele is no stranger to such feats, as a Seven Summits climber, multiple Ironman competitor, and swimmer of the Catalina, Maui, and English Channels.

You can follow Michele’s progress at her blog; and see a list of her sponsors, and the causes that she supports.

VBF board member James Rosar has also competed in RAAM.

Bixi in Montreal. Flickr photo by solylunafamilia.

From Greater Greater Washington:

A new bike sharing system based on Montreal’s Bixi will have 1,100 bikes spanning 100 stations in DC and 14 in Arlington, replacing DC’s existing SmartBike system, leaders announced this morning.

GGW has all the details, so we’ll just send you over there — definitely one of the “greater” transportation and urban planning blogs.

Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones announced his plan for a Pedestrian-Bicycling-Trails Planning Commission at the Richmond Area Bicycling Association’s Bike to Work Day Event this morning. 

Mayor Jones wants the Commission to, “..advise (his) Administration on ways to enhance cycling in the city… including more bike lanes, bike trails, racks… ” and cycling facilities.

Mayor Jones said he hopes people will consider alternative forms of transportation.  “Transportation is a major emphasis.   We’ve got to push alternative ways of getting from point A to point B.  Cycling enhances the City — it makes it a great city when you have that option.”

Mayor Jones then lead a group of approximately fifty cyclists down Franklin Street to City Hall.

The League of American Bicyclists has announced their Bicycle Friendly State rankings for 2010. Virginia now ranks 18th, up from 23rd.

Three states have been awarded the Bicycle Friendly State designation and three states received an Honorable Mention – Oregon (Silver), Delaware (Bronze), New Jersey (Bronze), Florida (Honorable Mention), Maryland (Honorable Mention) and Massachusetts (Honorable Mention).

Here are the categories in which states are evaluated, and how Virginia is ranked in each:

6th in Legislation

3rd in Policies & Programs

6th in Infrastructure

22nd in Education & Encouragement

22nd in Evaluation & Planning

50th in Enforcement

We’re still awaiting details of these rankings, and we’ll report that information when we get it. But being dead last in “Enforcement” means that we definitely have some work to do!

Bicycle Dreams, a documentary film about the Race Across America, is being shown “one night only,” May 5, 6 pm, at the historic Byrd Theater in Richmond.  Proceeds will benefit Richmond Pro Cycling, a cycling team dedicated to developing young athletes into civic leaders.  Tickets are $10 online in advance, or $14 at the door.  See the Eventbrite page to buy tickets and for more details, including a map to the theater.

A cyclist in Charlottesville died this Monday, April 9, after a collision with a city truck. Matthew Steven King, a mathematics graduate student at the University of Virginia, had just been volunteering on the breakfast shift at a local homeless shelter, when the incident happened at around 9am. He died 30 minutes later.

Charlottesville has recently had several bike and pedestrian incidents. As the Daily Progress reports, “The quick succession of wrecks has put bicycle safety — and by extension, pedestrian safety — very much in the public eye.” Worth a read.