Two Wheel Revolution
By Travis Hoewischer |
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Doug Morgan hears it from his friends all the time. They call him a "green freak," a car-hater. Far from it, he says.
When the Wall Street lawyer and Ohio native moved back to Clintonville with his family in 1987, purposely enrolling his kids in Columbus Public Schools to "support the urban center," he still drove everywhere he needed to go for years.
This reliance on his car didn't cause a sudden attack of conscience so much as a profound realization.
"It was the realization of how disconnected I had become from my community," he said. "It was disconcerting. I wasn't truly seeing my community - and I don't think anyone can through a windshield."
Many like Morgan are components of an extensive grassroots network of active citizens that have helped convince the City of Columbus that, if we are to take a bold step forward, we must begin by turning to the past.
Obesity, high gas prices, job loss, the economy, the environment - all these 21st century problems that plague Columbus, our state, and our country might be alleviated by embracing the use of a 19th century invention:
The good old bicycle.
Abundant bike advocacy organizations have now converged with an active city government, an inspired business community, and a growing culture, to place Columbus in line to become one of the most pedal-powered cities in the country.
The Bicentennial Bikeways Plan, a bold, four-year pledge enacted by the city in 2008, is the crest of the bike wave, a reconfiguring of city engineering and transportation infrastructure that is already re-styling our roads and streets for vehicles of both two- and four-wheel varieties. This unique vision brings unique challenges. Increased riders means increased safety concerns in a culture dominated by and centered on motor vehicles.
Still, at a time when Columbus seems to be searching for an identity, beyond football, music, art and food, the growth of an inexpensive and health-conscious vehicle in town may not only mean we have to share the road, but that we might also be able to share the benefits. A revolution could be en route.
While Central Ohio has long been able to boast nearly 50 miles of bike paths and trails, primarily winding along Columbus' rivers, streams and parks, it's a network that has functioned primarily for recreational bike riders. As bicycle infrastructure has earned more ink in the city's blueprint - bike lanes have been included in road changes when possible, bike racks added to COTA buses, etc. - these developments have helped provide pegs on which the bike movement could ascend, but perhaps nothing has done more to raise the profile of cycling as a form of transportation in Columbus than the city's leader, Mayor Michael Coleman.
More than just a politician in photo-op mode, Coleman has been logging road miles on his bike since his days on Columbus City Council, where he and current Secretary of State candidate Maryellen O'Shaughnessy gained reputations as supporters of alternative transportation choices - and became avid cyclists in the process. That passion became political in 2008, with the city's launch of the Bicentennial Bikeways Plan, a robust package of state and federal transportation funds, parks and recreation funds and private sector partnerships designed to cut Columbus a wider swath of the bicycle-friendly map.
In addition to plans for 100 miles of new bikeways (200 miles by 2018), 100 bike-friendly intersections and 1,000 new bike racks installed throughout the city, the 20-year plan set out not only to change the roads, but the culture of Columbus and how we get around.
'One big, hairy-assed goal'
When the City hired a consulting group to help produce the plan, Coleman asked Morgan, a board member for local advocacy group Consider Biking, to show them around town and share his opinions. He agreed, but with the condition they include "one big, hairy-assed goal" in the plan: to more than double the commuter cyclist population in Columbus.
"They dismissed that out of hand as 'totally unrealistic,'" Morgan said. "They said, 'It took Portland 15 years to achieve that after they completed their bike plan!' 'Well, that may be,' I said, 'but time is of the essence and don't underestimate the resolve of this community when it comes time to act.'"
Morgan and Consider Biking concocted "2 by 2012," a snappy way to promote the goal of increasing Columbus' commuter cyclist population to two percent from its current .7 percent by 2012, as the slogan suggests.
"I thought if there's roughly 20 work days in a month, 10 percent of that is 2 ... you mean we can achieve this goal if people just get on a bike to go to work two days a month? That we can do," Morgan said.
Of course, that shift would be a little more feasible if many would-be cyclists didn't feel as if their ride to work might be their last.
The rubber meets the road
It's a clear day on Lane Avenue, 8:47 a.m. May 20th, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation video posted on YouTube. The ODOT camera perched overhead captures a bright blue sky, and a series of cars lined up at the High Street stoplight.
The scene is disrupted in an instant, as a cyclist legally riding through the green light is smashed head-on by a white work van. The van, its driver seemingly unaware or unconcerned that a collision has occurred, continues its left turn uninterrupted.
That's just one of the roughly 250 bicycle-car collisions that occur each year in Columbus. So, while the mission of bike advocacy groups and the City is clear - to get more people on bikes - how do we keep everyone safe?
It may sound crazy to the average motorist, but more bikes on the road means better safety. A 2007 study measured bicycle crash rates in Portland, Oregon as only slightly above average, even as ridership increased exponentially. Nationwide, a fatal accident is six times more likely to occur between a car and a pedestrian than a car and a bicycle.
"There's this phenomenon I've noticed," said Jeff Stephens, executive director for Consider Biking. "I've biked through Europe and other bike-friendly states in the U.S. and there really is no 'we and you,' or 'us and them.' That's because there's more people driving cars who are cyclists. They give you space, they slow down a little bit and you just feel not as threatened."
Getting more drivers to consider cycling simply makes it easier for motorists to empathize with the plight of riders, says O'Shaughnessy, a task made more difficult by both groups assuming that the other is breaking the law. Mixing it up on the streets just furthers the divide, she says.
"There is a difference between having people yelling at you on the street and having an opportunity to have a one-on-one conversation. You can't deal with people road-raging, whether it's in a car or on a bike. [Cyclists] just have to engage and educate and listen to [motorists'] complaints. No need to get upset, just apply the laws. We need to slow down, and look around us and look for better ways to co-exist."
The prevailing notion from motorists is that cyclists should ride on the sidewalk, separate from car traffic, which is not only illegal, but also dangerous for pedestrians.
"Education and awareness is such a big missing chunk," said Chris Sharp, of the local bike shop Roll. "We have the same rights, and I just don't think it's on a lot of people's radars."
The situation has to be on law enforcement radar, too. With the majority of traffic still consisting of motor vehicles, is it realistic to expect cops to ticket cyclists?
"Obviously, that's an issue," says Jeff Furbee, assistant city attorney and legal advisor for the CPD. "You have to prioritize. I don't know if we want officers tied up with bicyclists when no accident has occurred."
The law states that cyclists do not have to remain on the right side of the lane when it is "unreasonable or unsafe to do so." Some officers still occasionally cite riders for "taking the lane," but the tickets are generally thrown out once reviewed. Furbee says the department regularly updates its officers on revisions to city code, and in the cases where riders have been ticketed, he feels officers were just trying to keep the cyclists safe. Cyclists feel they are acting under the same premise.
"It's all just trying to balance the rights of cyclists versus the rights of motorists," Furbee said. "A lot of times they are just trying to warn them. Generally, it's done pretty well."
Stephens says he would love nothing more than to have more tickets issued to "scofflaw" cyclists, citing enforcement as one of the easiest ways to educate.
"I asked [city police] to do a sting on High Street, or a crackdown, to send a message. They were like, 'Are you're sure?' Yes! That would actually go a long way toward helping all of us out," said Stephens.
Many cyclists say they already can sense a shift in conditions on congested High Street, where the City recently introduced 189 "sharrows" - simple symbols painted on the road to remind drivers and riders to share the lane - a strategy often cheaper and easier to implement than actually modifying a road or street to include a separate bike lane.
As bike signage and city codes change, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles is also in the process of adding more bicycle-specific questions to the state driver's examination, according to Kristen Castle of the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
Strong consideration
If the 2 by 2012 campaign is successful, it would make Columbus the "greenest city in the country," says Stephens, a "palatable" answer to what bikes can do for the city.
Consider Biking is now a 501c3 non-profit with a 13-person board, with Stephens being the first full-time employee of the organization. Skyrocketing participation in local bike events has been a clear indicator that biking is one of the fastest growing and most diverse subcultures in Columbus, he says.
"Seeing the breadth and depth of the constituency blew our mind. It was mountain bikers, kids, racers, cigarette-smoking hipsters . . . it was everybody," he said.
Consider Biking has focused its efforts on the policy level, where bike integration has traditionally been less appealing from the top down. Part of the issue is bridging the gap between impatient cyclists, who perhaps have felt slighted for too many years, and city engineers who didn't see the demand as significant enough to make special consideration for bike riders.
"Bike people were about digging in their heels against the man, against ODOT, and that whole dynamic. That made for a very dysfunctional setup," Stephens said.
The engineers had to change their thinking in the way the City approached its grid, too, he said. He cites the City's installation of "bike boxes," designated areas where cyclists are permitted to stop at an intersection ahead of traffic, a design intended to eliminate riders being "right-hooked" by turning motor vehicles, as evidence of progress.
"Finally, after 10 to 15 years of seeing the success of the Portlands, Seattles, San Franciscos, they're starting to see that it can slow things down. Stuff like that is simple, but pretty powerful."
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