Columbus' first Bike to Work Week is off to a rolling start despite of the rainy weather.
In an effort to promote healthy lifestyles and limit the amount of vehicle emissions, the League of American Bicyclist's has declared May 12 to May 16 national Bike to Work Week.
Both fun and educational activities are planned to help promote bicycle riding in Columbus. The week is sponsored by Consider Biking, a local bicycle advocacy group. This is the first year Columbus has participated to encourage residents to bike to work.
Mayor Michael B. Coleman kicked off the week Monday by riding his bicycle to the statehouse, where he and councilwoman Maryellen O'Shaughnessy unveiled details of the city's Bicentennial Bikeways Plan.
"The first policy recommendation in the new bike master plan is to adopt a 'Complete Streets' policy for the city, to assure that roadways are built to accommodate not only cars, but pedestrians, transit and bikes," O'Shaughnessy said.
The bikeway plan aims to add 31 miles of off-street trails and 58 miles of on-street bike lanes and routes in time for the city's bicentennial celebration in 2012. The city also plans to add more signs and striping to make biking safer and to create a downtown "Bike Station" where commuters will be able to change clothes. Funding for the project is included in the Capital Budget and Bicentennial Bond Package that residents will vote on in November.
"There was probably 50 or 75 people that came down to help kick off the week in front of the statehouse," said Ruth Milligan, a spokeswoman for Bike to Work Week. "It was a great moment to kick off the first time that Columbus has ever done this."
Some of the week's other events have included a screening of the documentary "Contested Streets," a question and answer session about the laws of bicycling and an open house at Columbus' only bicycle co-op. There is also a friendly competition in Columbus to see which company's employers can replace the most car commutes with bike commutes, and bike the most miles.
"The soaring price of gas is helping jumpstart a transportation revolution in Columbus, and we are proud to promote biking as an alternative to the automobile for commuters as well as recreation," Coleman said.
Columbus was recently named one of the "5 for the Future" cities by Bicycling magazine in an article about the best new American cities for cycling.
"Bicycles are being embraced, in ways they have never been before in this country," Brian Fiske wrote in Bicycling. "This new crop of cities shows that great things can happen in a short amount of time, even in big urban centers, and that this may be only the beginning of a far-reaching pro-cycling movement."
More information about this week's events can be found at
b2ww.considerbiking.org.
Anna Gerber can be reached at gerber.124@osu.edu.
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Bob
posted 5/15/08 @ 5:16 PM EST
I usually bicycle to work, even though I am in my 50s. Ironically, I have been taking the bus this week, Bike to Work Week, because I have seasonal allergies and my eyes water too much to bicycle safely. (Continued…)
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