Ground Broken - Concrete Pouring at Karen Park

Progress on the plan to connect Field Club 'East-West' to the Keystone at Kaen Park. Hip Hip Hooray.

This photo is taken looking north from the east side of the Karen Park bridge.  The route will loop around the ball field and connect to Buckingham Avenue and continue east toward 60th street, where it will cross over utilizing the defunct railroad bridge.

A Tale of Two Friends

Remember when you were a 6th grader?  You were finally old enough to start navigating the world more independently.  In fact, you were probably a seasoned pro at navigating around your world by now: riding to school, riding to ball practice, riding to your friend's house.  You were jumping curbs, exploring allies, creating shortcuts. (You're smiling just thinking about it, aren't you?!)

Last night, my 6th grader and her buddy hung out at our house after school to work on some math homework.  Her mom dropped her off with her bike, knowing that my kids like to ride.  They got their homework done and rode up to the elementary school to ride home with my 4th grader.  When it was time to take her friend home, it only made sense to use bikes...after all, her house is only about 2 miles away by car, and I wasn't going to drive her and her bike home on such a nice evening.

In an ideal world, with a fully connected trail around Standing Bear Lake  (OR- on street bike facilities along 144th, north of Fort) and grid streets rather than cul-de-sacs, our easy peasy 2ish miles route would have been:  

   In fact, this almost the same route that we rode...except that there is no shoulder at all along this section of 144th Street, and I'm not familiar enough with her friend's cycling ability to be comfortable riding on the street with her, so we took our chance riding the bumpy, weedy goat path worn along the east edge of the street.  My daughter's friend ended up pushing her bike in this area, and had my daughter not just finished a summer of mountain bike riding, she likely would not have had the ability to ride this section, either.  There was just enough traffic along 144th to add to this nerve-racking experience.  We also had to detour about a half mile out of the way to get into her cul-de-sac, even though we could see her house plain as day from the intersection of 144th/Fort.

I guess I could have let the girls ride by themselves...I mean, there is a lake with a perfectly wonderful trail that goes (mostly) around it... 

Um, I'm sorry...did you say 7 MILES??  Yep, the 2 mile route turns into 7 miles if you want to take the trail and the safe street crossing on Fort Street at the pedestrian signal.  (And this also assumes that my comfort zone is OK with them crossing 144th Street without a signal ...less busy here, to be fair... to get to the Standing Bear Lake trailhead.)  There has to be a better way, right?  

Well, sort of.  It is shorter (3ish miles), but the girls are left to fend for themselves trying to cross 40mph Fort Street with no signal.  Not so much. 

This is just one of many, many examples that we could point to that all of us have encountered.  In the words of my former boss, Paula: "Well, what are you gonna do about it?" 

Attend the Transportation Master Plan Update meeting on September 15.

Attend the Heartland Active Transportation Summit.

Advocate for Safe Routes to School.

Continue to ride my bike whenever and wherever I can and politley answer the bizzare questions people ask me about why and how I just did what I did.

And personally:  I'm going to continue to annoy my friends with seemingly meaningless Facebook and Twitter posts every time I ride the bus to show them that people in West Omaha can and DO ride the bus.  :)

What are YOU gonna do about it?

Fact Checking Portland

Thanks to Steve, a recent Omaha transplant from Portland (Yes - people apparently do move FROM Portland TO Omaha!?  Who knew??), for sending this link.  Portland peeps frequently cite this data (or something similar - I've also seen it compared to the cost of a freeway interchange), and it stands up!

Portland Mayor Sam Adams says Portland’s spent on its bike infrastructure what it would normally spend on a single mile of highway.

True or False?  http://www.politifact.com/oregon/statements/2011/mar/19/sam-adams/portland-mayor-sam-adams-says-portlands-spent-its-/

Will A Bike Ride a Day Keep the Doctor Away?

Researcher Says Portland’s Bike Paths Will Cut Its Health Costs

Swiss epidemiologist Thomas Gotschi, who, incidentally, has never visited Portland, decided to put together the first-ever cost/benefit analysis on biking in a U.S. city. He chose Portland to analyze because of its highest-in-the-nation bike commuter status among big cities. On the cost side, Gotschi added up the city’s past and planned expenditures on biking. On the benefits side, he looked at health care cost savings – how many fewer health care dollars will be spent on Portland’s citizens as a result of their getting more regular exercise from biking, and thus incurring fewer chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and osteoporosis.

Doing our part to improve Omaha's quality of life

Omaha Bikes' mission "advocates for improved transporation, utility, and recreational bicycling infrastructure". We now have a great opportunity to improve our transportation infrastructure resulting in better living conditions for Omahans.

The timing for updating the Transportation Master Plan is perfect! We will be finishing the initial 20 miles of bike lanes and sharrows in 2011; we have hired a Pedestrian and Bicycling Planner, Carlos Morales, to see that biking is considered in all planning; now we are ready to develop a city wide bike transportation plan!

But Omaha's transportation master plan is much more multidimensional - considering many modes of moving people, and using transportation infrastructure to drive more sustainable land development and redevelopment.

Here is the Omaha Transportation Master Plan 2035 home page.
The video link on the left of the page contains the Nov 16 kickoff presentation. I highly recommend watching the consultant's presentation in minutes 18-50. Very enlightening!

The download link on the left contains the powerpoint slides in the video.
movingomaha is the facebook connection to the TMP 2035. They post recent links to sustainable urban development.

Currently, Omaha Bikes has over 750 facebook fans, movingomaha has over 75. If you want to use your bike for transportation or make Omaha more people friendly, at a minimum 'like' movingomaha.

Those who are willing to put some hours into improving the biking infrastructure and making Omaha more people friendly, attend the TMP 2035 public meetings.

For those willing to commit more time, who enjoy figuring out routes, have a background in transportation, or have contemplated how to get more people into utility bicycling, you have until Friday, Dec. 17, at 5 pm. to put in an application to participate in the TMP 2035 stakeholder committee.

Have a positive impact on the future of Omaha: get informed by watching the video, reading posted articles, and participating in the public meetings in order to make Omaha a better place to live.

Update: Omaha Transportation Master Plan Meetings

There has been a second meeting added to the agenda next week regarding the updating of Omaha's Transportation Master Plan.  Many of you have seen the information going around about the public kick off meeting on Tuesday, November 16.  A cycling-specific meeting has been added with the consultants for Monday, November 15 at 6pm at the Courtyard Marriott in Aksarben Village (1625 S. 67th St). 

If you cannot attend on Tuesday, or would like a chance to discuss cycling specific topics among a smaller group with the consultants, please consider attending on Monday night. 

We will be adding an event on the Omaha Bikes Facebook page; please RSVP there so we know about how many people to expect. 

Important to note:  The Courtyard Marriott is very supportive of cycling in Omaha, as they are the monthly hosts of the Omaha Bikes meetings!  Please support those that support us!!! 

News worthy and plain old fun: Sharrow alert!

Our new Bike/Ped Coordinator (Carlos Morales) forwarded this information to us today.

Good day all. This is the Bike/Ped Coordinator for the City of Omaha with some post worthy news. Coming back from lunch today I bumped into Omaha City Crews installing the initial paint markings for the sharrows along Jackson Street. This is part of the pilot 20 mile bike loop. As a bike geek I get really excited when I see fresh paint on the street! Take a look:

The work crews were placing the bicycle stencils down first to avoid having the paint smudge. They will then come back to paint the chevrons which will ultimately complete these sharrows. This section will be part of the Aksarben Route. On a little side note, I would like to thank our wonderful crews out there braving the fierce wind while they try to get the markings down on the ground. They even told me that the wind was blowing so hard earlier that the stencil almost became an impromptu kite! Here is an inside look at the stencils they use!

For those of you unfamiliar with Sharrows here is a good article on sharrows (I know this is a shameless plug but that was the blog I started in LA!) Hopefully, in the near future I will be able to post more information regarding sharrows that is more specific to Omaha. Ride safe!

Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator Press Release

The press release from yesterday's press conference announcing Omaha's first Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator can be found by clicking on this link!

Very exciting for the city of Omaha, the health of Omaha, and the quality of life in Omaha!

In the photo are community partners that made this happen: Kerri Peterson, Live Well Omaha; Rick Cunningham, City of Omaha Planning Department; Carlos Morales, new Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator; Paul Mullen, MAPA; Mikki Frost, Alegent Health Systems; Jim Suttle, Omaha Mayor.

If they can do it...

One of our readers just forwarded this article to us (thanks Derek). 

Inside Minnesota's Booming Bike Economy

Surely you've noticed them. The urban hipsters on their retro steel frames. Commuters lugging backpacks and pannier bags. Racers in spandex. They’re bicyclists, and by all measures, they’re multiplying on Twin Cities streets. This spring Bicycling Magazine named Minneapolis “America’s Best Biking City,” edging out perennial powerhouse Portland, to the chagrin of Oregonians, and to the surprise of the rest of the country. Despite our tough winters, we have the second-most bike commuters per capita, more than 120 miles of bike lanes and paths, and the nation’s newest and largest bike-share program.

MAPA Transportation Improvement Program - Your input needed!

Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA) Seeking Public Comments and Input on Transportation Improvement Program

OMAHA – Nearly $640 million in federally funded roadway, trail, transit and aviation have been programmed in the draft Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) for the metropolitan area in the next four years. MAPA is requesting public comment and participation for the proposed TIP document.

MAPA, per federal transportation legislation, must create and maintain a fiscally-constrained TIP that lists all federally-funded and “regionally significant” transportation projects programmed for at least the next four fiscal years. MAPA updates the TIP on an annual basis.

An important part of the transportation planning process is public engagement and involvement. As a draft of the TIP is now available, MAPA is asking for public review and input on the document.  Comments regarding particular projects, project timelines, or any other areas of interest are welcome.

A 30-day public review period of the draft TIP begins Friday, August 27.  Citizens may view the TIP and provide feedback at MAPA’s website, www.mapacog.org or by contacting the MAPA offices (below).

MAPA’s TIP process prioritizes federal transportation investments for the metro area. Some significant projects identified for the next four year period include:

·         Widening 144^th Street from two to four lanes between W. Dodge Road to Eagle Run Drive

·         Construction of the Missouri River Bridge at US-34 south of Bellevue

·         Widening Washington (84^th) Street from Hwy 370 to Capehart Road in Papillion

·         Realigning Saddle Creek Road from Leavenworth Street to Dodge Street with funding through UNMC and a federal earmark

·         Reconstruction of 24^th Street from 25^th Avenue to 27^th Avenue in Council Bluffs from a four-lane to a 5-lane roadway

·         Reconstruction of I-80/I-29 in Council Bluffs

·         Investments in traffic operations and signal coordination technology though a traffic control center in Omaha

·         Development of a one-call center for specialized transit services 

The TIP is developed in conjunction with local and state jurisdictions as well as the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The TIP is approved by the MAPA Board of Directors, which is made up of elected officials from the five-county MAPA region.

The Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA) is a voluntary association of local governments in the greater Omaha region chartered in 1967. MAPA performs planning and development work, especially to address problems that are regional in scope and cross jurisdictional boundaries.  

To place comments please:

• Email: mapa@mapacog.org
• Call: (402) 444-6866
• Mail: 2222 Cuming Street, Omaha, NE 68102

Bike sharing is... Sexy?

At Omaha Bikes we like to keep an eye on Bike Sharing projects in other US cities.  However, this video definitely had a different advertising strategy.  After watching this video, one might wonder if DecoBike memberships include a bottle of sunscreen.

The Underwood and Overhill Expressway

Today, like not a few days, I had the opportunity to pedal from midtown Omaha to the Missouri River and back to midtown. Along the way, my mind wandered to a car trip I need to make tomorrow--from midtown way out to far, far southwest Omaha. I may even drive on the West Dodge Expressway.

Which got me thinking. The purpose of the WDE is to reduce congestion at Omaha's busiest intersection (114th & Dodge) and generally ease the commute from Central to West Omaha and beyond. Maybe I'm still suffering the aftershocks of watching "Beyond the Motor City" the other night, but building stronger, faster, higher automobile-only expressways to the suburbs seems so 20th century to me. Shouldn't we be more focused on multi-modal transportation options that interweave Omahans together, rather than car-exclusive chutes that fling us further apart?

And, I don't know what the final cost of the WDE was, but a quick Google search shows it was budgeted for $100 million. Compare that to the cost to complete the initial 20 miles of bike lanes now underway: $600,000. And that wasn't even paid for by the City (i.e., by us)--all the funding came from grants and donations.

Which brings me to the Underwood and Overhill Expressway. One of the major objections I hear from folks reluctant to start bicycling more in Omaha is that the city is so hilly! Riding around it nearly every day, I can't argue with that one. For instance, coming west out of downtown north of Dodge, once you ascend to the top of the hill on 40th, you're plunged back down into the valley of Saddle Creek. Then up again to the summit at 50th, then down again to Happy Hollow. Then up a third time to Fairacres/64th-ish. We might as well name all the storied peaks, like in Le Tour--but instead of Tourmalet, Alpe d'Huez, and Galibier, how about (all with proper French accent, please) Cathedral, Dundee, and Vieux Riche (Old Money)?

But I digress--back to the Underwood and Overhill Expressway. Imagine a connecting bike/ped pathway near California/Underwood streets that erased the dips between these HC peaks and made the trip from 40th to 50th to 64th a coast-able level grade! Perhaps something ala the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge over the Missouri--a graceful, suspended, elevated ribbon of commuting and recreational cyclists and pedestrians. Suddenly, one of the major impediments to cycling in Omaha is greatly diminished, all the while encouraging development in the heart of the city.

How much would it cost? Well, the best figure I found for the Bob Kerrey bridge is $22 million. Triple that to make 3 sections, and you get $66 million--still only 2/3 the cost of the WDE--leaving $34 million left over for other multi-modal transportation projects (assuming you were trying to match the cost of the WDE, of course). A bargain!

Now, I'm not going to the City Council with my Underwood and Overhill Expressway idea yet (it could use some fleshing out and the cost estimates are a bit, um, back of the envelope, let's say), but the Omaha metropolitan area has clearly found funding for transportation and infrastructure projects it deems worthy in the past, and chances are that trend will continue. Omaha has made significant strides in encouraging bicycle and pedestrian traffic with its trails system, the 20-mile bike lane plan, and some great new plans currently in development. Now's the time to come together to think big and creatively on what we want Omaha to be and how transportation and infrastructure help make that possible. Now's our chance to make Omaha a more livable community.

A few links:
http://passthepotatoes.com/
http://rallyomaha.ning.com/

And a link to a previous OmahaBikes blog entry with a longer link list:
http://bikeomaha.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-is-omaha-bikes-reading.html

Bike Omaha Red Route

City crews have already started painting and striping the first route of the Bike Omaha bike lane network.  Here is what the Benson (Red) Route looked like "Before" they got started.  Omaha Bikes will have an "After" video of this route once it is finished.

Bike Omaha Benson (Red) Route - BEFORE from Omaha Bikes on Vimeo.

This video show the Bike Omaha Benson (Red) route before any work was done to add bike lane markings and sign-age. Lanes are being painted now, and we will have an "After" video up once the signs and paint are completed on this route.

The 15-year report, unlike its two predecessors, examines a range of efforts to increase bicycling and walking in the United States. Programs at the Federal, State, and local levels are included, as well as case studies on best practices. Finally, the report makes recommendations for research, policy, and other measures that can be taken to meet the goals of the original study.

VOICE Petition for Better Transportation Planning in Omaha

Omaha's pattern of development has hampered attempts to create a system of transportation that supports mass transit and travel by bicycle or foot. The sprawl forces most people into cars for all their travel, weakening our communities, damaging our health and the environment, and draining our city's budget. We need to change this.

VOICE is a non-partisan group dedicated to creating a more inclusive, just, transparent, sustainable, and culturally vibrant Omaha by actively supporting leaders, policies, and projects that advance this vision.

The organization has created a petition calling for smarter land use and transportation planning in our city. I hope you will take a look at it and add you name to the list of those calling for a better Omaha. We need to make sure our voice is heard as Omaha creates its new transportation master plan.

Register now for the Urban Omaha – The Ultimate Adventure Race on June 5^th!!

Click here to register today!!!

Department of Roads Survey

As you may be aware, NDOR is conducting a survey for the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP).

Here's a link to the survey. Stop complaining and take action! Speak up!

ALL HANDS ON DECK!

The Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA) is reviewed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) every 4 years.  Part of this review process involves a public meeting where the community can voice it's concerns about MAPA.  The public meeting is next Monday March 15 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the MAPA offices, 2222 Cuming Street.  This is a good chance for YOU to give feedback to MAPA.


While your at it, take a look at the MAPA Beltway Study and give them your feedback on that proposed project as well.


Here is the official notice.

PUBLIC NOTICE

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) will be in Omaha March 15 and 16 for a federal certification review of the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA), which is the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Omaha-Council Bluffs region.  The review will cover MAPA’s transportation planning process and the effectiveness of that process.

A public input meeting has been scheduled for Monday evening, March 15 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the MAPA offices, 2222 Cuming Street in Omaha.

Major elements to be discussed include organization and management of the planning process, planning agreements and the cooperative process, planning factors, public involvement, project selection, and financial constraint. Products of the planning process – The Long Range Plan, TIP, and Unified Work program – will also be discussed.

If you are unable to attend this meeting and would like to comment, please send written comments to Paul Mullen, MAPA Executive Director at:

  

Metropolitan Area Planning Agency

2222 Cuming Street

Omaha, Nebraska 68102-4328

or

 e-mail paul_mullen@mapacog.org

slow down, and give your 2 cents

Went to Barnes&Noble at Oak View a few weeks ago and perused the magazines looking for something to broaden my horizons. Bought and read Good, Issue 018, Winter 2010, http://www.good.is/issues/issue-018.

The theme of issue 018 is "Slow Down". It contains a good cross section of thinking in, and about, the slow movement, http://www.slowmovement.com/.

One thing I've noticed: the more I commute by bike, the slower and more relaxed I drive a car. I average about 30 mph city driving (mileage/engine time) and about 12 mph commuting by bike. Those who average 20 mph biking are not commuting, they are racing. If you want to commute by bike, figure about three times the travel time of a car for a comfortable, non hurried commute.

One of the benefits of biking not often mentioned is the necessity to slow down. With most people's lives too full of stuff, speeding by car to somewhere because they didn't plan enough time to get there, a slower lifestyle connected through commuting is healthy for the mind and the body.

The second article in Good, Pushing the Limits, discusses Portland, Oregon's assault on urban sprawl, what it has produced, what is at stake. Next to improving Omaha's biking infrastructure and changing the car-centric level of service for transportation, a sustainable urban design is key.

Urban Form and Transportation(pdf) is Omaha by Design's draft proposal for new guidelines. Active transportation (biking and walking) starts on page 24. One problem I see is that goals for moving cars more efficiently (car-centric level of service) are at odds with active transport. Car transportation (Leavenworth for example) has to be slowed down (lane diets) and made more expensive (gas prices) to make active transportation more attractive and increase participation.

Comments are still being taken on the proposal, click contacts on http://www.environmentomaha.com/. Please read at least the Active Transport section of Urban Form and Transportation, if not the entire document, and give suggestions and encouragement.