Hi {{ FirstName | default: 'Friend' }},
I’m writing this as Bike Month 2021 draws to a close. What a difference a year makes! This May, mounting vaccinations and a reopening city were the backdrop for a wonderful slate of group rides and other events put on by our Events Committee (photos below). We were glad to see so many new and familiar faces at these rides, as we all emerge from our pandemic bubbles like 17-year cicadas (fortunately after just one year spent underground!).
To strain a metaphor—what better time to shed our (steel) exoskeletons? Many of us spent the past year biking more, walking more, and some of these habits will stick. And thanks to our responsive city government and transit agencies, our bus system went fare-free to protect its drivers during the pandemic, accomplishing in a stroke what advocates had long called for. We hear the buses will stay fare-free through at least 2022, easing the burden on those who most need the easing.
A city that prioritizes human-powered, human-scale, and collective transportation will benefit everyone. On May 25, in a Zoom webinar, Durham Transportation director Sean Egan and planner Brian Taylor described their plans to build more sidewalks and protected bike lanes, and improve bus service, over the next few years. They’ll need funding to put these plans into action, so we hope you’ll join Bike Durham in pushing our representatives at all levels to make these plans on-the-ground reality.
See you out on the streets!
-Marc Maximov, Board Chair
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Moving at Full Speed
2020 Annual Report
Bike Durham released its 2020 Annual Report. The report gives Bike Durham members a comprehensive look at the challenges and triumphs Bike Durham faced, overcame, and celebrated last year through advocacy, education and fundraising, including distributing 9,000 face coverings to transit riders and workers from April to July, centering racial equity by supporting the Braggtown, Merrick-Moore, and Walltown neighborhoods in their calls for equitable development, and more. Read the report.
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Transit Equity Campaign
The Transit Equity Campaign commissioned two local videographers, John Laww and Saleem Reshamwala, to produce videos that describe the benefits and challenges of Durham’s current transit system through transit rider and worker interviews and showing the rider experience directly. Watch the videos and learn more about what improvements riders and workers are demanding.
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Bike Month
Bike Durham kicked off Bike Month by coordinating with the Durham Department of Parks & Recreation to organize and host a trail clean-up to remove litter from a section of the Ellerbee Creek Trail. Throughout Bike Month we hosted and coordinated nine other events, including group and DIY rides, a scavenger hunt, workshops, and webinars. Read a recap of the Ellerbee Creek Clean Up here.
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Bike Durham Bull Ride
Twenty nine people participated in the inaugural Bike Durham Bull Ride! Our bike ride traced the outlined shape of a bull around the center of the city to show our Bull City pride. We commissioned an artist from Alaska, who specializes in GPS visualizations, to create a unique drawing of the bull in the city. There are a lot of different drawings and sketches of Major the Bull, but this one is in the blueprint of our streets! We will repeat this ride again if you missed it and want to join. In the meantime, here's a ride recap.
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Webinar: City Plans and Projects for Safer Walking and Biking on Durham Streets
Bike Durham hosted a webinar on May 25, with City of Durham transportation director Sean Egan and transportation planner Brian Taylor. The duo laid out the city’s plans for making our streets safer for people to walk and bike, sharing big picture visions and information about projects that will be implemented this year, the Durham Beltline, the Better Bus Project, and the City's Equitable Green Infrastructure package. Watch the webinar here.
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Take Action
Bike Durham advocates at the local, state, and federal levels for your interests in a safe, affordable, sustainable transportation system for everyone. There are opportunities nearly every week to influence project designs, plans, policies, or funding priorities. To realize our vision, we need to build power together. Join our growing list of action takers.
State
Victims' Fair Treatment Act
The Victim’s Fair Treatment Act is under review by our state representatives. This Act will remove an outdated legal principle, called contributory negligence, that unfairly penalizes people who are victims of traffic violence while walking or biking. We’ve written a bit about why this bill is important and have provided resources for action on our May 26th blog post written by Bike Durham member Tyler J. Dewey, J.D.!
National
Federal Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2021
The Act has recently been released by the Senate. It includes a much needed increase in dedicated funding to the Transportation Alternatives Act. The proposed Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act would increase the primary source of funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects and programming from $850 million to $1.38 billion in 2022.
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Durham Drumbeat
Safe Streets Community Outreach Services Job Announcement
Bike Durham has successfully partnered with the Burch Avenue Neighborhood Association to secure a grant from the Duke Durham Neighborhood Partnership to pursue traffic calming solutions for their neighborhood and the bordering West Chapel Hill Street and Buchanan Boulevard. We are hiring for a part-time temporary outreach coordinator to assist with this project this summer. See the advertisement for this position at bikedurham.org/jobs.
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Safe Routes to Schools Job Announcement
Bike Durham is seeking to contract with one or more individual(s) to serve as the part-time Program Manager for the Durham Safe Routes to School Program (SRTS). Possible programs include bicycle education, student surveys, walking competitions, custom maps, community walk audits, and walking/bicycling clubs. This position(s) will work closely with staff and/or parents to determine which programming will work best for each community. This position(s) will require extensive collaboration with partners at the City of Durham Transportation Department, DPS administration and at our partner schools. To read more about this position or to apply go to bikedurham.org/jobs.
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Bike Durham's Executive Director John Tallmadge's letter to the editor was published in the News & Observer.
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Can Removing Highways Fix America's Cities?
Highways radically reshaped cities, destroying dense downtown neighborhoods. Now, some cities are starting to take them down. Read more here.
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Where Covid’s Car-Free Streets Boosted Business
Yelp data shows greater consumer interest at restaurants on pedestrian-friendly “slow streets" that limited vehicle traffic during the pandemic. Read more here.
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Worst Cities to Ride A Bike
24/7 Tempo has compiled a list of the worst cities for bike riders. Almost all the worst cities are in the South and West; only one — Chesapeake, Virginia — is on the Eastern Seaboard. Spoiler alert: six North Carolina cities made the list.
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Copyright © 2021 Bike Durham, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up for our mailing list on our website or at a Bike Durham meeting or event.
Our mailing address is:
Bike Durham
P.O. Box 25236
Durham, NC 27702
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