Hi {{ FirstName | default: 'Friend' }},
Happy spring, the season of rebirth! As pandemic trend lines drop and daytime temperatures rise, we at Bike Durham feel the time is ripe for new thinking on how local governments can speed up delivery of the bicycle, pedestrian, and transit projects we so badly need.
In the past several months, we’ve stepped up our meetings with city staff. We’re listening carefully to the challenges they face. They cite a chronic lack of staff and funding, as well as external factors like needing NCDOT approval for every step of a project.
Finding out what’s holding them back informs the next phase of our advocacy, which is to press local officials to make the changes that will have the biggest impact: Multimodal street design that uses the latest forward-thinking standards, and takes advantage of scheduled pavement resurfacing. Increased city staffing to reduce the reliance on contractors, and to better shepherd projects between departments. More frequent and reliable bus service.
Even if the federal government couldn’t find the votes to “build back better,” in Durham we’re mostly pulling in the same direction. Now is the time to commit to make up for past inequities, and deliver streets designed for a walkable, bikable, busable, 21st-century city.
That’s where we stand on advocacy. As for community building, keep an eye on our website for a slate of rides and activities during what promises to be a glorious Bike Month in May. And do reach out to us if you’re interested in volunteering or serving on our board.
Thank you for your support!
Marc Maximov, Bike Durham Board Chair
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Three Oaks Engineering recently earned recognition as a Gold Bicycle Friendly Business from the League of American Bicyclists! Three Oaks Engineering is a local, woman-owned environmental consulting firm that continues to be a Bike Durham sponsor, playing an important role in making our work possible. You can learn more about the League's Bicycle-Friendly Business program at bikeleague.org/business.
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Moving at Full Speed
On February 3rd, Bike Durham honored Transit Equity Day, recruiting volunteers to clean up busy bus stops along Holloway and Fayetteville Streets. Transit Equity Day honors the memory of civil rights activist Rosa Parks, who was born on February 4th. As a partner of the national Transit Equity Coalition, we used this opportunity to call for greater investment in transit improvements for riders and transit workers. Today, transit service levels are not as high as even last year because GoDurham does not have enough bus operators. We support this report released by TransitCenter calling for greater investment in our transit workers. In Durham, continue to advocate for this through the upcoming City budget and Durham Transit Plan.
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On February 6th, we held our 2022 Kickoff at Locopops. We had a great turnout and left energized for the year to come. You can read a recap and see a few photos at our blog post. It includes highlights of 2021 as well as plans for the coming year.
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Our Safe Routes to School program had a great Fall semester. We taught bicycle safety skills to nearly 300 5th grade students at Merrick Moore, Spring Valley, and Eastway elementary schools, and had more than 5,000 students from 13 elementary schools participate in October Walk & Bike to School events. We were able to tell this story recently to the Durham Public Schools Board of Education. The school board members were very interested and supportive of our work. You can read more in a short blog post and watch a recording of the presentation. The post also includes some other timely Safe Routes to School news, so give it a read.
The team has used down-time during the colder months to plan for the Spring semester, when we will be at Creekside, Eno Valley, and Glenn elementary schools teaching bicycle safety skills. We may be able to add another school if we can recruit additional Bike Safety Skills Educators, especially bilingual Spanish-English speakers. See our position description at bikedurham.org/jobs for more information.
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Taking 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.
Local
The Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization - the regional transportation planning body for the western half of the Triangle - formally adopted a transformational long-range plan in February, setting a new course to meet access needs safely, equitably, and sustainably by building better networks of sidewalks, bicycle facilities, and transit without expanding highways. News & Observer reporter Richard Stradling wrote a great article about this decision, quoting our executive director John Tallmadge.
Another focus for our work this year is identifying resources and strategies to accelerate the implementation of sidewalks, bike facilities, and transit projects. We have been meeting with City leadership at the staff and elected levels, highlighting the need for faster implementation and learning about the resources needed to achieve that. If you'd like to help, contact Erik Landfried, our advocacy chair, erik@bikedurham.org.
State
Bike Durham worked with a statewide coalition of environmental organizations to send a letter to Governor Cooper in November calling for him to use his executive power to direct North Carolina government to develop an Equitable Clean Transportation Plan. This January 7, Governor Cooper issued Executive Order 246, accelerating the goal for carbon emissions reduction from transportation and establishing a task force to develop an equitable Clean Transportation Plan.
Federal
The federal infrastructure bill that we supported will provide unprecedented levels of funding for walking, biking, and transit infrastructure. However, it also will provide equally unprecedented levels of funding that could be used to widen roads and highways, leading to increases in traffic deaths, disparities in access, and carbon emissions. We have just led a statewide effort to send another letter to Governor Cooper calling for him to use the transportation money in ways that reduce disparities, carbon emissions, and traffic deaths - consistent with recent guidance from the Federal Highway Administration. This is part of a coordinated national effort to let Governors and Transportation Secretaries that we won't accept business as usual.
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Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near You...
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Thanks to a grant from Duke Doing Good, the Old West Durham and Watts Hospital-Hillandale neighborhoods are contracting with Bike Durham to develop a traffic calming plan this Spring. This will build on our experience with the Burch Avenue Neighborhood Association (recap here) and our Safe Routes to School work. We are currently recruiting for an outreach coordinator position to lead this work. Details at bikedurham.org/jobs.
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This winter, we were approached by neighborhood leaders Bonita Green, of Merrick-Moore Community Development Corporation, and Vannessa Mason-Evans, of Bragtown Community Association, to discuss working together on a project to promote walking, biking, and riding transit, but also to use resident research to reveal obstacles to safe walking, biking, and transit use in their neighborhoods. We have applied as a partnership for a grant from the regional Council of Governments (TJCOG). If awarded, the project will begin in July and span a year of activity.
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Join Us for Way to Go Durham's Sustainable Transportation Expo!
New to the City's Earth Day Festival on Sunday, April 24 from noon to 5pm at Durham Central Park is the sustainable transportation expo brought to you by the City’s Department of Transportation and Bike Durham! Come out to see GoDurham’s new electric bus and learn how to maneuver a bike on and off the bus’s bike rack! You can also take a test ride on an electric-assist bike or scooter! Our booths will also feature a traffic garden, a miniature world of streets for children to teach them about road safety and interactions. Be sure to visit our booths to learn more about sustainable modes of transportation and project updates to prepare you for your commutes across the Bull City. We'll also need volunteers to help with the traffic garden and providing bike valet service. More to come!
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T-Shirt Weather is Almost Here
For a limited time, these 2021 Bike Durham t-shirts are still available. Designed by Bike Durham volunteer, Steven Valenziano, these beautiful t-shirts are exactly what you need when walking, biking, or rolling around town this Spring. Order yours today!
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We Can't Do It Without You
Bike Durham is a volunteer-driven organization. From Board members to committee members to event helpers, we need volunteers of all kinds. If you'd like to volunteer with Bike Durham, please fill out our volunteer interest form.
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Your Financial Support Helps Us Expand Our Impact.
Community support for our work has been gratifying and has positioned us to be more effective than ever. We want to continue to expand our Safe Routes to School program and our Advocacy this year. Your support will enable us to reach more students and leverage our work in schools to create safer routes for everyone. We appreciate any contribution you can make.
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Copyright © 2022 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. If a friend forwarded this to you, add your name to our email list here.
Our mailing address is:
Bike Durham
P.O. Box 25236
Durham, NC 27702
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