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Please come and give your feedback! A public open house to see alternatives the City of Cincinnati has prepared for Riverside Drive, including potential bike lanes or a shared use path is scheduled for:

Thursday, April 14 · 4:00pm - 7:00pm
Leblond Recreation Center
2335 Riverside Drive
Cincinnati, OH

This is a followup to a meeting hosted by the East End Community Council last year about improving Riverside Drive and enhancing the neighborhood. It is separate from the proposed trail along the currently active Oasis rail line (which we will refer to as the "Oasis trail" to lessen confusion).

The Hamilton County Park District, in cooperation with Anderson Township and the City of Cincinnati, will hold an open house public meeting for the planned extension of the Little Miami Scenic Trail from the SR 32/Beechmont Avenue interchange to the future Ohio River Trail. The future Ohio River Trail will extend east along Kellogg Avenue (US 52) from Cincinnati to New Richmond, Ohio.

The public meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 1, 2011 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the Lunken Airport Main Terminal Lobby. The public is welcome to attend at any time during the two-hour open house meeting.

The Hamilton County Park District recently completed a Feasibility Study to determine whether the Little Miami Scenic Trail extension should be located in the “Elstun Corridor” (which extends south between Elstun Road and the Little Miami River and terminates at the Magrish Preserve), or in the “Beechmont Corridor” (which extends west along Beechmont Avenue and connects to the Armleder/Lunken Airport Trail system). This public meeting is being held to present the findings of the Feasibility Study and to solicit public input on the study recommendations.

Comments can be submitted at the meeting or mailed to the Hamilton County Park District by March 16, 2011. Individuals who may require interpretation services or special assistance to participate in this meeting should contact Kevin Brill or Ross Hamre of the Hamilton County Park District 5 to 7 days prior to the meeting for arrangements to be made.

Hamilton County Park District Contact Information: Kevin Brill or Ross Hamre (513-728-3551). 10245 Winton Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45231.

We've just decided that this Thursday, February 10, is Winter Bike Day!

Get on your bike and ride. To school, to work, or just around the block.

The Coffee Emporiums on Erie in Hyde Park and on Central Parkway in Over-the-Rhine, and Park + Vine on Main Street, are offering a free hot beverage to anyone arriving by bike all day to celebrate.

If you want to start your day with comradery on your commute, two rides are planned. Frank Henson will be leading a ride from Hyde Park to downtown, departing from the Coffee Emporium on Erie at 7 am to the Coffee Emporium on Central Parkway that morning. People will start assembling at 6:30 am.

Jess Linz will be leading a ride from Northside to downtown from Sidewinder Coffee (4181 Hamilton Ave.) at 8 am. People will start assembling at 7:45am.

Blow away those winter blues. Ride anywhere and put a smile on your face. And a hot drink in your stomach.

This Thursday, February 10, 2011. The very first impromptu Winter Bike Day in Cincinnati.

A shared-use path (that means bicycles and pedestrians) along the north side of MLK from the bottom of the hill near McMicken to Clifton at the top, interrupted only by Dixmuth St, is part of the "Recommended Alternative" for MLK that will be the subject of a public hearing scheduled for

4:30 to 7:00 PM

Thursday, February 3rd

Fairview-Clifton German Language School Cafeteria

3689 Clifton Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45220.

If you live or ride in the area, this is a great time to attend and let the City know what you think.

The updated meeting displays are available on the City’s project website: http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/noncms/transeng/mlk/ . Scroll to the bottom for the PDF's of the "Recommended Alternative West" and "Recommended Alternative East".

The West Side is especially difficult to navigate by bike, and as a result, ridership is lower than in and around Northside, Downtown, and the East Side. If you ride on the West Side, or would consider doing so if conditions were improved, you may be able to begin changing that.

The section of Harrison between Kling Avenue and Queen City Avenue shown on the map is scheduled for improvements next year, and the City of Cincinnati's Department of Transportation & Engineering (DOTE) is soliciting input on two options for this stretch of the road. One of the two options they are considering would put bike lanes on Harrison Avenue as part of a 'road diet'.

Please review the City's proposed changes, and provide your feedback by December 31 here: www.cincinnati-oh.gov/harrison (click on "Harrison Striping Concepts" in the left navigation bar).

Concept 1 essentially leaves this part of Harrison unchanged, with two travel lanes in each direction with morning and evening parking restrictions.

Concept 2, the 'road diet', would put in place one travel lane in each direction, a center two-way left turn lane, and bicycle lanes on both sides.

If you have questions, you can contact Andréa Henderson (Project Manager) directly at at 513-352-6236, or via e-mail at andrea.henderson@cincinnati-oh.gov.

Thank you!

PS: Be sure to click on the link on the City's page to provide your feedback. Let them know if you would like to see a road diet with bike lanes on Harrison.

Camp Ernst, the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati's adventure camp for kids ages 6 to 15, has been awarded a Paula Nye Memorial Grant by the Kentucky Bicycle and Bikeway Commission for $7600 that will be used to purchase eight new bikes and provide funding for helmets, training, program leadership and promotion.

Below is a note from Bill Easley, Program Coordinator, describing the grant and some of the bike program features that are part of what Camp Ernst's has to offer:

With the eight new bikes we will acquire from this new grant, Camp Ernst will have 30 bikes in our "fleet". All are under two years old and in excellent condition. 15 of the bikes are used for touring and light off road trips.

Our off road trail and dirt pump track design was donated by Jay Hein of Mechanical Edge LLC. The Powerline trails were built in 2010 by volunteers and friends of YMCA Camp Ernst. Equipment for the project was donated from businesses and friends of the camp. Our blacktop bike skills pad and off road trail signs were donated by two private donors. Our pump track was constructed by local mountain bike racer Dave Huff, who donated his time to the project. Dave is expanding the pump track to include an oval for beginning riders and this project will be ready for the 2011 summer campers. We expect to add additional loops to our off road trails in the wooded area connected to the Powerlines that traverse the camp property.

YMCA Camp Ernst is actively seeking additional support for its youth cycling initiatives from a variety of individuals and corporate sources. Anyone interested in supporting the cycling programs is encouraged to contact YMCA Camp Ernst at (859) 586-6181 and speak with Bill Easley, the full time Program Coordinator with the Y.

Camp Ernst is located at 7615 Camp Ernst Road, Burlington, KY, 41005.

The just-implemented 'road diet' that includes bike lanes on Madison Road between Grandin and Dana will now remain in place until Spring when a final decision will be made. The bike lane symbols will be restored in the next few weeks now that the new asphalt has been laid, according to Cincinnati's Department of Transportation and Engineering.

Reports we are are hearing indicate that this is the best example we have so far in the city of improving a stretch of road for bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists by taking a more comprehensive view of how to lay out a street.

If you haven't ridden, walked, or driven this stretch of road yet, give it a try whenever you get the chance.

Neighborhood residents spoke up in support of the 'road diet' that includes new bike lanes on Madison Road between Dana and Grandview at a special meeting of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Council on Wednesday, October 27.

According to Queen City Bike Board Member and neighborhood resident Cheryl Crowe, the majority of the speakers and attendees were there to support the improvements that have been made to this important East Side arterial. She estimated 25 to 30 supporters, not all of whom spoke. Four people argued against the changes.

Many of the positive comments addressed the overall improvement that these changes made to the quality of life in the neighborhood and on the street. Among other things mentioned, the bike lanes serve as a buffer between the sidewalk and car traffic, making the street safer for children and other pedestrians.

In light of the positive balance of support from neighborhood residents, combined with the earlier support from over one hundred bicyclists and other stakeholders who also use Madison Road, we hope that theses changes will be made permanent.

Depart from DeSales corner (near Moca/Suzy Wong's); end at Habits in Oakley Square.

Costumes encouraged, for you or your bike! Little monsters are welcome, but are best left in trailers since we'll be riding in the street. This slow-paced ride is about 3.5 miles and will be over before dark.

Stay and take a bite out of the neighborhood at Habits, or be home in time for trick or treat.

At the end of a lengthy meeting last Tuesday that was mostly concerned with other matters, Cincinnati City Council's Livable Communities Committee heard statements in support of the new bike lanes on Madison Road from a number of you. These lanes are clearly a great improvement for bicyclists on this previously forbidding section of one of the City's main thoroughfares. Thank you so much if you were able to attend and speak out for improving our streets!

The committee also heard from opponents of the lanes as they are currently configured: two car lanes in each direction, a center turn lane, and bike lanes. While one or two of the few opponents who testified seemed to be opposed to bike lanes on the streets in principle, others raised legitimate questions about whether some on-street parking could be safely included in the new layout for Madison Road. A motion by Council Members Quinlivin, Qualls, and Thomas to look at the possibility of removing the new left turn lane that now provides protected access to the Springer School, three side streets, and ten driveways in order to include parking on the north side of Madison for a two-block stretch was referred to the administration for comment. Michael Moore, Director of the Department of Transportation and Engineering (D.O.T.E), will be getting back to the committee shortly.

The direct effect of adding parking on bicyclists is unclear. We anticipate that the bike lane would be kept but would be moved outside of the new parking lane. However, that decision has not yet been made, so we will need to remain engaged.

As background, prior to the redesign, parking was prohibited on the north side of Madison Road during morning rush hour. Residents without off-street parking typically parked on weekday nights on Paul St., a short stretch of Bedford Terrace north of Madison, or a longer stretch of Bedford Terrace south of Madison, according to a neighborhood resident. After the redesign, parking has grown tighter on weekends on Paul St., the closest street to an apartment building without any parking of its own, and to a lesser extent on other side streets. The apartment building is the large brown building on the right side of Madison in the picture above. Springer School is the beige building on the left at the top of the photograph.

The major concern in removing the center turn lane, per D.O.T.E., is the increased difficulty car drivers would face getting in and out of the side streets and Springer School, and overall traffic delays caused by cars turning left from Madison. This may have side effects in the form of cars encroaching on the bike lanes to get around cars turning left. With the turn lane, through car traffic on Madison is currently able to proceed unimpeded.

Photo courtesy Jeffrey Jakucyk

Bike lanes have been added in both directions on Madison Road between Observatory and Grandin as the temporary pavement markings were laid yesterday and today. Temporary 'bike lane' symbols will also be added shortly. The final layer of asphalt and permanent marking will be put in place in a month or so.

If you sent an e-mail to D.O.T.E. and City Council, know that you made a difference! Note that there may still be challenges to this fix to one of the critical bicycle routes in the city, so we are not done just yet.

In the meantime, let's celebrate by using them! Take someone who hasn't ridden on the street in a while to give them a try this weekend. You can ride to see the changing leaves in Eden Park, or take a spin for an ice cream or coffee in Hyde Park Square.

The fall weather should be lovely.

After months of delays, Cincinnati's Department of Transportation and Engineering is making a decision RIGHT NOW about whether or not they are going to include bike lanes on a critical stretch of Madison Road.

We have learned that some opponents of making the city bicycle friendly are quietly working to stop this!

We urgently need as many people as we can to send an e-mail immediately to Tim Jamison, the Acting City Engineer, and copying Mayor Mallory and the City Council, explaining why it is important to them personally -- and to the city and region -- to start making these much-needed improvements to Madison right away.

A copy of my message and the correct e-mail addresses are below. I am sharing this to help you draft your own message. If you already ride Madison or live in an adjacent neighborhood, let them know! If you would start to ride if their were bike lanes there, let them know that, too!

The affected section of Madison Road is between Grandin Road and Dana Avenue. The City of Cincinnati's Department of Transportation & Engineering (DOTE) originally proposed a change in the lane striping in order to make it a complete street. You can view their original proposed changes here: www.cincinnati-oh.gov/madisonroad.

The result would be two travel lanes in each direction, a center two-way left turn lane, and bicycle lanes. DOTE believes this will calm traffic and improve Madison Road for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists. These proposed bike lanes would connect to the sharrows through O'Bryonville, and the new bike lanes on Dana Avenue.

We believe DOTE may be wavering in their commitment. That's why they and your elected officials need to hear from you right away!

Thank you for your help!

Gary Wright

PS Be sure to ask Mr. Jamison for a response in your message!

DRAFT E-MAIL MESSAGE TEXT FOR YOUR PERSONALIZATION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TO: tim.jamison@cincinnati-oh.gov

CC:
mayor.mallory@cincinnati-oh.gov,roxanne.qualls@cincinnati-oh.gov, jeff.berding@cincinnati-oh.gov, leslie.ghiz@cincinnati-oh.gov,laure.quinlivan@cincinnati-oh.gov, wendell.young@cincinnati-oh.gov, cecil.thomas@cincinnati-oh.gov, chris.bortz@cincinnati-oh.gov, chris.monzel@cincinnati-oh.gov, charlie.winburn@cincinnati-oh.gov

Tim Jamison, Acting City Engineer
Department of Transportation and Engineering
City of Cincinnati

Dear Mr Jamison,

I am writing to urge you to follow through on plans to put bike lanes in both directions on Madison Road between Grandin and Observatory when it is repaved and restriped in the next few weeks.

Madison Road is the essential link for bicyclists traveling between Hyde Park, Oakley, and Madisonville to the east, and Walnut Hills, Evanston, Avondale, Clifton, and Downtown to the west. The Bicycle Master Plan enacted by City Council just a few months ago recognizes this by calling for bike lanes along most of its length.

Increasing ridership significantly is a specific objective of the City's environmental plan in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We will not be able to achieve that objective without implementing the Bicycle Master Plan's recommendations for Madison, a major commuting route to and from the city's two major employment centers in Downtown and Uptown.

I personally ride this route frequently from Walnut Hills to Hyde Park on business and to go shopping. Bike lanes on this stretch will make my journey easier, and will encourage more people to use their bicycles for shorter trips. They will also directly benefit the neighborhood business districts along the route by getting more people out of their cars and onto the street.

The most cost effective way of getting started and increasing bicycle ridership immediately is to add these lanes now. As part of a road diet, this will also calm traffic and enhance the livability of neighborhoods along this corridor.

Can you confirm for me that bike lanes are included in your plans for immediate action?

Sincerely,

Gary Wright
Walnut Hills

cc: Mayor Mallory and City Council Members

The Cincinnati Reds, Queen City Bike, the Cincinnati Cycle Club, Reser Bicycle Outfitters and the City of Cincinnati are sponsoring the first Cincinnati Bike to Baseball event this Sunday, September 12th. The game against the Pittsburgh Pirates starts at 1:10 p.m.

Half-price tickets to the Reds game and registration are available at the www.reds.com/bike2bball. The password for buying tickets is “Pedal”.

Secure parking will be set up along 2nd Street at Joe Nuxhall Way.

For more information about this event and group rides to the game, contact Danny Cooper at charliefunny@hotmail.com.

Queen City Bike is very excited to announce that Jess Linz has agreed to join us as Program Coordinator for our new Bicycle Friendly Destinations Program.

Jess has been deeply involved in the Cincinnati bicycle renaissance with Mobo Bicycle Cooperative, serving as a Board Member, Chair of the PR Committee, and Co-Lead Mechanic for both Open Shop and Women’s Open Shop. During Bike-to-Work week this year, she also served as our volunteer mechanic at the Coffee Emporium Commuter Station in Over-the-Rhine.

She works as a mechanic for Reser Bicycle Outfitters, where she is also their liaison to Spanish-speaking customers. She has been a Public Ally, and has B.S. in Architecture from U.C.

We hope you are as excited as we are to know that Jess will be leading this program. She is a dynamite organizer, but she can’t do it alone. She will be reaching out to our community for help as we build our movement for change. When you see her riding by, we hope you will consider joining her on the ride.

New Program to Get More People Riding Bikes to More Places

CINCINNATI (August 30) – Queen City Bike announced today that it has received a $10,000 grant from The Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF) to help launch a new program to get more people riding bicycles to more places in the region everyday.

The Bicycle Friendly Destinations Program will work with area employers, retailers, government agencies, and arts and cultural organizations to make it easy for people to reach and use their facilities on a bicycle. The overall goal of the project is to increase the use of bicycles for all kinds of trips, whether to work, to go shopping, or just to run errands in the neighborhood.

Queen City Bike will provide advice to organizations on what they need to do to become a Bike Friendly Destination, and will publicly recognize those that succeed in May 2011. The program will help organizations of all kinds become more attractive places to which to ride, from small retailers who need to know what kind of parking their neighborhood customers need, to large employers who want to encourage more people to commute by bike.

“Getting more people to use bicycles for everyday transportation benefits everyone,” according to Gary Wright, President of Queen City Bikes. “It reduces pollution, cuts down on traffic and parking congestion, and is good for your health.” Wright went on to say, “More and more cities are realizing that supporting bicycles is important for their future. Young people especially measure a community by how bicycle friendly it is. I am proud to say that Cincinnati is one of the places that gets it.”

One of the goals of the City of Cincinnati’s Bicycle Transportation Plan, adopted in June of this year, is to double the number of people who use bicycles for everyday transportation over the next five years. “The City is committed to making our streets more bicycle friendly. We hope that many area businesses and organizations will match that commitment by participating in the Bicycle Friendly Destinations Program, “ Wright said. “We are very excited that The Greater Cincinnati Foundation is partnering with us to make that happen.”

The Bicycle Friendly Destinations Program grew out of a Leadership Cincinnati Class 33 project lead by Brad Hunkler of Western & Southern Financial Group that identified this as key priority for local employers seeking to attract and retain talented people. Queen City Bike participated in the project and agreed to take over implementation of the program,

# # #

About Queen City Bike. Queen City Bike is a non-profit organization that promotes bicycling as a safe and healthy means of transportation and recreation in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. For more information on Queen City Bike, visit www.QueenCityBike.org.

About the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. The Greater Cincinnati Foundation empowers donors to make a profound difference in the quality of human and community life in the Greater Cincinnati region, today and tomorrow. We believe in the power of philanthropy to change the lives of people and communities. As a community foundation, GCF makes grants and provides leadership in six key areas: arts and culture, community and economic development, education, environment, health and human services. An effective steward of the community’s charitable resources since 1963, the Foundation inspires philanthropy in eight counties in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. See www.gcfdn.org for more information.

We all worked hard for the past two years to get the City of Cincinnati's new Bicycle Transportation Plan enacted. Now we are pleased to say that the City's Department of Transportation and Engineering (DOTE) is moving quickly to translate the plan into action.

Below is the text of DOTE's press release announcing new lanes and sharrows on Spring Grove, Central Parkway, and Linn Street. I had the opportunity to ride the Spring Grove lanes this past Monday, and think they will make a real difference in encouraging more people to ride their bicycles on the street.

There was good news for trail riders this week, too. I was riding in the lanes on Spring Grove to a press conference at Salway Park, where Ohio Department of Natural ResourcesDirector Sean Logan presented a $405,000 Clean Ohio Trail Fund grant to the Mill Creek Restoration Project for the purpose of constructing the third phase of the City's Mill Creek Greenway Trail in 2011.

So far, with the help of everyone in the community, it has been a pretty good year for making Cincinnati a better place for cyclists.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 25, 2010
Contact: Mel McVay
513-352-5269
melissa.mcvay@cincinnati-oh.gov

Cincinnati Rolls out New Bicycle Lanes Central Parkway, Spring Grove Avenue, and Linn Street Receive Bike Lanes, Sharrows

This week the City of Cincinnati began installing bike lanes and sharrows on Spring Grove Avenue, the first of three streets that will receive the new markings this summer. Cincinnati recently adopted a comprehensive Bicycle Transportation Plan, calling for 445 miles of on- and off-street facilities to be installed over the next 15 years.

Curtis Hines, Spring Grove Avenue Project Manager said, “We know that Spring Grove Avenue is already a major bicycling corridor, and we hope that the addition of bicycle lanes will encourage even more people to try using a bicycle for casual trips.”

At least three street segments are scheduled to have bike lanes and sharrows installed in August and September:

Spring Grove Avenue (Bike lanes: Crawford Ave to Winton Rd; Sharrows: Winton Rd to Mitchell Ave)
Central Parkway (Bike lanes: Brighton Pl to Western Hills Viaduct; Sharrows: Western Hills Viaduct to Hopple St – southbound only)
Linn Street (Bike lanes: W 6th St to Gest St)

According to Hines, “These streets were already scheduled for routine maintenance, so the timing was perfect for adding the bike lanes. We’re committed to building streets with all users in mind, so we plan to continue incorporating bike lanes in as many street improvement projects as possible.”

The bicycle lane pavement symbols (a bicycle and an arrow) have already been installed on Spring Grove Avenue, and the stripe that separates the bicycle lanes from traffic will be installed later this week.

###

The Mayor’s Young Professional Kitchen Cabinet is planning a group ride and walking tour to promote cycling in Cincinnati and the modern street car system in down town Cincinnati on Sunday, September 12th. The ride will begin and end at the Second Sunday Street fair, “a hip, eclectic neighbourhood event,” in Over The Rhine.

Meet at 14th and Main, bike rides start at 1pm and 4pm

For more info, go to http://www.facebook.com/bikethestreetcar

If you are as passionate as we are about making our region a better place to live by getting more people on bicycles on our streets, this may be the position for you.

Bicycle Friendly Destinations Program Coordinator
8 month consulting contract
Sept 2010 – Apr 2011
$14 per hour
Approximately 20 hours per week

Queen City Bike is looking for a person to help launch a new program to encourage greater bicycle use by working with employers, retailers, arts and cultural organizations, community groups, and others to make it easy for people to reach and use their facilities by bicycle. Beginning immediately, the Program Coordinator will work with Queen City Bike volunteers and our allies to enroll employers in a Bike Friendly Workplace program. The Coordinator will then help extend the program to other kinds of businesses and organizations in the area.

For more information about this opportunity, send a message to us at queencitybike09@gmail.com .

Cincinnati City Council today approved a landmark new Bicycle Transportation Plan. The plan sets out a 15-year program that will add 329 miles of new bike lanes and other on-street improvements that will make riding everywhere in the City easier.

The plan calls for immediate improvements over the next eighteen months to three major routes in the city: Madison Road, Spring Grove Avenue, and Riverside Drive. We will be working very closely with the Department of Transportation and Engineering on those projects.

The Council also passed a separate ordinance sponsored by Council Member Jeff Berding requiring motor vehicles to maintain a three-foot distance when overtaking bicycles. The ordinance also prohibits driving or parking a car in a bike lane and requires drivers to exercise caution in opening doors to avoid endangering bicyclists.

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