NEWSLETTER

By Dennis Hoffarth

So you want a better bike ride? 1999 was our best year yet for making your bicycle ride safer and more enjoyable. You may have actually ridden on a new bike lane or trail in the past year. Or you may have expanded your cycling comfort zone in an Effective Cycling class. You can be sure that ABC's work in the past year bought these benefits closer to home in the coming year and years. Just take a look at our top 10 list!

The day-to-day operation of ABC took a big leap last summer when we moved into an office in the Virginia Avenue Baptist Church. The new set-up has made us more effective in many ways, including better office equipment (much of it donated), more volunteers working at the office, and better office organization with part-time paid clerical assistance.

As usual, most of our work was done by volunteers all across the 10 county region. We had more volunteers active in seeking positive changes than ever in our history! Our biggest dream project is to get bike lanes on Peachtree Street and Lee Street and all roads in between. This one continuous bikeway would stretch from city limit to city limit! The dream was enhanced in 1999 by Greg Paine's creation of a working committee and regular monthly bike rides to promote the project.

It would be impossible to cover all of our encouraging activities here, but let me enumerate just a few more of the successes and milestones of 1999:

Surprise, surprise! Cheshire Bridge Road has been re-striped, and they didn't include bike lanes! What happened? Well, bottom line, the Department of Public Works wanted to analyze the proposed re-striping plan after receiving the request from the Department of Planning. (See Nov.-Dec. newsletter for details.) But before Public Works finished their analysis, their contractor accidentally went ahead and re-striped the road without bike lanes!

Then, in late December, Public Works finished their studies, and guess what they concluded - the proposed bike lane scenario will result in too great a reduction in road capacity for cars! This was of course based on the conventional traffic analysis, which as we've been telling the City, has been proven faulty by the "Road Diets" report.

As you will recall from the last newsletter, the "Road Diets" report showed road after road in cities across the country, where converting a 4-lane road like Cheshire Bride to a three lane road (including center turn lane) with bike lanes, actually resulted in traffic flow as good or better than previous striping. In addition to the benefits to cyclists and pedestrians, it also resulted in less car crashes and injuries! ABC gave this report to Public Works in July, but the Department's head of Traffic and Transportation, Sandra Jennings was not impressed. She said she needs to see the numbers come out right on her conventional computer analysis before she could go along with such a conversion.

Ms. Jennings indicated that she will be writing back to all who wrote to her asking for the Cheshire Bridge conversion. So when you receive your letter, don't leave it at that! ABC intends to push this issue further, to get the City to try the new improved approach even if conventional studies don't back it up - in fact that's how engineers in other cities have become convinced, not by computer analyses, but by seeing it work successfully in real life!

Thanks to all who wrote to Ms. Jennings in the first round of this effort. Now we need more letters, asking her to take another look at the Road Diets report, and to proceed with the conversion, at least on a trial basis. This time, copies should also go to her boss, Norm Koplon, Commissioner of Public Works, and to Mayor Campbell. In the meantime, ABC will be strategizing with other supportive groups on other actions we can take to get the change we seek, including a request for City Council action. Here are the addresses:

Ms. Sandra Jennings
Public Works Manager
City of Atlanta
55 Trinity Ave. SW, Suite 4900
Atlanta, GA 30335

Mr. Norm Koplon
Commissioner of Public Works
City of Atlanta
68 Mitchell Street SW, Suite 4700
Atlanta, GA 30335

The Honorable Bill Campbell
Mayor, City of Atlanta
Second Floor, City Hall
55 Trinity Ave. SW
Atlanta, GA 30335

Click here to request your own copy of the "Road Diets" report!!

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by Phil Milazzo

Bike commuting can be done, even in such places as Cobb, North Fulton, and South Forsyth counties. I have some experience in all three.

Until August of 1998, my commute was all of three miles from Windy Hill at Village Parkway to the west side of Dobbins Air Reserve Base, where I worked at Lockheed. I used to joke with my boss that I was planning to move, so that my bike ride would be longer. I didn't move after all. I changed jobs. At the time, I wanted a more satisfying job and a longer ride. Since my job change, I have both.

Beginning on Windy Hill Road, I ride west to the US 41 intersection. I behave more as a pedestrian than a vehicle, because I must make a left to head north on 41. The left turn lane is too hazardous for a bicyclist (at least for this bicyclist it is). I cross 41 as if going straight and stop at the southwest curb, facing north on 41. A short wait for the light is common, but I feel much safer since more people have the chance to see me. When it's anything but broad daylight, I use at least one of my three headlights. Visibility is extremely important to remaining alive.

It's a short distance to Terrell Mill Road, where I turn right and proceed under Interstate 75. The expressway is usually cluttered with south-facing motorists moving toward Atlanta at a pace that almost matches my own.

The intersection of Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill gives me another pause. It's my habit to make eye contact with drivers at intersections. This intersection is a particularly busy one, being a primary approach from densely populated East Cobb to the I-75 and I-285 arteries. This intersection is being improved to handle more traffic. I hope they remember to paint a bicycle lane before they're finished.

Terrell Mill runs into Lower Roswell, and I bear right, having passed a long row of motor vehicles waiting to join the glacial southbound procession. Lower Roswell is a fairly benign road until it reaches Johnson Ferry. This is a very wide intersection where few people expect a bicyclist. The multiple lanes usually mean a line of cars I cannot see easily, which I know means they cannot see me. I proceed across this intersection with even more caution than I do others. Lower Roswell now begins to narrow into the country road it used to be. The ride is pleasanter, but the complete absence of shoulder puts me in the traffic lane at all times. My mirror is an essential tool, not merely a bike accessory, on this stretch.

The homes get larger and more expensive as I approach the Chattahoochee River. The descent toward the meeting of Lower Roswell, Timber Ridge and Willeo Roads is very narrow, winding and sometimes heavily-trafficked. Oddly enough, this place is the first where I saw another bike commuter when I started riding it about a year ago. These days, I frequently see two or three en route. It's good to know I'm not alone, and very good to know the trend is toward more bicycles, not fewer.

The Second Half

Crossing the bridge from Cobb into Fulton County takes me past the Chattahoochee Nature Center. If I'm early enough, I am rewarded by the beautiful sight of a sunrise through the trees and over the river. Such as the bicycle lane is, it ends for me at the light at Azalea Drive. I've tried taking Azalea to Roswell Road past the park and turning left onto Roswell. Climbing Roswell in one northbound lane facing two southbound lanes is another hazard I choose to avoid. Instead, I take Willeo to a right turn onto Marietta Highway, and climb the short but significant hill into downtown Roswell. Motorists roar up the hill at highway speeds, I guess because they can. That represents some hazard to me, but the visibility is good and I make use of it to be safe. Caution, patience and sometimes behaving like a pedestrian help me negotiate the lanes of motor vehicles stopped before they get to Roswell Road at the Old Mill. My course means crossing up to four lanes of motorists, turning left onto Mimosa, and gliding past Roswell's showcase antebellum homes.

The brief visit to the 1850's ends at Magnolia, where I turn right, then quickly left onto Canton Street. Again the southbound cars and trucks are usually stopped and lined up for blocks. Canton Street becomes Crabapple, which I take several miles into Alpharetta. Crabapple is another narrow road with no shoulder, and I use the bus stop spaces and church turn lanes when approaching traffic gets too close.

I make a right turn onto Rucker Road. This is another main artery that used to be a quiet country road. Today, very few motorists on Rucker are happy to see a bicyclist. Rucker becomes Old Milton near downtown Alpharetta. Again for safety, I behave like a pedestrian crossing the street rather than like a vehicle turning left. Having crossed the intersection, I face north on Highway 9, and usually wait for another light.

After one or two blocks on Highway 9, I turn right, riding a mile or so on well-trafficked Cumming Street, which ends near the south end of my office parking lot. There is a bicycle rack just outside my entrance door. The rack is mostly unused, but I have seen another bike or two on rare occasions, and spoken to one of the owners. In the office, my employer gives me a nicely-maintained shower room. My riding clothes hang out of sight on stick-up hooks under my desk. A week's supply of clean clothes stashes nicely in a file drawer. Driving days give me the chance to replenish the supply.

My nominal times are 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. to cover the 25 mile course inbound to work. I leave on the return trip when I can, but usually 6 p.m. or later is a little better. I can beat some of the morning traffic by leaving early, but the evening crush is usually unavoidable. The return trip always takes longer than the inbound because of traffic or darkness. I have to get up earlier than I used to, and I get home later. These things have meant some inconvenience, but my ride and all its benefits are worth it. I manage to ride one day or two in most weeks, and four of five in the best weeks. I anticipate moving, to only about ten miles from the office. I hope that cutting the distance in half will mean at least twice as much bicycle commuting.

Here's a list of some things which make my bike commute as safe as possible:

· A familiar route which I have driven repeatedly, and which I first bicycled on a weekend;
· a bar-end rear view mirror;
· three headlights, with the smallest on at all times except broad daylight (my brightest, a 20-watt halogen lamp, has stopped cars);
· sufficient battery capacity for two complete round trips in total darkness (this permits me to start each ride with a fully charged power source, to have an alternate if one battery should fail and safely to deal with delays);
· two red rear flashers (one a battery-hungry strobe, the other a longer-life LED model);
· red clothing for daytime visibility;
· retro-reflective jacket which is brilliant white in headlights;
· retro-reflective strips on my rims and parts of my frame;
· ankle bands faced with retroreflective material; · white gloves for highly visible hand signals;
· willingness to change technique and to give ground to stay safe.

See you on the road!

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