Posts under ‘Safety’

Extending the Pfluger bridge on Lady Bird Lake to cross over the busy West Cesar Chavez Street has been a dream of the cycling community that was over a decade in the making. After breaking ground on the extension last spring, the Austin American Statesman is reporting that tomorrow the bridge will officially open. With [...]

In all the discussion of bicycle facilities, the focus is often on how do we get people commuting by car to switch to cycling as an option. Often forgotten in the discussion is the so called “Invisible Cyclists.” This a common reference to the working class, mostly black and brown riders who use a bicycle [...]

The MoPac Improvement Project is working on ways to improve traffic along this heavy used corridor, and the League of Bicycling Voters is suggesting a continuous bike path from Parmer Lane to Lady Bird Lake would make a measurable impact. The LOBV is asking for your help in contacting members of the project working group [...]

The article I posted earlier today, Effectiveness of helmets and the culture of fear, has generated an interesting conversation in the comments section about how dangerous cycling really is. My article pointed out that many more people die from auto crashes every year than bikes yet there is a concerted effort to make cycling appear [...]

Last weeks, Copenhagenize author Mikael Colville-Andersen gave a brilliant speech at the TEDx Copenhagen conference about the effect our culture of fear has on reducing bicycle use. He takes on several assumptions about the protective quality of helmets and our curious exemption of automobiles, the leading cause of accidental death in the Western world, from [...]

For those heading cross town along the Lance Armstrong Bikeway, there has been a small gap downtown at Shoal Creek and 3rd Street for several years now. The one block section between the bridge over Shoal Creek and West Avenue has been at times pretty rough as construction vehicle working on the Seaholm Plant have [...]

The City of Austin’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Program is considering improvements in bicycle infrastructure on South Congress between downtown and Oltorf including bike lanes and back in parking spaces (similar to those installed on Dean Keaton). Last week, the Bicycle Advisory Council passed a resolution in support of this action calling for the following: a [...]

British film show the counter intuitive reality that stop lights make urban roads more dangerous Cyclists get the brunt of a lot of criticism for not obeying traffic laws. Whenever facilities, resources, or priorities are suggested for cyclists, the motorist first complaint is “why are we giving them anything when they routinely flout the law?” [...]

The Austin Cycling Association’s October meeting on Monday will be an annual hosting of TXDOT to get feedback on how they can improve facilities for cyclists. The last couple years have been pretty testy seeing as TXDOT has dutifully gotten our feedback and then routinely ignored it in the building and upgrading of state roads. [...]

Editor Note: This Monday, City staff had a planning meeting to discuss implementation of the adopted plan for a downtown bicycle boulevard. Many in the cycling community missed this important meeting (including myself unfortunately), but Bicycle Advisory Council and LOBV board member Eileen Schaubert was there and made this report. Monday night’s Bike Boulevard meeting [...]