Category: communication

communication, education, encouragement, engineering, evaluation, infrastructure, news, projects, safety

Newark’s New Contraflow Bike Lane

photo of contraflow laneThe City of Newark has a new feature on East Main Street for bicyclists—a pocket contraflow bike lane. Unique in Delaware, this trial project was a result of a partnership among BikeNewark, the City of Newark, the University of Delaware (UD), and the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT).

DelDOT completed the work of striping and signing this contraflow lane in July, and, now that UD students are back on campus, the lane will get its first big test. BikeNewark created an educational video and a one-page flyer to help show how this contraflow bike lane can be used safely and legally.

BikeNewark will be evaluating the success of this trial project, which will run through the 2017-18 academic year.

Download the flyer (PDF).

 

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communication, evaluation, news

Community Feedback Needed

illustration of pencil and paperBikeNewark would like to get some feedback from the community on a few items. This is an opportunity for you to do your part to help advance bicycling in Newark.

First, BikeNewark is supporting the City of Newark with its application for a Places for Bikes grant, a PeopleForBikes program. It involves sort of an information crowd-sourcing effort. Please take about 10 minutes and rate bicycling in Newark.

Second, BikeNewark is in need of a Secretary, a BikeNewark volunteer Board position. We are looking for an organized, detail-oriented individual who is enthusiastic about biking and community development. The time commitment is roughly a few hours a month (see full position description). Contact BikeNewark if interested.

Third, the State of Delaware and other organizations are working on a bicycle policy plan to support the development of a safe, connected, and equitable network of bicycle facilities throughout the state! Your input will help planners better understand where people want to bike as well as problematic locations and corridors for people trying to bike. Your responses to the Blueprint for a Bicycle-Friendly Delaware–A Statewide Policy Plan survey will help DelDOT set priorities for this plan.

Last, but not least, whether you walk your dog on trails each day, or would like to find an off-road option for commuting to work or going shopping, you are an important part of the trail-development process in northern Delaware. Delaware Greenways wants your ideas and suggestions for developing trails and pathways that will serve your needs and will become a valuable resource to your community.

Thanks, bicycling community!

communication, engineering, events, infrastructure, news, projects

Let Your Voice Be Heard

We often feel we don’t get to directly affect decisions that are made in our society. On Monday, March 6, though, there is an important opportunity to do just that with regard to improving conditions for bicycling.

public meeting notice from the City of NewarkThis public meeting will take place on Monday, March 6, at 7 p.m. at the Newark Senior Center, off Marrows Road. This meeting will be the final chance for the bicycling community to vocally support the recommendations made by the Cleveland Avenue Improvements Task Force before City Council deliberates, votes, and forwards its wishes to DelDOT ahead of DelDOT’s pave and rehab work along the length of this busy east-west corridor.

In addition to the task force recommendations, DelDOT’s suggestion of implementing a “Florida-T” configuration at the intersection of Cleveland Ave. and Kirkwood Highway will also be discussed.

BikeNewark is in favor of this use of the Florida-T and each of the recommended improvements along Cleveland Avenue.

logo for Blueprint for a Bicycle-Friendly DelawareIn addition to the aforementioned meeting, initial meetings were held recently regarding bicycling in Delaware.

Four statewide public-input sessions have already occurred in advance of the initial drafting of a statewide bicycle policy document—the Delaware Bicycle Plan.

> More info on the Blueprint for a Bicycle-Friendly Delaware

communication, encouragement, news

We’ve put up the kickstand…

graphic of online interest survey…, so to speak, and off we go. OK, as of today, we’ve officially launched BikeNewark.org. We’ve notified our valued partners—the City of Newark, University of Delaware, DelDOT, Newark Bike Project, WILMAPCO, Bike Delaware, and the Downtown Newark Partnership—in a brief press release that today’s the day we’ve made our new website official.

We especially want our supporters and potential supporters to take our new survey, which will help us greatly as we continue Moving Bicycling Forward in Newark, Delaware, and grow as a nonprofit coalition.

With respect to the website, we couldn’t have gotten to this point without the help of BikeDelaware’s James Wilson, in helping “flip the switch,” and WILMAPCO’s Heather Dunigan, who had maintained our former organization’s web presence for so long. This was a project of BikeNewark’s Communications subcommittee, chaired by Karen Rosenberg.

communication, news

Committee Makes Name Change

BikeNewark web logoThe Newark Bicycle Committee is now BikeNewark. In discussing some organizational improvements, the key players made the decision to use the timing to create a new name for our entity. The name “BikeNewark” was chosen because it had already been our Facebook and Twitter handles. BikeNewark’s tagline is “Moving Bicycling Forward in Newark, Delaware.” Its Communication subcommittee is currently working on surveying supporters to solicit needed help in several areas and asking BikeNewark partners (see last paragraph) to help spread the word.

The Newark Bicycle Committee had grown exponentially over the past 18 months, in its organizational structure as well as its activity, and BikeNewark is now in the process of formalizing with the state and the IRS. This will include determining what constitutes official membership and creating a slate of officers and bylaws.

One practical reason for this shift was the fact that many seem to confuse us with the Newark Bike Project and some have even gotten the impression that we’re either a City of Newark committee or a subsidiary group under WILMAPCO’s auspices (because it had been hosting our web presence). We’re actually a coalition comprising city residents, non-residents, and partner liaisons—all of whom are passionate about improving bicycling in Newark.

BikeNewark’s partners include the City of Newark, the University of Delaware, DelDOT, Newark Bike Project, WILMAPCO, Bike Delaware, and the Downtown Newark Partnership.