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The League of Michigan Bicyclists is seeking a motivated individual to join the current two (2) person staff team in a new Associate Director position. This full-time position requires a college degree or equivalent experience in a related field. The candidates background should include experience in fund raising, volunteer development and member communications. The ability to effectively communicate (both written and orally) to community leaders, members, constituents, volunteers and other staff is a must. The successful candidate must have a passion for bicycling.

Transportation Committee votes on biking and walking funding next week
Take Action!

On Thursday, February 2, we expect the House Transportation Committee to vote on the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, a bill that eliminates crucial funds for biking and walking.  As a Member of the Committee, Representative Candice Miller (Huron, Sanilac, Lapeer, St Clair & Macomb Counties) is in a key position to save dedicated funding for biking and walking.  Please contact her today and ask her to vote to preserve biking and walking.

The American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, the long awaited multi year Transportation bill, eliminates the two largest programs that fund biking and walking infrastructure—Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School.  Without these programs, communities all over the country will lose resources to build the sidewalks, crosswalks, and bikeways that make biking and walking safe and accessible in your community.

We can’t let that happen.

That’s why we’re supporting efforts to introduce an amendment that will preserve funding for biking and walking. During Thursday’s vote, your representative could be the key to making sure that this amendment passes in the Transportation Committee. Will you contact them today to ask that they vote to preserve funding for biking and walking in the transportation bill?

Tell them:

• Biking and walking make up 12 percent of all trips, but only 1.5 percent of federal funding.
• Two out of three pedestrian deaths take place on roads built with federal funding.  Ensuring funds for sidewalks, crosswalks, and bikeways help end preventable deaths and make roads safer for everyone.
• When town centers are biking and walking friendly, business and economic development improves.

Thank you for all that you do to keep bicycling and walking safe and accessible.

Take Action!

LMB is pleased to report that earlier this month Representative Sean McCann of Kalamazoo introduced House Concurrent Resolution 41 to urge the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) to pursue bicycle friendly policies by providing accommodations for bicycles on board trains and bicycle parking in future station plans. The language was largely taken from LMB's issue paper on the topic. 

"I was very pleased to introduce House Concurrent Resolution 41 which urges the National Railroad Passenger Corporation to put into place bicycle friendly policies by providing bicycle storage on trains as well as bicycle parking in future station plans," said Representative McCann. "This resolution was introduced with bipartisan support and seeks to increase the availability of different modes of transportation which is a necessary component of a 21st century transportation system in our country."

The resolution supports language included in both the 2010 and 2011 transportation budgets that states: "For rail passenger service supported in any part through capital or operating assistance from funds appropriated in this article, the department [MDOT] shall work with the rail carrier to identify ways in which reasonable transport of bicycles by passengers can be accommodated."

Similarly, strong support for roll-on bicycle service on Michigan trains was captured in the draft Michigan State Rail Plan, which LMB's helped to solicit public comment on. According to the draft plan: "Most of the comments, 327, focused on passenger rail topics. Passenger rail comments most frequently discussed expanding service to specific locations, increasing the frequency of service and enhancing service with new amenities such as allowing bicycles on passenger trains."

LMB is scheduled to meet with MDOT and Amtrak officials in January, 2012 to discuss opportunities of how to best accommodate bicycles on Michigan trains without requiring them to be transported in boxes as Amtrak current requires.  We are extremely optimistic about our upcoming meeting and will post an update to our website as soon as we have more details.

House Concurrent Resolution 41
Whereas, An efficient, modern, transportation system is a pillar of a healthy economic climate and vital for Michigan's future. All modes of 21st century transportation infrastructure should be made accessible to modern travelers, whether tourists or commuters. Seamless multi-modal connections are essential to facilitate tourism and to allow greater mobility for bike commuters and those without cars. Bicyclists should be able to switch between transportation modes and link trips by bringing bicycles on trains without having to check them as boxed luggage. Bicycle tourism and commuting would be further accommodated with short and long-term bike parking at Amtrak stations. Unfortunately, Amtrak does not allow bicycles on board Michigan routes at this time and bike parking is not always available; and

Whereas, Amtrak's routes out of Chicago, the Downstate Illinois Service and Missouri River Runner, offer roll-on bike service; the option to bring bicycles on board, either by storing bikes on board in bike racks, or secured as checked baggage with tie-down equipment (not in a box), and allow folding bicycles on board as carry-on baggage. All three of the Michigan Amtrak routes, The Blue Water, Lake Shore Limited and Pere Marquette lines, use the same equipment as Chicago area trains and would only have to update the reservations system to allow bikes on board in Michigan; and

Whereas, Bicycle tourism is a booming industry and many Michigan bike tour events are located in or near cities accessible by Amtrak service. These could attract more tourism dollars, especially from Chicago-area residents, if it were more convenient to bring bikes on trains and park bikes at train stations; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That we urge the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) to pursue bicycle friendly policies by providing for bicycle storage on board trains and bicycle parking in future station plans; and be it further

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is seeking public comment on its draft 2012-2016 Five-Year Transportation Program. The document includes a list of specific transportation projects planned for the next five years in each of MDOT's seven regions. For the first time ever, you can locate the projects by proposed construction year on an interactive state map.

The draft 2012-2016 Five-Year Transportation Program is available on the MDOT Web site at: www.michigan.gov/mdot5yearplan. Comments will be accepted until Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, and should be e-mailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . To request alternative formats, such as large print, please contact Bob Parsons, Public Involvement and Hearings Officer, Bureau of Transportation Planning, Michigan Department of Transportation, P.O. Box 30050, Lansing, MI 48909; fax: 517-373-9255: or e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Five-Year Transportation Program, a continuous, interactive dialogue with the department's customers and stakeholders, has become the anchor of MDOT's project development and delivery systems. Each year, a new fifth year is added and program/project adjustments are made to the previous four years. MDOT presented the draft 2012-2016 Five-Year Transportation Program to the State Transportation Commission (STC) on Nov. 17, 2011. It will remain a draft program until it receives final approval by the STC in January 2012.

National News

Reposted from the League of American Bicyclists blog.

Update 11/14/11: LAB has posted a petition asking for the mandatory sidepath language to be removed from the Senate transportation authorization bill (S. 1813 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act). Please consider signing and passing along this link along: http://www.bikeleague.org/petition/

The draft of the Senate’s transportation authorization (S. 1813 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act) has been a bit of a disappointment for cyclists. It reduces funding for dedicated bicycling programs and allows state departments of transportation an opt-out for spending it. However, even aside from funding, there is an egregious clause that has rightly upset cyclists.

Section § 203 (d) (p. 266), the part dealing with the “Federal lands transportation program”, states:

(d) BICYCLE SAFETY.—The Secretary of the appropriate Federal land management agency shall prohibit the use of bicycles on each federally owned road that has a speed limit of 30 miles per hour or greater and an adjacent paved path for use by bicycles within 100 yards of the road.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. This paragraph would introduce a mandatory sidepath law on roads in our National Parks and other Federal lands.

For those unfamiliar with this term, it’s a provision that used to be found in a lot of state vehicle codes that says that when a sidepath (bike path, trail) is provided for cyclists, they have to use it and can’t ride on the parallel roadway. Over the past 20 years, the number of states with this law still on their books has dwindled to just a handful. [Note: League of Michigan Bicyclists successfully advocated to revise the Michigan Vehicle Code in 2006 to eliminate language allowing local ordinance that could require bicyclists to use an adjacent side path] The problem with the provision is that the restriction applies regardless of the quality, safety, and utility of the path provided; it disregards the needs of cyclists to be on the roadway to access shops, services etc.; and ignores our fundamental right to the road.

The law is rooted in a couple of mistaken philosophies. One such idea is that it’s just not safe for cyclists to sharing the road with cars going more than 30 mph and thus, for our own safety, we should have to use a path that is provided. This paternalistic (at best) approach is guilty of not only blaming the victim but simply doesn’t make sense unless every higher-speed roadway has a path alongside it.

The second principle at play is the idea that “we provided this path for you, you’d darned well better use it”. To which our response should be…if the path is any good, you shouldn’t have to force anyone to use it; they will use it voluntarily because it works. Our communities are replete with examples of poorly designed, built and maintained paths that are little more than glorified sidewalks. Many of these are throwbacks to the 1970s and 1980s; we are generally getting better about this. Anyway, cyclists routinely ignore these shoddy paths because they are dangerous, slow, and out of the way – but anyone that rides any amount knows that’s kind of hard to explain succinctly as you respond to the inevitable “get off the road” epithets yelled by passing motorists.

The inclusion of this provision in the Senate bill is really troubling on many levels.

• Given the Park Service’s general track record on accommodating bicyclists of late – i.e. we really don’t want you in our Parks – it’s hard to assume any positive motives behind this proposal. Is there data or any factual basis for this move?
• What precedent does this set? Two pretty awful ones come quickly to mind: why stop at Federal land highways; and if roads with higher than 30mph speed limits are so unsafe for bicyclists to share with motorists, bicyclists shouldn’t be using them, period.
• This throwback to a paternalistic 1950s approach to cyclists safety is bad news; flies in the face of a 30-year trend of removing these bad laws from state vehicle codes; and threatens our long-cherished and very basic right to the road.  We will do all we can to stop it from becoming law – but that won’t happen overnight.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee just voted the bill out of Committee with minimal changes (the authors had such hard-fought and finely-negotiated language that they really didn’t want to change anything at this stage). There are quite a few things that have to fall into place before the bill comes to the Senate floor for a vote (like the entire transit section, finances to pay for the bill, and floor time on the Senate schedule).

Because there isn’t a specific opportunity to strip the language from the bill right now, you won’t likely see an action alert or all-out campaign – but that doesn’t mean we aren’t working to get the job done. All our colleagues in the America Bikes coalition are on the same page, and can’t believe this language has reared its ugly head again after so many years.

We are ready with proposed changes – in this case, simply striking the provision altogether – and we’ll need to have support lined up to make it happen. For the meantime, you can write your Senators an e-mail or letter saying that you REALLY don’t like this provision. Tell them that it’s the wrong thing to do today and sets an awful precedent for tomorrow. This will help get the issue on their radar and will help with a specific push later.

Sarah Schillio, John Lindemayer's wife, gave birth to a baby boy on Friday, October 7, 2011. Rowan John Lindenmayer was born at 6:39 am, weighed  7 pounds 12 ounces and was 21 inches long. All are doing well.


For more photos of Rowan, visit here.

 

Advocacy

We are extremely pleased to report that yesterday the Michigan House Transportation Committee voted out HB 4728 with LMB's recommended Substitute language.  LMB testified before the Committee last week encouraging a simple amendment to the bill which would allow cyclists to signal right turns with an upturned left arm OR by pointing to the right.  The original language of the bill would have mandated that Michigan bicyclists could only point to the right, outlawing the current upturned left arm method. Of the 32 states who have made this simple update to their vehicle codes, no state has outlawed the universally recognized upturned left arm signal.

We would like to thank Representative Geiss for offering the Substitute, as well as the entire Transportation Committee who unanimously voted to move this common sense bill to the House floor.

We will keep our members posted of additional movement of HB 4728.