The official Blog for bikewalklee.org. BikeWalkLee is a community coalition raising public awareness and advocating for complete streets in Lee County, FL.
The need to improve Route 60 was proposed in 2013, back when FGCU withdrew its contributions to the funding for Route 60. It's nice to see the suggested improvements finally coming to fruition. Hopefully, the better route and shorter headways will promote more usage of this route by FGCU students and others in the area. Naples Daily News 7/30/15 article on announcement.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--LeeTran
LEETRAN TO IMPROVE ROUTE 60 WITH NEW CONFIGURATION AND SCHEDULE
FORT MYERS, FL,July 29, 2015– LeeTran will revamp its Route 60 startingThursday, Aug. 6,to make more frequent trips while continuing to serve the same locations.
Route 60 operatesMondaythroughSaturdayin the San Carlos Park/Estero area. It serves Florida Gulf Coast University, Miromar Outlets, Gulf Coast Town Center and the South County Library.
Instead of traveling the entire route in both directions, the bus will make a loop south on Three Oaks Parkway, east on Corkscrew Road and north on Ben Hill Griffin Parkway. It will enter FGCU by the north entrance, stop at the Student Union, and exit the same way. The first two morning trips will continue to be express service to FGCU.
The new routing improves frequency from 130 minutes to 85 minutes. The number of trips per weekday will increase from nine to 12.Saturdaytrips will increase from eight to 10.The revamped service is starting prior to the first day of FGCU's fall semester,Aug. 19.
“What our riders want most is more frequent service,” said Transit Director Steve Myers. “The new route cuts 45 minutes off the length of each trip without adding any expense.It also makes more connections with Route 240 which travels on U.S. 41.”
LeeTran operates 22 fixed bus routes in Lee County with connecting service to Collier County. In its last fiscal year it provided 3,939,812 passenger trips with 178,752 hours of service and traveled 2,803,150 miles in service.For LeeTran information and schedules, visitwww.rideleetran.comor call(239) 533-8726(LEE-TRAN).
·Saturday, Aug. 15: 7th annual Cape 5K, Jaycee
Park, 4125 SE 20th Place, Cape Coral. 7 a.m. (www.3dracinginc.com)
·Saturday, Aug. 22: North Collier Regional Rampage
5K, North Collier Regional Park, 1500 Livingston Road, Naples. 7 a.m. (www.eliteevents.org).
·Saturday, Oct. 10: Cops and Joggers 2015 5K,
Starts from Centennial Park, downtown Fort Myers, at 7:45 p.m. (www.ftmyerstrackclub.com)
·Saturday, Oct. 10: 2015 Busey Bank Run For
Prevention 5K, 7:45 a.m. at Florida Gulf Coast University. (www.3dracinginc.com)
·Saturday, Oct. 17: 7th annual 10K 4
FISH (Friends In Service Here). Starts atSanibel Community House, 2173 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel, at 7:30 a.m. (www.ftmyerstrackclub.com)
Cycling:
·Friday, Aug.7: SWFL Critical Mass ride. Join a
family fun slow ride through Fort Myers. Front and rear bike lights required.
Grab your helmet, bring all your friends and meet in the open field next to
Publix (at 7:30 p.m.) at First Street Village, 2160 McGregor Blvd. Fort Myers.
(twitter.com/swflcm)
Sunday, Aug. 30th. Starts at 7 a.m. Global Solidarity Ride to bring awareness and show support of the ladies in Afghanistan who are empowering themselves and their rights by riding a bicycle. There are 3 distances (15, 30, 45 miles), with food and entertainment at Go-Girl Cycling upon return from ride. (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/global-solidarity-page-registration-17712182615?aff=es2)
·Saturday, Sept. 5: 33rd annual Tour
of Sebring. Enjoy one to three days of cycling in the gently rolling hills of
Highlands County. Fully supported routes, on-road route marks, rest stops, and
dispatched SAG service vehicles. Daily rides ranging from 11 to 62 miles plus a
Sunday Bok Tour Century (100 miles). (www.caloosariders.org)
Triathlons:
·Saturday, Aug. 1: Siesta Beach Olympic and
Sprint Triathlon. Starts at 7 a.m. (multirace.us)
·Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 12-13: Galloway Captiva Triathlon. Kid’s events
Saturday, three age groups with different distances. Adult sprint tri Sunday, all
based at South Seas Island Resort, Captiva. (www.captivatri.org)
Wrong-way bicycling has gotten a lot of attention lately. Yesterday's News-Press included an open letter to wrong-way bicyclists (http://bikewalklee.blogspot.com/2015/07/an-open-letter-to-wrong-way-bicyclists.html) and today's BikeWalkLee bi-weekly News-Press column (below) also explains why it's important to ride with traffic, not against it.
If
you read the letters to the editor, you’d see the occasional assertion
that cyclists would be safer if only they rode facing traffic rather
than in the same direction as traffic.
The logic goes that cyclists able
to see what’s headed their way would be more able to take evasive
action to avoid a collision with the much faster and heavier vehicles
sharing the roadway.
Granted, there’s a certain simplistic sense
to this at first glance. But take a moment to ponder the possibilities
(and perhaps do a little research) and you’ll find out where this logic
goes wrong and why riding with traffic is the smarter way:
•It’s the law.
Florida statutes are unequivocal: Cyclists on the roadway must ride in
the same direction as other vehicles… because that’s what they are in
the eyes of the law — a vehicle. (It’s the law in other states as well.)
•It makes you more visible.
Drivers are geared to look out for other vehicles on the road… at least
the ones we want to drive beside. What are those drivers looking for?
Other vehicles! So when you act like one of those other vehicles, you
improve your chances of being seen by other drivers. Let’s also remember
that all car-bike interactions occur on open roadways with both moving
in the same plane. There are also turning drivers, passing drivers,
drivers coming to an intersection or pulling on to the road. All those
drivers are looking for other vehicles, so if you’re not acting like one
of those you’re much more at risk of a collision.
• It’s safer for you (even when you’re not sharing the road). One study (http://www.bicyclinglife.com/Library/riskfactors.htm)
concluded your risk when riding against traffic on the roadway was
almost doubled vs. riding with traffic. Ride on the sidewalk against
traffic and your risk is quadrupled (again, for the visibility factor of
where drivers normally look).
Another consideration (at least in
low-speed conditions) is that riding with traffic lowers the impact
factor should a collision occur. If a car going 30 mph interacts with a
cyclist going 10 mph in the same direction, the impact factor is 20 mph
(30-10). Have the cyclist going in the opposite direction (into
traffic), and the impact factor doubles (30+10). That makes a major
difference in survivability.
A final consideration is that, if
everyone on a bike is riding in the same direction, it’s safer for all —
even the motorists, since swerving cyclists trying to avoid each other
inevitable can end up in the roadway.
Now, sharing the road is not
for every cyclist — that’s why we have bike paths, shared-use paths and
other more protective options. For those willing to ride right in
traffic, however, there are a number of accessories — mirrors, lights,
vests, etc. — that enable you to see and be seen by whoever is
approaching from behind. But if you’re riding the roadway, you need to
be confident, you need to be predictable and you need to be wary and
aware as if your life depended on your defensiveness. It very well
might.
The two-wheeled types reading this may ask: Why does all
the burden of shared-road safety fall on the cyclist? Well, in a perfect
world, that would not be the case. In the world we live in, however,
cyclists are out-weighed and out-powered by motor vehicles — so cyclists
have a lot more at stake, and it behooves the bicyclist to take
precautions to prevent collisions. After all, if a motorist’s mistake
ends up in an unfortunate car-cycle interaction, the driver might get a
ticket — but the cyclist might get a trip to the emergency room, or
worse.
BikeWalkLee
is a community coalition raising public awareness and advocating for
complete streets in Lee County—streets that are designed, built,
operated and maintained for safe and convenient travel for all users:
pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders of all ages and
abilities. Information, statistics and background online at www.BikeWalkLee.org.
Ready to ride or run?
Run: There are two 5Ks Saturday for your running pleasure… one in Cape Coral (Beat the Heat at www.3dracinginc.com) and one in Naples (Eagle Lakes 5K at www.eliteevents.org). Ride:
Join the Caloosa Riders this Sunday to ride 100km (62 miles) as part of
the Rapha Women’s 100, a global event getting thousands of women around
the world to ride 100km. Meet at Daniels Crossing Plaza and ride from
Fort Myers to Captiva Island, in a non-supported, self-contained no-drop
ride. Please be able to ride 18-20 mph, and helmets are required. (www.caloosariders.org). Both:
While the Sept. 12-13 Galloway Captiva Tri is sold out, if you’re
willing to drive north a little there are two choices on the horizon:
The Siesta Beach Tri (Olympic and sprint) on Saturday, Aug. 1
(multirace.us), and the Venice YMCA Triathlon (sprint) on Sunday, Sept. 5
(www.swflymca.org/programs/venice-triathlon).
Safety movement
Want
to support the “6ft Flag” Safety Movement — Bike Lights Campaign? It’s a
grassroots movement to help improve the safety of cyclists in Southwest
Florida? Go to http://www.gofundme.com/SWFL6ftflaglights for details.
Taking a real vacation for the first time in a number of years to celebrate our 25th anniversary, my wife, Maria, and I had as much fun as we could have hoped for. Visiting other parts of the country and world does wonders for recharging one’s batteries and reminding us that our own little world of Southwest Florida is just that. For us, traveling to Toronto and Nova Scotia provided both of those benefits.
Although I characterized our trip as a “real vacation,” I couldn’t help but look critically at the communities we visited, always considering their transportation options and infrastructure, green spaces and other quality-of-life indicators. As is usually the case when being exposed to places people enjoy visiting, there’s much to learn and bring home.
This was our third time in Toronto and second in Nova Scotia, allowing me an interesting perspective because my last visit included meetings with transportation, community-planning, transit and parks and recreation officials. At that time, the city of Toronto was in the first stages of moving to drastically improve conditions for people using bicycles and transit. What I saw during this recent visit was the result of their commitment, which is significant in enhanced infrastructure and increased bike ridership, something I’ll write more about in my next column.
View of friendly streets of Toronto
In the cities we visited -— Toronto, Ontario and Nova Scotia’s Dartmouth and Halifax — transit options abounded. Of course, Toronto had the most robust, with everything from an excellent subway and streetcar system to ferries and water taxis. But even Dartmouth, which is much smaller (population 70,000) than its neighbor across the harbor, Halifax (population 300,000), provided very good bus service as well as ferries and water taxis between the two cities. One thing I found very telling was that those on foot and bicycle are provided a 24/7 free shuttle service while major renovations are taking place on one of two bridges connecting the cities — work that will take years to complete. Additional ferry capacity is also part of a plan to ensure access during this massive project. In contrast, Lee County residents and visitors traveling on foot can’t legally use any of our bridges across the Caloosahatchee River at any time, other than one span of the newer Edison Bridge, which doesn’t even directly link Fort Myers to Cape Coral. Additionally, there are no features specific to bicycles on any bridge; merely breakdown lanes intended for motorists’ use.
The pedestrian environment in each of the cities we visited was very good in compliance to crosswalk laws by motorists and non-motorists alike. But one glaring difference between the U.S. and Canada is the apparent lack of implementation of something similar to our Americans With Disabilities Act, which requires public places to adequately accommodate those with mobility problems and other physical limitations. While there are curb ramps in most places where needed, tactile features for people with visual impairments are rare.
But the most surprising oversight is in access to many of the businesses we visited, especially restaurants. In researching Canadians laws related to access, there is indeed a version of our ADA that has been in place since the late 1970s, but specific requirements and implementation appears to be well behind ours, at least from what Maria and I encountered.
Other than the ADA-related shortcomings, most other aspects of the pedestrian experience were much more positive than what we’ve come to expect here. Whether it was running or walking, it quickly became apparent that there was less aggressiveness among drivers toward pedestrians and other motorists, even on the busiest inner-city streets. Horn blowing and antagonistic behavior was almost nonexistent, at least from what I observed. Likewise, pedestrians were less timid when interacting in traffic and took fewer risks since, as I mentioned earlier, compliance among motorists was an expectation that was generally met, unlike here. Illegally parked cars and other items that obstruct sidewalks were not an issue, either in the inner city or surrounding residential neighborhoods. And although I read and heard about incidents and complaints that were opposite of what we witnessed, I came away with the impression that whether it was in the metropolis of Toronto or more modest-sized Halifax and Dartmouth, there’s a lot more respect and tolerance among the different types of road users than in Southwest Florida. Navigating in traffic in what was for us a low-stress atmosphere made for an excellent experience that can and should be the case in our own communities.
To find out more about how other communities around the country and world are making life better for residents and visitors, visit BikeWalkLee’s blog (bikewalklee.blogspot.com).
Until next time, I’ll look for you on the roads and pathways. — Dan Moser is a long- time bicycle/ pedestrian advocate and traffic- safety professional who cycles, runs and walks regularly for transportation, recreation and fitness. Contact him at bikepedmoser@gmail.com or 334- 6417.
Tired of reading all those letters to editors by local citizens suggesting that cyclists should ride against traffic?? Here's a great piece in today's News-Press: "An open letter to wrong-way bicyclists". Thank you, Robert Sciolino of Cape Coral for speaking up and for saying it so well! (And thanks to News-Press for publishing it.) Watch for BikeWalkLee's column later this week on the same topic.
You
are in more danger, not less, when you ride facing traffic.
I
get it, but it is against the law.
I
know you truly think if you see cars coming you can avoid them when they
suddenly swerve into you.
You
cannot.
If
you are on a residential street and the traffic is approaching you while on
your bike and you are going about 15 mph, that traffic is headed at you at 45
mph. I don’t care if you are a world-class athlete; you are not “stepping” out
of the way of a 45 mph approach.
Sorry.
Had
this been the same “distracted” driver on the other side and you were riding
with traffic, the impact would be 15 mph … a 30 mph car hitting a 15 mph
cyclist. Yes, the impact still occurred, yet now you have a fighting chance to
survive.
You’ve
already made the decision to ride in traffic, so, since you are there … give
yourself a chance.
Here’s
another thing you may not have thought about; cars pulling out in front of you from
a side street are not looking your way … almost ever. Their concern is
approaching traffic to their left, not you on your bike going the wrong way on
their right.
I
save the best for last; other people.
Other
cyclists.
When
you ride on the wrong side you endanger cyclists who are riding legally. When
you approach each other it’s head-on.
Who
goes left? Who goes right?
Who
heads for the grass? Who heads for the street?
When
you both head the same way you end up … if lucky with bad headaches and ruined
bikes.
And
it’s your fault.
You’re
going to be paying someone’s hospital bills and buying them a new bike.
I
ride 10,000 miles every year on the road. I ride with traffic. I have never had
a close call. Thousands of cars pass me every single day on my way and coming
home from work, on the busiest streets in Lee County, including Colonial
Boulevard, the Midpoint Bridge and Veterans Parkway. Never a close call.
However,
years ago when I didn’t know any better, and rode the sidewalks and the wrong
way on the road — close calls three or four times each week and three crashes
with motor vehicles.
The
only crash I have had in five years involving another vehicle was a bicyclist
riding the wrong way. I broke my collarbone, cracked ribs, chipped a tooth and
had a severe concussion — and lost my bike.
He
rode off. It was a hit-and-run — somehow, no injuries.
I say all this because I ran into a couple
taking a leisurely ride on Cultural Park Boulevard in Cape Coral recently,
going the wrong way. I tried to politely explain the issues involved and
instead was treated to laughter and sarcasm — and plain ignorance.
Well, I truly hope we don’t “run into each
other” again because I ride an expensive bike and he may not want to finance a
new one for me. Hopefully, in his ignorance that’s the only price he ever pays
for an enjoyable neighborhood ride.
Although it hasn't been picked up in the media, over the
past six months both the Lee Board of County Commissioners and the Bonita
Springs City Council have updated their road impact fee regulations to allow road
impact fees to be used for bike/ped and transit infrastructure projects.
BikeWalkLee supports the actions by Bonita
and BoCC to begin to move the road impact fees into a more multi-modal
transportation approach.The next step
needed is to move to mobility fees, which not only takes a multi-modal approach
in the use of the funds, but also provides a growth management tool to promote
infill and redevelopment and curtail sprawl.
Background
On July 15th, the Bonita Springs City Council adopted an
ordinance (Ordinance No. 15-16),
which amends the definition in the road impact fee ordinance to include
alternative roadway capacity improvements, similar to action taken by Lee
County BoCC in March.The Bonita Springs
ordinance further states that the Council will take further action as it moves
forward with implementation of its complete streets policies as part of its
upcoming EAR process.
In the past, road
impact fees could only be used to build roads to meet the transportation needs
of the new developments and businesses.Since road impact fees were put in place throughout Florida in the late
1980s and 1990s, there has been a major shift at the national, state, and local
level to a multi-modal transportation system, not just cars, to get people to
where they want to go.Thus, the road-only use of those funds is
inconsistent with this approach.
In the Lee County Comp Plan amendments (called Horizon 2035)
developed by staff and approved by all the relevant committees (with extensive
public input and involvement) over the period of 2010-2014, the Plan as
recommended to BoCC included incorporating a multi-modal transportation
approach, and moving away from road-only transportation approaches, such as auto-only
Level of Service (LOS) and road impact fees.The draft Comp Plan amendments envisioned a mobility plan and mobility
fee approach as a replacement for road impact fees.[Note: this BoCC has taken no action on the
Horizon 2035 Plan and has given no indication that they plan to consider it.]
As part of the County's deliberations on impact fees, in
January, Duncan and Associates updated
the impact fees to reflect current costs, as required by State law.Their January report on road impact fees had
a section on multi-modal improvements(p. 16-13), which
reviewed the County Commission's
discussions about transitioning to a mobility fee and recommended that the
ordinance be amended to provide flexibility to spend road impact fees on
improvements such as sidewalks, bikeways, trails and bus pull-out lanes that
are not part of a road widening project. Thus, road impact fees may be used to fund
additional improvements as long as they expand the capacity of the
roadway.Like the current impact fee
system, the projects funded must be in the impact fee district within which the
fees were collected.
2015 Duncan Report: Update of Road Impact Fees
Including this new definition resulted in a
lowering of the County's net road impact fee. That's because including
stand-alone bike/ped improvements meant that the revenue credits increased,
i.e., you can reduce costs by taking some of the trips off the road and instead
putting them on biking/walking/transit facilities; thereby lowering the net
road impact fee.
As we pointed out to the BoCC in our public comments on
March 3rd, there are several recent
developments that could have benefited from this flexibility language--Fiddlesticks Blvd, Palomino Rd, and Estero
Parkway.Instead of taking some of
the trips off the road with needed walking and biking facilities at the time the housing developments were built, the Fiddlesticks
community, for example, has had to wait 10 plus years at 10 times the cost to
provide these needed transportation facilities, and communities along Palomino Rd. and Estero Parkway
probably have another 5-10 year wait.It's
a win-win for everyone to have this flexibility language.
BikeWalkLee will be tracking the implementation of this new
flexibility language and will report on the use of this language to provide
bike/ped/transit infrastructure on transportation projects necessitated by
growth.We also encourage the County and
Bonita Springs (and other local jurisdictions) to consider taking the next step--replacing
road impact fees with a mobility fee system.
·Saturday, July 25: Eagle Lakes 5K, Eagle Lakes
Community Park, 11565 East Tamiami trail, Naples. Starts 7 a.m. (www.eliteevents.org)
·Saturday, July 25: 7th annual Beat the Heat 5K. Jaycee
Park, 4125 SE 20th Place, Cape Coral. 7 a.m. (www.3dracinginc.com)
·Saturday, Aug. 15: 7th annual Cape 5K, Jaycee
Park, 4125 SE 20th Place, Cape Coral. 7 a.m. (www.3dracinginc.com)
·Saturday, Aug. 22: North Collier Regional Rampage
5K, North Collier Regional Park, 1500 Livingston Road, Naples. 7 a.m. (www.eliteevents.org).
·Saturday, Oct. 10: Cops & Joggers 2015 5K,
Starts from Centennial Park, downtown Fort Myers, at 7:45 p.m. (www.ftmyerstrackclub.com)
·Saturday, Oct. 10: 2015 Busey Bank Run For
Prevention 5K, 7:45 a.m. at Florida Gulf Coast University. (www.3dracinginc.com)
·Saturday, Oct. 17: 7th annual 10K 4
FISH (Friends In Service Here). Starts atSanibel Community House, 2173 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel, at 7:30 a.m. (www.ftmyerstrackclub.com)
·
Cycling:
·Sunday, July 26: Join the Caloosa Riders to ride
100km as part of the Rapha Women’s 100, a global event getting thousands of
women around the world to ride 100km. Meet at Daniels Crossing Plaza and ride
from Fort Myers to Captiva Island, in a non-supported, self-contained no-drop ride.
Please be able to ride 18-20 mph, and helmets are required. (www.caloosariders.org).
·Friday, Aug.7: SWFL Critical Mass ride. Join a
family fun slow ride through Fort Myers. Front and rear bike lights required.
Grab your helmet, bring all your friends and meet in the open field next to
Publix (at 7:30 p.m.) at First Street Village, 2160 McGregor Blvd. Fort Myers.
(twitter.com/swflcm)
·Saturday, Sept. 5: 33rd annual Tour
of Sebring. Enjoy one to three days of cycling in the gently rolling hills of
Highlands County. Fully supported routes, on-road route marks, rest stops, and
dispatched SAG service vehicles. Daily rides ranging from 11 to 62 miles plus a
Sunday Bok Tour Century (100 miles). (www.caloosariders.org)
Triathlons:
·Saturday, Aug. 1: Siesta Beach Olympic and
Sprint Triathlon. Starts at 7 a.m. (multirace.us)
·Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 12-13: Galloway Captiva Triathlon. Kid’s events
Saturday, three age groups with different distances. Adult sprint tri Sunday, all
based at South Seas Island Resort, Captiva. (www.captivatri.org)
