Governor Crist signed HB 971 today. Though I had called before, I wrote a last minute letter to him that was clearly of no avail. I wanted to share it with you so you are aware of some of the issues this bill brings up, and the changes it will now mean. If you are [...]
Biomimicry and Cities
Treehugger wrote a good piece on how biologist Janine Benyus wants to take her work in Biomimicry to the city. Biomimicry, if you are not familiar with the term, looks at nature in order to apply some of the ways the natural world functions to manmade products or systems. One well known example of biomimcry [...]
Bicycle Friendly Florida
Yesterday the League of American Bicyclists released it’s ranking of Bicycle Friendly States. Florida moved up the scale to number 12 for 2010.
There was some snafu with the documentation submitted by Florida to the League last year, making Florida rank much lower in 2009 (32) than 2008. If you want to know how well we’ve [...]
Broward County Bicycle Sharing
If you haven’t heard, Denver launched their B-Cycle Bicycle Sharing program last week, on Earth Day. They have about 400 bicycles at 40 stations around the city. It would be great to get something like that down this way, right?
Turns out South Florida is not far behind. This morning a selection commitee met to rank [...]
Palm Beach Bicycle Master Plan Public Workshop
[ April 14, 2010; 4:30 pm to 8:30 pm. April 15, 2010; 4:30 pm to 8:30 pm. ] Lest we forget that Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach are considered one metropolitan area, here is some news for Palm Beach County. The Palm Beach Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is developing a Bicycle Master Plan for the county and would like your input. Public Workshops are scheduled for April 14 and April 15 in [...]
Are Bicycle Lanes Always Best?
I didn’t get in on the discussion about bicycle lanes in Bayshore Monday night, but I discussed the same subject at the Martin County Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee meeting. A representative from the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) presented a plan for Indian River Drive in Jensen Beach that did not include bicycle lanes, and the Committee [...]
FDOT District 4 Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator
Transit Miami would like to announce that one of our writers, JM Palacios, has taken on the role of Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator for Florida Department of Transportation District 4. District 4 includes Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River Counties. (FDOT is split into seven districts, and Miami-Dade County falls into District [...]
Traffic Signals and Bicycles
Many traffic signals today won’t turn green unless loops in the pavement or video cameras detect a car sitting at the light. I’ve noticed that this detection often fails for bicycles, however. If there is a bicycle lane, there may not be a separate detection zone or loop to pick up a bicycle in the [...]
2009 MUTCD Is Here
Now you’re probably asking, what’s the MUTCD? The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices sets the standards for striping, signage, and signalization across the country. If a traffic control feature you want is not in there, you’ll have a hard time getting it installed on your road. The US Department of Transportation just released a [...]
I-95 HOT Lanes Take Transportation Award
FDOT’s I-95 Express Lanes were recently awarded the People’s Choice Award of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Read the release on the America’s Transportation Award site. Say what you want about the project, but the numbers are in and have shown a definite increase in speed on northbound I-95 where the [...]
Key West Bicycle Parking
I vacationed in Key West a while back with my wife. I loaded our bicycles on my car, and once we parked the car at our hotel we didn’t need it again until we left. It was a wonderful experience riding all over town. I wanted to share one way that they have implemented bicycle [...]
Revenge of the Bicyclists
While another bicyclist is on life support today after being hit by a car on Davie Blvd., cyclists in Boca Raton took matters into their own hands. Apparently the driver of a Lexus passed them too closely, so they attacked him and damaged his car when they caught up to him at the light. Read [...]
SUV Driver Injures Triathlon Cyclist
An SUV driver dramatically interrupted the Mack Cycle Key Biscayne Triathlon Trilogy on Sunday. The Rickenbacker Causeway was supposed to be closed for the race, but the driver of the SUV inched out in the way the pack of racers who were riding about 40 mph. Miguel Tellez, the leader of the pack and one of [...]
FDOT Sees, Clicks, and Fixes in Broward County
The Florida Department of Transportation’s Broward Operations Center is already using the website that you may have just heard about, SeeClickFix. That means that instead of your concerns just getting posted on the site and ignored, you can hope for some action. Transit Miami spoke with Darlene Williams in the complaints department at FDOT, who [...]
Save Mr. Clucky!
As if bicycle-riding people didn’t have enough problems, now the bicycle-riding rooster is in danger. The City of Miami Beach is trying to evict Mr. Clucky, the bicycle-handlebar-riding rooster, just for being a farm animal. Read more about it at the Miami Herald and head over to the rooster’s own website for more info on [...]
