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 [...]
SunRail Shines No More
SunRail was defeated in the State Legislature Friday, 23-16. With it goes the $2 rental car surcharge for Tri-Rail, which most of the South Florida Senators ended up voting against because they said they were worried that local voters might overturn the surcharge. It’s uncertain whether they considered that most locals will not be paying [...]
Swine Flu—What to Do?
Biden seems to think that the way to avoid getting swine flu is to avoid the subway, airport, or any form of public transportation; and NYC mayor Bloomberg and others are striving to counter his arguments. With all this back-and-forth, you may be left wondering about the safety of public transit. While there are still no [...]
Transit Humor with “Weird Al”
This is dedicated to those of you who climb on the bus every day to get to work. “Weird Al” Yankovic singing his song ”Another One Rides the Bus” to the tune of “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen. He starts singing at about 1:04 if you want to skip the intro.
Tri-Rail Funding Crisis Redux
And we thought last year was bad. Tri-Rail’s Year Reprieve is coming to an end, and the news looks dire. Sit back and take a deep breathe, there’s a lot going on if you haven’t caught it already.
First up we’ve been hearing talk of a fare increase, and the amounts have been made official: 25%. [...]
Human Power of the Future
The March issue of Popular Science has an intriguing article on some innovative options for human powered transportation. Among these is the Human Car, powered by up to four people riding in it; the Velomobile, a single passenger recumbent tricycle with an aerodynamic fairing to slice through the air; and even a human powered monorail. [...]
