Monday evening the CTDOT officials provided two detailed plans to restore the pedestrian/bike walkway over Flower Street in Hartford.
According to the Hartford Courant, one plan contains a skywalk that would start at the corner of Flower Street and Capitol Ave. It would be a 900-foot sloped walkway that would have illuminated handrails. The cost would be $11.3 million and $12.4 million. The second plan is being dubbed the elevator plan, which would start near the rear entrance of The Hartford Courant building. It would include a 12'x12' elevator for cyclists and people with disabilities and a large stairway for pedestrians. This would cost $7.6 million to $9.7 million. Read the full article here. An article in the Record Journal states that more people are riding their bikes to work. According to a report from the U.S. Census, the number of people riding bicycles to work has increased nearly 60% in the last decade.
Bike Walk Connecticut's Executive Director is quoted in the article stating: "We’re looking to shift the mode of travel, by having people walk or bike to work instead of hopping in a car.” Read the full article here. CONGRATULATIONS to the towns of Farmington and West Hartford, CT for earning designations as Bike Friendly Communities! This is what happens when residents, town staff, and elected leaders work together to make their towns a better place to bike. Well done!
Efforts like these will be included in our upcoming Complete Streets Leadership Forum. Although weather reports cannot seem to settle on sunshine, rain, or locusts for Friday, Connecticut residents have read the excuse of 'It Might Rain" from Bike Walk Connecticut's list of top ten excuses for not biking to work and the pledges have jumped past 470. Yale, which is in the same city that is having a Bike to Work Day event at Pitkin Plaza (beginning at 7:30a.m. on May 16 - check event list for more details), has popped onto the top ten organizations literally overnight - which is a reminder to all the leaders not to take anything for granted and remind employees to take the pledge to ride to work May 16 - and a reminder to businesses who haven't yet participated that they can still take part in this statewide effort. In other news, while more towns have entered the tallies we want to put a face on the town of Fairfield in response to a comment on Fairfield Patch's event page. The anonymous commenter indicated that a "60 mile one-way commute" is forcing him or her to pass on Bike to Work Day. We at Bike Walk Connecticut freely acknowledge that sixty miles one way is just too much to ride for some. But in the spirit of sharing the road, we remind Fairfield residents - as well as the residents of other towns - that if they pick up a set of handlebars instead of a set of car keys on the morning of the 16th, they will be giving more space on the roads for drivers who can't ride. This is the 'win win' scenario outlined in a letter to the editor just published in the Hartford Courant. So if you can ride or walk to work on the 16th, think about the help you'll be providing for those who can't do either and take the pledge! In other news, residents who complete the Bike to Work pledge are reminded put the name of their town on the form. If it is left blank, Bike Walk Connecticut will assume you are riding to work from another dimension and are therefore not eligible for the prize drawings. There are still a few spaces left for the Traffic Skills 101 class taking place this coming Sunday, May 18, 2014.
WHEN: Sunday, May 18, 2014, 8 a.m. WHERE: Canton Town Hall, 4 Market Street, Collinsvile, CT COST: Bike Walk CT members: $50; Nonmembers: $65 INSTRUCTORS: Tony Cherolis and Chris Brown, both League Certified Instructors (LCIs) About Traffic Skills 101 TS 101 is a day long course consisting of approximately 4 hours in class and 4 hours outside, split between skills drills and an on-road ride. Among other things, you will practice starting, stopping, shifting and scanning, learn how to ride in traffic, including proper lane and intersection positioning, and crash avoidance techniques. You will practice all that you learn on a ride through the streets of Hartford. Successful completion of this course is a prerequisite for taking the League Certified Instructor course. More information and registration here. As Connecticut residents fought extraordinary car traffic all over the state over Mother's Day weekend, many decided to take the pledge to bike to work on May 16 to give their cars a rest and traffic reporters a day off. The number of towns in Bike Walk Connecticut's tally pushed past 100 even as the leaders kept their order. West Hartford, after several days of pledge stagnation, jumped from 43 pledges to 52 over the weekend, staying comfortably in first place on the town list. Waterbury's pledge count slowed to a crawl and stayed at 30 pledges, the same as this past friday. Meanwhile Hartford gained one more pledge - but at that rate it may be knocked from third place: Glastonbury is a close fourth with 18 pledges while New Haven and Wethersfield are both tied for fifth - and gaining. On the state government side, the order remains the same with gains made by all of the top three: the Department of Children & Families, DEEP and Corrections. With the private sector, however, it is a different story: while 17 pledges gives you a comfortable third place spot on the state government list, it makes you a leader in the private sector, as 17 pledges is Trinity College's number as of early this afternoon. Pratt & Whitney and Uconn Health made no movement over the weekend with ten and six pledges, respectively. However Uconn Health is now tied for third place with Traveler's and Aetna now in the game with six pledges each - and with four days left to Bike No matter where you live or work in the state, be sure to take the pledge to bike to work on May 16th, and look for a Bike to Work Day Event near you or even start one yourself! STATE GOVERNMENT - TOP 3 PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS 1. Children & Families, Dept Of - 116 2. Energy and Environmental Protection, Dept Of - 33 3. Correction, Dept Of - 17 Public Health, Dept Of - 11 Transportation, Dept Of - 9 Motor Vehicles Department - 6 Education, Dept Of - 5 OTHER STATE AGENCY - 3 Economic and Community Development, Dept Of - 3 Developmental Services, Dept Of - 2 Children, Commission On - 2 Administrative Services, Dept Of - 2 Revenue Services, Dept Of - 1 Higher Education, Office Of - 1 Connecticut Development Authority - 1 Child Advocate, Office of - 1 PRIVATE SECTOR - TOP 3 PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS (201 TOTAL AS OF 5/12 PM) Trinity College - 17 Pratt & Whitney - 13 UConn Health - 6 Travelers Insurance - 6 Aetna - 6 Prudential Financial - 5 United Technologies Aerospace Systems - 4 Travelers - 3 Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co. - 3 Bike Walk CT - 3 UnitedHealth Group - 2 Town of Windsor - 2 retired - 2 Northeast Utilities - 2 Horst Engineering - 2 General Electric - 2 ESPN - 2 Cycling Sports Group Inc. - 2 City of New Haven - 2 Cigna - 2 Bloomfield's High School Harris Ag Ctr - 2 Benidorm Bikes 2 3M - 2 Windham Region Council of Governments - 1 WHPS 1 Whole Foods Market - 1 West Hartford Public Library - 1 Wesleyan University - 1 Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers LLC - 1 Weekday Cyclists - 1 UTC - 1 Urban Oaks Organic Farm - 1 University Of Hartford - 1 United Healthgroup - 1 United Health Group - 1 Trident, an ITW Company - 1 Travelers Insurance Cos. - 1 Town of West Hartford - 1 Tony's Bikes - 1 Tolland Middle School - 1 Thomson Reuters - 1 Thomas Hooker Brewery - 1 The Lawn Police - 1 The Hartford - 1 The Bananaland - 1 SWRPA - 1 Subase Fire Department - 1 Stop & Shop - 1 Stanadyne - 1 Stamford Insurance Group Inc - 1 Stamford Downtown Special Services District - 1 SMC Partners - 1 Simsbury Bicycle Ped. Advisory Committee - 1 self employed - 2 Scott Franklin & Associates - 1 Rosebud Development - 1 Ron Manizza Sales / Bianchi Bicycles - 1 Rogers Benefit Group - 1 REI - 1 Real Hartford, LLC - 1 PQ Controls - 1 Phoenix - 1 Peru Opportunity Fund - 1 PCX Aerostructures - 1 Orafol Americas Inc. - 1 Oracle Corporation - 1 Optum - 1 Norwich Community Development Corporation - 1 NINA - 1 Myst Wealth Advisors - 1 Mitchell Auto Group - 1 Milford, ECC /MBA&CJV/ Urban Roots Bridgeport - 1 Michael J. Federico, CFP,EA - 1 MetLife - 1 McElroy Deutsch - 1 Marion Manufacturing Company, Inc. - 1 Manchester BOE - 1 Karelia Health - 1 INNCOM by Honeywell - 1 ING - 1 Hartford Public Library - 1 Hartford Hopital - 1 Habasit - 1 Greater Hartford Transit District - 1 Global-Spectrum CT - 1 Global Projects Consulting, LLC - 1 Gilead Sciences - 1 George Weiss Associates - 1 General Dynamics Electric Boat - 1 Gen Re NEAM - 1 Fuss & O'Neill, Inc. - 2 Frog Hollow Consulting - 1 First Class Properties Group - 1 Fairfield Ludlowe High School - 1 Electric Boat - 1 EB - 1 DSSD - 1 Daymon Worldwide - 1 Dassault Systems - 1 Darien Library - 1 Danny's Cycles - 1 Cycling Sports Group - 1 CT Early Childhood Alliance - 1 CT Children's Medical Center - 1 Creative Change Inc. - 1 CRCOG - 1 Corporate Translation Inc. - 1 Consolidated School District of New Britain, SMS - 1 Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo - 1 Connecticut Science Center - 1 Connecticut Judicial Branch/Client Security Fund - 1 Coherent, Inc. - 1 City of Norwich - 1 Child Care Services - 1 Charlotte Hungerford Hospital - 1 Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency - 1 CED Services - 1 Cd3 Inc,. - 1 CCMC - 1 Capital Region Education Council - 1 Canberra Industries Inc. - 1 BlackBerry - 1 Big Sky - 1 Berlin High School - 1 Bausch Abdurahman Thampan Medd, LLC - 1 Bank of America - 1 Avon Middle School - 1 Alstom Power Inc. - 1 AAA Metals - 1 TOP 3 COMMUNITIES (by participants' town) 1. West Hartford - 52 2. Waterbury - 30 3. Hartford - 20 Glastonbury - 18 Wethersfield - 17 New Haven - 17 Simsbury - 10 Manchester - 9 Cheshire - 9 Middletown - 8 Stamford - 7 New Britain - 7 East Hartford - 7 South Windsor - 6 Newington - 6 Milford - 6 Farmington - 6 Danbury - 6 Canton - 6 Bloomfield - 6 Hamden - 5 New London - 5 Windsor - 4 Unionville - 4 Torrington - 4 Norwich - 4 Mansfield - 4 Haddam - 4 Bristol - 4 Bolton - 4 Watertown - 3 Waterbury - 3 Stratford - 3 Southington - 3 New Haven - 3 Manchester - 3 Hebron - 3 Granby - 3 Enfield - 3 East Haven - 3 Avon - 3 Weatogue - 2 waterford - 2 Tolland - 2 Suffield - 2 Storrs - 2 Rocky Hill - 2 Quaker Hill - 2 Prospect - 2 Portland - 2 Plainville - 2 North Franklin - 2 Madison - 2 Guilford - 2 Groton - 2 Ellington - 2 Cromwell - 2 Chester - 2 Burlington - 2 Beacon Falls - 2 Ashford - 2 Wolcott - 1 Winsted 1 Windsor Locks - 1 Wilton - 1 Willington - 1 Willimantic - 1 Weston - 1 Westerly, RI - 1 West Hartford - 1 Wallingford - 1 Vernon - 1 Unionville - 1 Torrington - 2 Stonington - 1 Stafford - 1 Oakville - 1 North Windham - 1 North Haven - 1 Niantic - 1 Newtown - 1 New Hartford - 1 New Fairfield - 1 Marion - 1 Lyme - 1 Longmeadow, MA - 1 Litchfield - 1 Hastings-On-Hudson, NY - 1 Glastonbury, CT - 1 Fairfield - 1 East Windsor - 1 East Windsor - 1 East Lyme - 1 East Granby - 1 Coventry - 1 Chaplin - 1 Bronx, NY - 1 Branford - 1 Bethlehem - 1 Berlin - 1 Barkhamsted - 1 Andover - 1 From The Redding Pilot - Bike Walk Connecticut is promoting bike commuting all around the state on May 16 — National Bike to Work Day.Bike commuting reduces traffic, avoids pollution, saves gas, and burns calories. More than half of the U.S. population lives within five miles of their workplace, making bicycling a realistic, fun way to get to work.
Rookies, veteran commuters and everyone in between are encouraged to pledge to Bike to Work on May 16 at bikewalkct.org/bike-to-work. Bike to Work Day events will be held all across the state. For details, visitbikewalkct.org/event-locations.html. For a full list of meet-ups throughout , visit bikewalkct.org/meet-ups. Bike Walk Connecticut, a statewide, not-for-profit membership organization, works to make Connecticut a better place to bike and walk. Besides this week (May 12 to May 16) being Bike to Work Week, it is also CTrides week.
CTrides is asking commuters to take advantage of the various ride options instead of riding alone. Commuters can take a bus, train, join a carpool, walk or ride a bicycle instead of driving. Commuters participating in CTrides programs can track their miles and earn rewards for restaurant certificates and discounts, tickets to shows, sporting events, retail discounts and more. For more information, visit www.CTrides.com. Flower Street Public Information Meeting
Monday May 12, 2014 PLEASE JOIN DOT FOR A PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING Potential Options for a Pedestrian/Bicycle Bridge over CTfastrak and Amtrak at Flower St., Hartford, CT Monday, May 12, 2014 Open house from 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Presentation at 6:15 p.m. The Lyceum Resource and Conference Center 227 Lawrence Street Hartford, Connecticut Residents, business owners, and other interested parties are encouraged to attend, compare project options, and to share their preferences. The meeting facility is ADA accessible. If language assistance is needed, please contact the Department of Transportation's Office of Communications at (860) 594-3062 no later than Friday, May 9th. Efforts will be made to respond to requests for assistance. HAMDEN — Traveling on Connecticut roadways require care and courtesy, whether operating a car or a bicycle. To generate a greater awareness for bicycles — in May/National Bicycle Safety Month, and at all times of the year — AAA Southern New England shares these tips for motorists and bicyclists alike. Motorists must:
The new free program means AAA members can request assistance if a disabled bicycle needs minor repairs or requires transportation to a nearby destination within one of these three counties. To request service, members call the 800-AAA-HELP (800-222-4357), the roadside assistance number on their AAA membership card. An AAA service vehicle will meet members on any generally traveled road within AAA Southern New England’s territory, any time of day, 365 days a year. After attempting minor repairs, if the AAA technician is unable to get the member back on the road, the member and bicycle will be transported free of charge within a defined radius. More information on bicycle safety tips, brochures, videos, and the roadside assistance program, visitwww.aaa.com/bikesafety. |
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