The League of American Bicyclists has just announced 150 new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Businesses (BFB) in 39 states and the District of Columbia. The largest group of awardees in the program's history, this latest round grows the ranks of BFBs to more than 800 businesses, government agencies and Fortune 500 companies in 46 states and the District of Columbia.
Congrats go out to Bicycles East in Glastonbury, with eight employees, for earning Silver BFB status, and to Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford, with 7086 employees, for earning Bronze BFB status. Bicycles East and Pratt & Whitney join four other CT businesses with BFB status, including:
Click here for the list of Fall 2014 Bicycle Friendly Business awardees Click here for the list of ALL current Bicycle Friendly Businesses On Tuesday Bike Walk CT participated in a panel discussion at the Old State House's "Conversations at Noon: The American Dream Machine: Bicycles Past, Present, & Future." The program will air on CT-N tonight (9/18) around 8 PM. It's also available on demand from CT-N at http://ct-n.com/ondemand.asp?ID=10697 and on YouTube (here or below). About the program: From high-wheelers to bicycles to electric cars, all made in one Hartford factory. Author Steve Goddard explains how a Civil War veteran became the father of the American bicycle and then went on to build other dream machines. After his lecture, Mr. Goddard joins a panel of experts for a conversation on making Connecticut more bike friendly and promoting bike racing among kids. Our guests include Aidan Charles, the Founder and Executive Director of CCAP, and Kelly Kennedy, Executive Director of Bike Walk Connecticut. Diane Smith moderated. Photos above courtesy of the Old State House and CT Historical Society collection, 2000.194.27 Tune in this Saturday, Sept. 20 for another edition of the MetroHartford Alliance’s new radio show, “The Pulse of the Region,” with Alliance President and CEO Oz Griebel. The show airs Saturday morning at 8 a.m. on ESPN Radio, 97.9 FM. This week’s guests are Jackie Mandyck, Managing Director of the iQuilt Partnership, and Doug Suisman, Founder & Principal of Suisman Urban Design, who will discuss the urban design plan for Downtown Hartford and remind listeners not to miss this Saturday’s EnvisionFest Hartford, featuring more than 100 free events throughout the city.
The iQuilt Plan links Hartfords cultural assets with a vibrant and innovative pedestrian network. Its centerpiece is the GreenWalk, a one-mile chain of parks and plazas connecting the gold-domed Capitol in Bushnell Park to the waterfront of the Connecticut River. For one weekend in September, the cycling world will turn its attention to Hartford, Connecticut and the CT Cycling Festival. As some of the best professional and amateur cyclists come to Hartford for the season’s most anticipated late-season race events, the state of Connecticut draws its attention to downtown Hartford. MORE
Bike Walk Connecticut is pleased to welcome BSC Group and Kurt A. Prochorena as our latest business member. BSC Group offers engineering, planning, landscape architecture, transportation engineering, and ecological services. Based in Boston, the company also has offices in Glastonbury CT, as well as Worcestor and on Cape Cod. To learn more about BSC Group, see www.bscgroup.com. The US DOT's Federal Transit Administration is making $19.98 million available to support comprehensive planning associated with Transit Oriented Development (TOD). Awards will range from $250,000 to $2,000,000. According to the notice from FTA, “the grants will fund comprehensive planning that supports economic development, ridership, multimodal connectivity and accessibility, increased transit access for pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and mixed-use development near transit stations.” FTA intends to fund planning work that would likely not occur without Federal support and is seeking comprehensive planning projects covering an entire transit capital project corridor. In a nod to the importance of regional cooperation, "Only one application per transit capital project corridor may be submitted to FTA. Multiple applications submitted for a single transit capital project corridor indicate to FTA that partnerships are not in place and FTA will reject all of the applications." Proposals must address six aspects explained in the funding notice, including how the project “increases access to transit hubs for pedestrian and bicycle traffic.” With the FTA open to receive grant applications, T4America has organized an online session to explain the program, how it works, and what kind of applications FTA will be looking for. We’ll have Therese McMillan on hand, Acting Administrator of FTA, as well as experts from Transportation for America to discuss this new program. Find out more information about this T4A webinar taking place on Friday, September 26, and register. The closing date for proposals is Monday, November 3, 2014 at 11:59pm EDT.
Bike Walk Connecticut is interested to hear who will apply from CT. Please let us know at bikewalkct@bikewalkct.org. More information: FTA Funding Announcement: http://www.fta.dot.gov/grants/13077_16135.html Transportation for America: http://t4america.org/2014/09/10/new-grant-program-to-support-smart-development-around-transit-lines-is-open-for-business Thirteen Communities Awarded $5 Million to Strengthen Commercial Districts
(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Dannel P. Malloy today announced that 13 municipalities across Connecticut are being awarded $5 million in grants to develop or improve town commercial districts in an effort to attract small businesses, grow jobs, and improve pedestrian access and livability in town centers. The grants are part of the state’s Main Street Investment Fund, which is administered through the state Department of Housing. “These grants are a great way for the state to support our cities and towns in their efforts to develop and improve their commercial centers,” said Governor Malloy. “This program responds to the unique needs of individual communities all around the state by creating partnerships with local governments and merchants to improve aesthetics and pedestrian access, attract new businesses, new customers, and new residents — ultimately breathing new life into our smaller commercial centers.” The Main Street Investment Fund provides financial incentives to eligible municipalities as well as owners of commercial private properties for expenditures that directly support and enhance a qualified project. Awards are no more than $500,000 and can be used for expenses such as building improvements, signage, lighting, and streetscape improvements. The funded projects are:
### For Immediate Release: September 16, 2014 Contact: David Bednarz David.Bednarz@ct.gov 860-524-7315 (office) 860-770-9792 (cell) Tonight is the big night! The final public meeting with ConnDOT on the Merritt Parkway trail feasibility study is tonight at 7pm in Greenwich (Town Hall Meeting Room, Greenwich Town Hall, 101 Field Point Rd).
Please consider joining the Merritt Parkway Trail Alliance prior to the meeting at 5:30pm for a get together at Cosi (129 West Putnam Ave, Greenwich). The group will discus strategy, letters of support & next steps. Please email molly@greenway.org if you plan to be there. If you haven't already submitted a letter of support for the trail to DOT, please consider doing so and forward the template to your friends, family & colleagues (http://www.greenway.org/?attachment_id=4618). (See more below.) Let's keep the momentum going. Hope to see you tonight! Letter of Support Information Please support the Merritt Parkway Trail. October 3rd is the deadline for comments. If ConnDOT does not have enough people saying they favor, in concept only at this point, a multi-use trail that connects the 8 towns along the Merritt Parkway, this valuable project will die on the vine. There are a couple of points that people seem to be confused about:
Here is the URL to the form to support the trail: http://bit.ly/parkwaytrail And this is a link to read more about the trail itself. http://www.merrittparkwaytrail.org/ Bike Walk CT attended the gubernatorial candidates' forum on transportation today in North Haven. As CT News Junkie's Christine Stuart aptly noted, "Walking and biking were two forms of transportation not raised at the forum Monday." If we want Connecticut to be a better place to bike and walk, it's time to make walking and biking part of the mainstream transportation conversation.
Read the CT News Junkie article: Foley, Malloy Challenge Each Other Separately On Transportation Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he’s spending more on transportation than previous administrations, while Republican challenger Tom Foley said traffic congestion in Connecticut has gotten worse over the past few years. Malloy and Foley spoke separately Monday at a forum sponsored by a broad-based group of state and regional transportation organizations. Foley addressed the group first and was followed by Malloy. The two spoke separately about the balance between highways and public transit. Malloy wants to increase investment in both areas, but Foley would be focused mostly on highway expansion. “Any purposeful strategy to push people out of their cars and onto mass transit, I really don’t think is going to work,” Foley told the group at the Best Western in North Haven. Read the full story here. Other news coverage: Malloy, Foley Face Off On Transportation Today | FOX CT Foley: Traffic 'shameful'; Malloy claims progress Malloy, Foley Address Transportation Issues at Forum The Day - Malloy and Foley Address Transportation ... Foley, Malloy Vow to Spend More on Transit But No Plan to ... Bi-State Trail Summit
New Haven to Northampton Trail Group Saturday October 18, 2014 Eno Hall, 754 Hopmeadow Street/CT10 Simsbury CT. In only a few more years, the longest interstate rail trail in New England will be complete, but what does that mean for tourism and economic development in our region? There are lessons to be learned from NY and our keynote speaker, Fran Gotcsik of Parks, Trails New York has first-hand knowledge about not only what happened there, but how it came to be. Cost is $20 and includes a box lunch. State and local officials from along the entire 84 mile corridor as well as tourism and hospitality industry officials, advocates and the press are invited. There will be an optional, guided bike tour of the area. Go to www.2014TrailSummit.org for the agenda and information about the keynote speaker and the bike tour. Please register at: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-interstate-trail-summit-tickets-12405957553?aff=es2&rank=15 |
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