Celebrating EXPERIENTIAL Bicycling for 25 Years
By Dan Fazzini Jr. April 2013 – The “Year of the Bike” was alive and well on Utah’s Capitol Hill this year. By the time you read this, these will all likely be signed by the Governor and will be effective on July 1, 2013. There were six bicycle related bills up for consideration which […]
You needn’t look any further than Alpine, right here in Utah to prove the benefits of the endangered Safe Routes to School (SRS) program. SRS itself is traveling an unsafe route to survival, running on a spare tire presently in a seemingly endless series of leases on life while Congress continues to debate its future. But a national study cited Alpine’s use of an SRS grant as a reason to support bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in small towns.
As states, both Utah and Idaho leave a lot to be desired when it comes to bicycle friendliness. Both states got low or failing grades in most of the six subjects they were graded on by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB): legislation, policies & programs, infrastructure, education & encouragement, evaluation & planning and enforcement. Both states fell below average in the annual Bicycle Friendly America State rankings.
Soon after Evelyn Tuddenham became UDOT’s Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, she started hearing the complaints. Cyclists called her complaining about motorists that passed too closely or endangered cyclists in other ways. Motorists registered complaints about bicyclists strung across the road, making it difficult for cars to pass them.
June 2011 – Cycling is becoming more popular than ever and the most popular road cycling routes in the state are becoming positively crowded with cyclists. It’s a good news-bad news scenario. It’s awesome that there are so many cyclists out on the road and you can presume that people who ride their bikes on weekends will be more sympathetic to the cyclists they encounter on weekdays when they are driving.
