                    |
World Travels
by John Whiteley
CBC President 1995-1996
February 2000
As most of you know, Yr. Obd’t. Svt. makes his paltry living by traveling around the world on a ship, dodging hurricanes and winter storms, watching magnificent sunrises and even more impressive sunsets, and visiting exotic, foreign locales (like Jacksonville, Florida). One of the benefits of all this travel is the opportunity to ride my bike in different places and meet other cyclists. In addition to having ridden in many of the Southern states east of the Mississippi, my wheel has carried me to sites in Japan, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. And one of the bicycle-related foibles related to travel is my membership in a few of the more interesting bicycle clubs in areas where my travels take me. The moderate yearly membership fee brings a monthly newsletter to my door, a newsletter that allows me to keep up to speed on what other cyclists are thinking and doing, what their concerns are, and how they are solving cycling-related problems.
For example, my membership in the North Florida Bicycle Club (Jacksonville) lets me know that we’re not the only club fighting both bureaucracies and a hostile populace for the betterment of our sport. Two things you must know, if you’ve never cycled in Florida, are these - 1) possession of a Florida driver’s license, particularly if you are among the blue rinse set, provides the God-given right to drive slow in the left lane (usually with the left directional blinking mindlessly away) and make turns from whatever lane you might be blocking at the time and 2) Florida motorists aim at bicyclists. Down there, it’s a sport, like bow hunting. Here in Tennessee we expect to see deer strapped to the hood of a pickup truck; down there, you expect to see a cyclist strapped to the hood of a Cadillac. Yet the good folks of the NFBC are trying to change things. They make their presence known at municipal meetings when cycling and/or traffic topics are being discussed, and they have managed to convince the City Council to stripe bicycle lanes on some of the major transportation arteries through town. They also publicize the antics and comic relief of the Florida DOT, such as spending millions of dollars to refurbish a rest stop on I-10 that’s scheduled to be demolished in two years. That’s millions, folks, millions of dollars that could be spent on real transportation enhancements such as bicycle improvements. The NFBC seems to be making progress, too, as off-road trails are being established and bike lanes are appearing on more and more roadways.
Then there’s the Southern Bicycle League in Georgia. This statewide club, with most of its members from the Atlanta area, has a number of affiliated groups generally known as Bicycle User Groups, or BUGs. These BUGS have been making their presence known in a really big way, especially in metropolitan Atlanta, and one of their triumphs might be of interest to us here in Chattanooga. They have been successful in persuading the Georgia DOT to provide bike lanes on certain four lane roads in Atlanta, but the new way of striping the roads is unique. Where there used to be two lanes in each direction, there is now one lane of auto traffic in each direction with a center turn lane in the middle. The remaining roadway width, one lane wide, is divided into two bike lanes, one in each direction. This makes the pattern of each road bike lane, auto lane, two-way turn lane, oncoming auto lane, and oncoming bike lane. The bike lanes end well before intersections, allowing the cyclists to take the proper lane for turning or continuing and allowing the cars to move to the right if they are going to make a right turn. Studies of this new striping plan have shown a faster flow of traffic (since there’s less jockeying for lane position) and fewer accidents. Seems like a win-win situation.
Now, Yr. Obd’t. Svt. isn’t always a fan of bike lanes on the road. In fact, there’s one bike lane in Waycross, GA, that shows how a poorly designed bike lane can actually be hazardous. The lane runs on Route 1 between Waycross and the Okefenokee Swamp Visitor Center. Route 1 is a two lane highway with a 55 MPH speed limit, and the bike lane is located outside the rumble strips that Georgia DOT has installed on almost all its highways to keep brain-dead drivers from driving off the road and becoming even more dead. This means that all the trash from the highway gets swept onto the bike lane, with no traffic to sweep it away. The bike lane is an eyesore and a hazard to cyclists; luckily, in all the times I have driven that road I’ve never seen a cyclist using it.
But the plan used in Atlanta would appear to have promise for Chattanooga. Imagine the North-South Bikeway along, say, Broad Street with striped bike lanes and a turn lane in the middle. Plenty of room for bikes, plenty of room for cars, a place to both turn and merge into traffic, and smiles all around. All we have to do is convince the City planners of the merits of this type of transportation system. The beauty of it is that it doesn’t cost anything for more pavement -- the only cost is for painting the stripes.
In all my travels I have yet to find a cycling club as friendly and outgoing as the Chattanooga Bicycle Club. Our members truly make newcomers to the sport feel welcome, and we have a number of active members who support programs like Bike Chattanooga. We can, however, always learn from the successes and, yes, the failures of other cycling clubs and organizations. Then we can apply our newfound knowledge to the betterment of our sport, the sport we all love. Let’s start to raise our voices and support cycling as an alternate form of transportation!
Have fun, don’t fall,
John
