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Photo by Rob Vaughn

The Greater Akron area will be the scene of many events marking National Bike Week to celebrate and promote cycling May 14 through May 18.  Whatever the reason you bike – whether it’s to stay fit, save money or help the environment – there’s probably an area Bike Week event for you!  Among the events scheduled are:

Bike Friendly Kent – Monday, May 7, Kent Free Library, 6:30 p.m.: Hosted by TransPORTAGE, learn about the Bicycle Friendly Community Program and share your ideas about how to make Kent and other Portage County communities safer and easier places to bike.

Safety Check & Ride – Thursday, May 10, Lock 3, 5 p.m.: Hosted by Akron Traffic Engineer Andy Davis, a League of American Bicyclists Cycling Instructor.  Attendees may bring their bikes to this free workshop for safety checks including advice on how to prepare for your commute, traffic skills, and route planning.  Safety checks will begin at 5 p.m. with a check-out ride beginning at 6 p.m.

Biking 101 – Thursday, May 10, Twinsburg Public Library, 7 p.m.: Sponsored by the library and the Ohio Bicycle Federation, the evening’s activities include a bike maintenance demonstration by Century Cycles followed by short presentations on various biking topics including riding around Twinsburg.  Other program participants include the Akron Bicycle Club, the Cleveland Area Mountain Bike Association and – of course – AMATS.

Photo by Marlo Perdicas

Market Street Bike-N-Brainstorm – Thursday, May 17, Hardesty Park, 6 p.m.: AMATS is hosting a workshop to discuss improving the West Market Street Corridor for cyclists.  The event consists of a bike ride along Market Street followed by brainstorming ideas afterwards.  Riders should meet at the Hardesty Park picnic shelter located at 1615 W. Market Street at 6 p.m. for a trek along Market Street.  If you can’t make the ride, then just come to the park shelter at 7:30 p.m. to discuss ideas for the corridor. 

If Bike Week doesn’t last long enough for you, then you might be interested in the following: 

The Benefits of Bicycling – Tuesday, May 22, Kent Free Library, 6:30 p.m.: Hosted by TransPORTAGE, this event presents information about the health, economic and ecological benefits of cycling.

There’s also Get Up & Ride, a challenge sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists.  This free program runs May 1 to Aug. 31 with the goal of uniting 50,000 people to bike 10 million miles.  Join a team from the Greater Akron area or ride individually.  You can meet friends and win prizes.

Check out Switching-Gears.org, our new web site for the area’s cycling community, for more details about other local rides and events.  Our site features pages devoted to Events, News, Trails and our new Bike User Map – a great resource if you plan to do on-road cycling in Portage and Summit counties.

If you are aware of other events in celebration of National Bike Week that you want to share with us, please contact AMATS at 330-375-2436 or email us at amats@akronohio.gov.  Good cycling everybody!

Before you hit the roads or the trails, please take a few minutes to watch the first of our new Ask the Experts features below.  These features will present useful cycling tips from area bike shop owners and personnel.  Look for new features on our Biking in the Region page and on Switching-Gears.org.

The report’s pages document the successes of our agency’s Cycling Initiatives, our Connecting Communities Planning Grant Program, and the completion of the area’s $625 million Transportation Improvement Program.

There’s also info about integral planning products such as our Traffic Crashes 2008-2010 analysis and Existing Congestion Study, which were completed during the year.  There’s even a progress report about the Northeast Ohio Sustainable Coummunities Consortium (NEOSCC), of which AMATS is a founding member.

To view the report, click here.

AMATS continues to build on the momentum of its ongoing cycling initiative in the Greater Akron area with the release of its 2012 Bike Plan.  The plan presents an analysis of the region’s existing bike facilities and offers recommendations to improve the area’s developing bike network.

In crafting the plan, the agency actively sought the insights of those who use the area’s existing bike network the most – cyclists.  Planning Coordinator Krista Beniston says that two of the biggest concerns identified by the cycling community were the needs for on-road bike facilities and safety improvements.

Beniston

“Providing well-defined routes and better facilities for on-road biking will improve safety and encourage more residents to consider cycling as an option.”

- Krista Beniston, Planning Coordinator -

 

“People are less likely to bike to work, school or other destinations if there are not safe, convenient routes to get them there,” Beniston continues, “Providing well-defined routes and better facilities for on-road biking will improve safety and encourage more residents to consider cycling as an option.”

The plan identifies 63 priority investment corridors for on-road bike improvement projects, such as bike lanes, signage and “sharrows.”  These corridors create connections between communities and major attractions, such as retail centers, downtowns, parks and schools, many of which are clustered along busy highway corridors.  Beniston explains that specific roadways, such as Akron’s Exchange Street and state Route 59, were selected with commuters and recreational cyclists in mind based on input – not only from cyclists – but local communities and regional park districts.

The agency and project sponsors will ultimately have to strike a balance between safety and accessibility as they pursue projects along these corridors, many of which follow high-traffic volume and high-speed roadways, she adds.  Those issues are to be expected as the area transitions from completing its recreational bike trails to focusing on developing a bike network for commuters as well, she explains.

“With this plan, we’re also making a greater effort to tie-in cycling with public transit.  Sometimes cyclists can only travel part of their routes by bike.  That’s where Summit County’s METRO and the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority come in,” she continues, “Both transit authorities have been adding bike amenities to their facilities and vehicles in recent years.  Something as simple as a bike rack on a bus makes a big difference and we want to build on those efforts.”

Completing the 2012 Bike Plan is just one leg of the journey that the area is taking to develop a comprehensive bike network in Portage and Summit counties, Beniston observes.  The plan will be a key part of the agency’s upcoming Regional Transportation Plan, which looks ahead to 2035.

The 2012 Bike Plan is available on the AMATS web site’s Biking in the Region page.  The release of the plan follows the recent debuts of the agency’s new cycle advocacy web site – Switching-Gears.org – and a new free resource – a Bike User Map.

Through Switching-Gears.org, people can learn about cycling and help shape public policy by sharing their insights with AMATS as to what the agency can do to improve the region’s roads and trails to make them more bike and pedestrian friendly.  The new site features Cycling News, Upcoming Events, Trails and forum pages.

The map rates major roads in Portage and Summit counties by level of difficulty from “Easy/Beginner” to “Very Difficult/Expert” and includes useful information such as bike shop and trailhead locations.  Anyone interested in receiving a free Bike User Map should complete the online order form available by clicking here.

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Subscribe to AMATS Podcast Series

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