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CalBike Releases Quick-Build Guide to Create Safer Streets

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 13, 2020

Contact: Dave Snyder, California Bicycle Coalition, dave@calbike.org | 916-251-9433‬

CalBike Releases How-to Guide for Building Safer Streets Quickly and Cheaply

The California Bicycle Coalition and Alta Planning + Design today released a Quick-Build Guide for planners, officials, and community leaders to encourage the construction of safe bikeways quickly and affordably. 

The guide promotes the “quick-build” method for safety improvements. Quick-build projects use materials that can be installed quickly and at a low cost. Quick-build design allows active transportation projects to be completed in months rather than years. Because quick-build projects rely on inexpensive materials, they are a good fit for California’s COVID-strapped municipal budgets.

The 77-page Quick-Build Guide, created by Alta Planning + Design, is available for free. This resource will help planners, city staffers, and advocates understand the tools and processes that lead to successful quick-build projects. 

In addition to the guide, the project includes a 4-page introductory brochure. Both are available online at calbike.org/quickbuild.

“We hope this guide will help California capitalize on the huge increase in biking and walking we’ve seen during the pandemic,” said CalBike Executive Director Dave Snyder. “Quick-build allows communities to build on that momentum to create the kinds of safe, separated spaces that people of all ages need to feel comfortable biking and walking in their neighborhoods. There’s no good reason to wait years for safer streets and plenty of reasons to act quickly.”

“Rapid implementation of bike and pedestrian networks through Quick-Build is one of Alta’s core priorities for transformative investment in transportation,” said Brett Hondorp, President of Alta Planning + Design. “This guidebook gives communities the resources to quickly, inexpensively, and equitably create safe spaces for people on our streets, turning the pandemic walking and biking boom into sustained active transportation mode shift.”

The partnership to create this guide matches Alta Planning’s design expertise and experience with CalBike’s network of planning and advocacy communities throughout California. It will give cities a tool they can use to build safe biking infrastructure when and where it’s needed.

The Quick-Build Guide was made possible by funding from the Seed Fund and the SRAM Cycling Fund.

Download the Quick-Build Guide 2020.

From the Quick-Build Guide:

“Quick-build works to meet mobility needs by helping people to choose active modes more often. Those mobility needs will vary depending on the community and may include safer crossings, slower streets, an extended bikeway network, or safer routes to transit, schools, and essential workplaces. In every case, people require a safe, connected, and comfortable network for active transportation.”

“We as transportation experts need to be thinking strategically about whether or not we need to spend three years talking about doing something important, or three weeks to just try something.”

― Warren Logan, Transportation Policy Director of Mobility and Interagency Relations at Oakland Mayor’s Office

CalBike Webinar Elevates the Challenges for Community Bike Shops During the Pandemic

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On September 10th, CalBike held a webinar that was joined by more than 25 attendees from California’s community bike shops. We put our heads together, guided by expert government advice, on how to safely continue the necessary work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of the two-hour conversation was to identify challenges for community bike shops and solutions.

This conversation was catalyzed by our earlier article that lifted up what some of the leading community bike shops are already doing to weather the shutdown. Gathering participants from community bike shops across the state, the webinar gave participants a unique opportunity to share local knowledge and best practices to a broader audience. 

Community bike shops provide critical services

At CalBike, we value the critical importance of community bike shops to local communities. Community bike shops empower people to build and repair their own bikes. They are often located in disadvantaged communities and serving marginalized residents. These shops provide training, shared tools, and a supportive atmosphere, especially for those who would not otherwise have access to the knowledge and parts to keep their bikes in good working order. 

So, when the pandemic arrived in early March, we knew some of our most marginalized partners would face the biggest challenges. From the start, community bike shops struggled to figure out how to stay open and serve their communities while keeping patrons, staff, and volunteers safe. At the same time, we saw a ‘bike boom’ where a surge of ridership resulted in more demand than ever for the services of community bike shops. 

This context guided the conversation, but we also dug deeper into ways the state could be more supportive of the local shops, especially in terms of dedicated funding. Laurie Waters, from the California Transportation Commission, helped inform us of potential ways shops can connect to funding opportunities. As a group, we grappled with the limitations of mostly volunteer-run shops competing for state funding. We brainstormed ways to position community bike shops to be stronger and better resourced after the pandemic, as well.

Opportunities to help community bike shops overcome challenges

According to feedback, attendees found the discussion helpful but realized quickly that the barriers to government funding are almost insurmountable for them. Several attendees commented that their shops are not set up as advocacy organizations, so the policy and technical language and skills needed to secure state funding are out of their purview.

These comments succinctly underline the necessary work that needs to be done between and across different bike partners with different access points into the work. And this is exactly why CalBike is committed to strengthening our partnership with existing and new partners who want to advance biking in our state. It is clear that community bike shops are natural allies for advocacy organizations. These grassroots organizations are able to reach communities whose voices are too often left out of the conversation about bicycle safety. We intend to build on that. We hope you can join us.

Here’s the recorded webinar:

Is Bicycling Safe During a Pandemic?

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Support your physical and mental health during a pandemic: go for a bike ride!

It’s an upsetting and disorienting moment we are living in. Riding a bicycle can help, giving us opportunities for exercise, fresh air, and social interaction from afar.

Social distancing measures are key to slowing the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and keeping our healthcare system from becoming overwhelmed. But some of us still need to get to work, and all of us have essential errands to run—to the grocery store, or to drop off food for a sick friend, for instance. Bicycling offers a safe and healthy way to get where we need to go, as well as a way to get exercise and fresh air. According to a spokesperson for San Francisco Mayor London Breed, quoted in SFGate, it’s fine to ride your bike for exercise, as long as you maintain a distance of at least six feet from anyone you aren’t already self-quaratining with.

Enjoy the open air, get your heart pumping, and do your part to keep the social distance

Bicycling allows you to abide by social distancing measures while also getting outside, having fun, getting exercise, and having social interactions, all of which are good for mental health and immunity. 

When you ride a bike, you can easily stay six feet away from pedestrians and other cyclists. You get fresh air and stimulation, and have social interactions as you pass people on the street or wave to fellow bicyclists. Biking gives you the exercise you need to keep your immune system humming, and the peace of mind that you are not contributing to the spread of the virus. 

For those of us who may be taking a financial hit during this slow-down, bicycling is also the most affordable transportation mode.

And while it’s an anxious and challenging time, with event cancellations, closed schools, people working from home, and shelter-in-place directives, a silver lining is that there is less car traffic on the streets, making it more fun to bike. 

Bicycling in the time of coronavirus

Here are a few tips to keep extra safe from coronavirus while moving about your city on a bike:

  • Smile and say hello! Social interaction boosts immunity. 
  • Carry sanitizer and sanitizing wipes to sanitize your hands, your handlebars, and your lock (after it contacts a bike rack), especially if you use a shared bike.
  • Mindfulness practice while bicycling can help with getting better at avoiding touching our faces—a challenging task that requires heightened awareness.
  • Wear gloves—fingered bicycling gloves work fine!—when you’re out in public.
  • Steer clear of people, keeping six feet of distance from them as you pass.
  • When you get home, wash your hands, and throw your gloves in the laundry

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