Over the past few years, the BAC
has been involved in a variety of
issues, and we've had some pretty
good results. Some of the successes
we've had include:
• Getting a new Bicycle/Pedestrian
Coordinator position established
at the City of Tucson and at Pima
County. This was an exciting achievement
for us! We are
now attempting to get a second position
established
in the City so that one person may
focus entirely on bicycle issues
and another may focus on pedestrian
issues.
• Initiating and being the primary sponsors of a new State of Arizona
law which requires a minimum 3-foot safe passing distance when
motorists overtake cyclists, and substantially increasing the penalties for
unsafe passing as well as requiring questions in the driver's test on bicycle
issues. Many thanks to Representative Debora Norris for her tremendous hard
work in getting the legislation enacted!
• Helping the City of Tucson and Pima County develop high-priority
bikeway improvement lists, and, for the City of Tucson, a new
Bikeway Improvement Program and a Spot Bicycle/ Pedestrian Improvements List.
We're seeing several of the projects actually get built!
• Providing recommendations to the City, County, and ADOT to improve
intersections and roadways to accommodate bicyclists. We've
provided some innovative design recommendations for the redesign of Pima Street
from Columbus to Craycroft and Mountain Avenue from Grant to Ft. Lowell, and
improved policies to provide high-standard intersection treatments in metro
Tucson for bicyclists.
• Working on the Pima Association of Governments Transportation Enhancements
Committee to get more bicycle improvements built in the region. Recent great
improvements funded through this committee include the Brad P. Gorman Memorial
Bike Lanes on Catalina Highway, a specialized pedestrian/bicycle signal crossing
for 3rd Street at Alvernon Way, Old Spanish Trail bicycle lanes between Houghton
and Saguaro National Park, Oracle Highway bicycle lanes from the Rillito River
to Ina Road, and the "Diamondback Snake" bridge to
connect the Aviation Highway path over Broadway to the 4th
Avenue area.
• Working with ADOT to revise and improve their current shoulder rumble
strip standards. This is an uphill challenge, but we're trying very hard to
make the rumble strips much safer for bicyclists, as well as to restrict their
use on narrow shoulders. We're hoping that ADOT will soon follow a policy of "First
do no harm" and only allow rumble strips that are bicycle-safe
and leave at least a 5-foot clear paved shoulder.
• Getting the Coronado National Forest to reduce a proposed fee of
$5 per day per bicyclist to ride up Mt. Lemmon to $0 per day!
This was a tough effort, but with some good research into what other national
parks and forest districts charge, and with Representative Jim Kolbe's help,
we were able to convince the Forest Service to eliminate the fee.
• Working with the City of Tucson and area neighborhoods
to design and construct
specialized traffic signasl for bicyclists and pedestrians
at 3rd Street and Country Club, 3rd Street and Tucson
Blvd., 3rd Street and Alvernon, and University and
Stone.
The
BAC
was instrumental
in
getting the signal concept approved through
the City and in working out the details of the design.
While not yet perfect, we're hoping signal will be
an
excellent prototype that can be used in
other areas of the City and County.
• Helping put on promotional events and safety
programs for bicycling such as Clean Air Fair, Tour
for
Tucson's Children, El Tour
de Tucson, Tour of the Tucson Mountains,
the Tucson Bicycle Classic and other events.
• Working with the City of Tucson to develop
a video on bicyclist and motorist education and safety
issues, and working with the
Pima County Sheriff's Department to
improve relations between bicyclists, the police, and
motorists.
If you want more bicycle facilities, cleaner air, and a healthier
community, please join us on the Tucson-Pima County Bicycle Advisory
Committee. You don't need to be an experienced bicyclist, just
committed to improving conditions for cycling.
We meet the second Wednesday of every month at 6:00 p.m. at
the Himmel Park Library, 1035 N. Treat Avenue. All
are welcome to attend.
