SWFBUD -- South West Florida Bicyclists United With Dealers: SWFBUD Responds To Friendship Trail Closing

Thursday, November 20, 2008

SWFBUD Responds To Friendship Trail Closing

You're looking at the Gandy Bridge and its parallel Friendship Trail. As you know, the Friendship Trail was closed a few weeks ago because an engineering inspection of the Friendship Trail bridge under the auspices of the state Department of Transportation showed structural damage. Hillsborough and Pinellas counties then shut down the trail bridge to users, leaving bicyclists with the sole option of crossing the Bay on the Gandy Bridge and sharing that bridge with motorists who are known to zoom 60 mph and faster.

SWFBUD is extremely concerned about this situation and will:

-- contact the DOT and Hillsborough and Pinellas counties and request that all agencies deal with remedying and repairing the Friendship Trail with a heightened sense of urgency.

-- advise agencies to post electronic signage on the Gandy Bridge advising motorists to be aware that bicyclists are sharing the bridge with motorized vehicles.

-- I plan to bike the Gandy Bridge on Sunday at 10 a.m. to check out the shoulders for debris and also find out what it's like to bike on the main span of the bridge. I bike the Courtney Campbell Causeway and know the span sections have very little shoulder room if any at all and I suspect that's the same for the span sections of the Gandy Bridge.

If you are interested in joining me to check out what it's like to bike the Gandy Bridge, I will be pedaling across the bridge starting at 10 a.m. Sunday.

Bill Addler, the owner of SWFBUD member store Revolution Bicycles on North 4th Street in St. Petersburg, met with the city of St. Pete yesterday and the pedestrian advisory board and the city. Bill reports that "the city was going to also make sure that additional signage (share the road etc) would be added onto Gandy Blvd. as well as the bridge. They also were going to try and get the portable message board sign put up to alert motorist of cyclist using the bridge."

Folks, be careful and be alert out there. It's getting darker earlier these days and be vigilant to your right to the road while also being smart. No more bicyclist fatalities.

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WHAT IS SWFBUD and HOW DID IT START?

SWFBUD (South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers) is a Tampa Bay bicycle advocacy alliance of 12 bicycle store dealers and four law firms committed to raising the profile of bicycling in the Tampa Bay market, getting more people on bicycles and drawing more public resources for bicycling.

The 12 bike shops are: ABC Bicycles, Bicycle Outfitters, Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium, Chainwheel Drive, Just Ride Bicycles, Oliver's Cycle Sports, Street Fit 360, Trek Bicycle Store of Tampa and Clearwater, Trek Bicycle Store of St. Petersburg, The Ironman Store, University Bicycle Center and Velo Champ. The four law firms are Tom Singletary, J. Steele Olmstead and the Mark Roman Law Group.

The SWFBUD members enlist Alan Snel, a bicycle advocate and former metro newspaper reporter, to lobby local governments to provide more bicycle resources and to put on the Bicycle Bash festival.

SWFBUD is a play on words of Swiftmud, the Tampa Bay water district agency.

SWFBUD traces its roots to the summer of 2006, when then-Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium owner David Luppino (who now owns Just Ride Bicycles) hired Snel for promotions, marketing and to help put on the Bicycle Bash festival. At the start of 2007, Luppino believed it was appropriate that other Tampa Bay bike stores get involved in promoting bicycling, so Snel recruited other store dealers to get involved.

The Bicycle Bash was first held in October 2006 on the St. Pete Times Forum plaza before a Tampa Bay Lightning afternoon hockey game before SWFBUD moved the Bicycle Bash to St. Petersburg's Vinoy Park in 2007 and 2008 and to North Straub Park in downtown St. Petersburg in 2009. In 2010, the Bicycle Bash was moved into Hillsborough County's Flatwoods Park on Nov. 7 so that bicyclists can enjoy the Bash's exhibitor village and also have fun doing live biking in the park. In 2011, the Bicycle Bash will be held again at Flatwoods Park on NOV 6.

SWFBUD won national retail bicycle advocacy awards in 2009 from the Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN) and the Trek Bicycle Corporation. The Bicycle Bash won the Florida Event of the Year in 2007 from the Florida Bicycle Association.

SWFBUD's Snel attends many public meetings in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, plus the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. to lobby political leaders and governing agencies to commit more resources to bicycling. SWFBUD believes communities that embrace and invest in bicycling become more successful and sustainable.

Flatwoods Park Ranger Thanks SWFBUD For Saving Park and Jobs

SWFBUD Wins National Bicycle Advocacy Award

The national magazine that covers the bicycle industry in this country honored SWFBUD with the 2009 Bicycle Retail Advocacy Award at the Bicycle Leadership Conference in Monterey, Calif. SWFBUD is deeply honored by this national recognition and I received the award from Megan Tompkins, editor of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, and Tim Blumenthal, executive editor of Bikes Belong Coalition. Click photo for more info and check SP Times story, too: http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article996595.ece