SWFBUD Takes Action To Get Intersection Fixed and Get Gandy Bridge Addressed

This morning I represented SWFBUD before the DOT Community Traffic Safety Team, which is a group of law enforcement, social service, engineering firm and state road members who are concerned about road safety.

I brought it to the attention of the DOT and the CTST that there are dangerous gaps in the concrete sections of the Hillsborough-Nebraska Avenue intersection in Tampa that can easily catch a road bicycle front tire and pitch the cyclist into traffic.

Here are the photos of the problem.






And the statement:

Jan. 28, 2009

Dear Peter Hsu, Florida DOT and CTST,

Thank you for allowing me to bring these items to your attention. I have submitted photos to show the dangerous gaps and space between the concrete sections in the Hillsborough Avenue-Nebraska Avenue intersection in Tampa. The gaps can easily allow a bicycle wheel to get caught and cause a bicyclist on a road bicycle to lose control, tossing said bicyclist into traffic and imperiling his or her life. I hope the DOT can please repave that intersection or at the very least, fill in the gap so that there is no open space.

In addition, I would like to reiterate SWFBUD’s request to please assure the safety of bicyclists who are now using the Gandy Bridge in light of the closure of the Friendship Trail. SWFBUD is asking the DOT to look at what can be done to make conditions safer for bicyclists on the Gandy Bridge. One option is looking at the shoulders and installing concrete barriers to separate bicyclists and vehicular traffic, thus creating a safe cycling space for bicyclists.
Thank you for your time,

Sincerely,

Alan Snel
Director of South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers, SWFBUD
Tampa Bay area bicycle stores united for bicycle safety and to grow bicycling in the Tampa Bay market

Home of the Bicycle Bash by the Bay, 2007 Florida Bicycle Event of the Year, as awarded by the Florida Bicycle Association

SWFBUD Prompts Expressway Authority To Consider Allowing Bicyclists on Sunday Mornings

This afternoon I addressed the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority board and asked the board members to consider allowing bicyclists on the top deck of the Selmon Expressway for limited times on Sunday mornings.

I explained to the board at its 3 p.m. meeting that Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties have closed the Friendship Trail, so bicyclists lost a vital resource. I also told the board it would be great public relations for the Expressway Authority. And besides, it's been done before -- I joined more than 200 bicyclists on the top deck for a bicycle fundraiser for Amanda Lee that was organized by Rochard Gonzmart in September 2006.

In response, the board voted to have its staff look at the idea. Board member Thomas Scott, who chairs the Tampa city council, made the motion and it was approved unanimously. So, the staff will take a look at the concept.

In the meantime, please send emails to the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority asking them to allow bicycling on the upper deck during LIMITED TIMES on Sunday mornings when there is little use.

Here's what it's like to bike on the top deck of the Expressway.


SWFBUD thanks Karen Kress, transportation director of the Tampa Downtown Partnership, who came to the Expressway Authority board meeting and added her support. And SWFBUD also thanks Tampa Councilman Thomas Scott for making the motion that allowed for the study.

Let's See If Tampa Delivers

At the TBARTA meeting today, I bumped into Irvin Lee, public works director for the city of Tampa. Irvin was gracious and apologized for the three different employees in public works transportation who I met about bicycle issues last year and who basically blew me off.

Irvin said the city of Tampa is not anti-bicycle and he said a new street re-paving program will allow for bicycle-friendly roads in the city. He said the 40th Street project, for example, will be friendly to bicyclists.

We shall see. The state DOT re-paved Tampa Street and Nebraska Avenue and included bike lanes.

The city of Tampa during my five years here? A one-mile-long bike lane on Manhattan Avenue. That's it.

It's not about words.

It's about action.

And I'm waiting for the city of Tampa to step up and deliver roads and streets that have space and bike lanes for bicyclists so that we can safely bike from one section of the city to another. It can be done. St. Petersburg does it. Tampa can, too.

Come and attend a bicycle transportation meeting at 1:30 PM on Feb. 26 at City Hall.

SWFBUD Urges TBARTA To Include Bicycle Facilities In Regional Transit Planning

Another day, another pitstop at a public agency to promote bicycling. This morning, I represented SWFBUD before the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Agency -- the new government entity created to plan a regionwide mass transit system. I biked from SWFBUD hedquarters in Seminole Heights to TBARTA's new main office at USF. (No bike rack in front of its building, though, and more on that later).

For months, I have lobbied TBARTA to include a photo of a bicyclist at a train or bus station as part of its brochures and Web site. Finally, there it was -- a terrific photo of a bicyclist complete with helmet at a train station on the banner of the Web site. So I thanked TBARTA for showing a bicyclist.

But more importantly, I was there to urge TBARTA to please intergrate bicycling facilities such as bike racks, lockers, and bike space on light rail cars at every phase of its planning. It's obvious road builders did NOT include accommodations for bicycles when new roads were built in the Tampa Bay area years ago and it's very expensive to retrofit facilities for bicycles after the fact.

So, TBARTA, do the right thing and include bicycle facilities at each phase of your planning.

That lack of a bike rack in front of TBARTA's own building? A man at the meeting told me afterwards that a USF staffer was taking notes and there will probably be a bike rack in front of the building. Today, other cyclists and I used good ol' poles to lock up.


During the meeting, Mayor Pam Iorio, who biked with the Seminole Heights Bicycle Club on its maiden ride last year, is a TBARTA board member and gave an impassioned speech about light rail in Tampa and Hillsborough County. She said what we all know about our market -- big business and creative entrepreneurs won't be coming here if we as a region can't even offer rudimentary items such as a regional mass transit system.


As you can, Iorio wants the Hillsborough County Commission to put a 1-cent sales increase on the ballot to pay for light rail in Hillsborough. Good luck Mayor Iorio with the county commission.


So, I biked home and hopped on Busch Blvd. for a few blocks to see the new construction. New bike lane on Busch with the new paving? Of course, not. What do you think we are? St. Petersburg or something?

SWFBUD Urges Tampa To Improve Conditions For Bicyclists

This morning I addressed the Tampa City Council on behalf of SWFBUD to urge them to light a fire under city staff and get more bicycle lanes striped on streets in Tampa. The bike lanes on Nebrasha, Tampa Street and Jackson in downtown are a nice start. But we have so much to improve here in Tampa.

I ran out of time to read my complete SWFBUD public statement, which I posted below. So fellow Seminole Heights resident Randy Baron, a bicyclist, volunteered to read the balance of my statement. It concluded that if the city of St. Petersburg can include a bike lane whenever they fix a road, then the city of Tampa can do likewise.

Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena is a big backer of bicycling in Tampa and she said there will be a city bicycle transportation meeting on Feb. 26 at 1:30 PM at city hall. They will discuss bike lanes on Platt, Cleveland and Himes.

I urge to circle that day on your calendar and attend. City public works staff will be there and they need to know how badly Tampa needs space for bicyclists on local streets.

While I at the city council meeting, TBARTA's executive director and old DOT guy, Bob Clifford was on hand to update the council on the TBARTA's doings. Councilwoman Saul-Sena advised Clifford to please show photos of bicyclists using transit stations or taking their bikes on buses, trains and light rail.

I also have asked TBARTA for months to please show photos of bicyclists as part of their public relations brochures etc.

I will be attending TBARTA's 9:30 AM Friday meeting at USF to hammer that point and to advise TBARTA to include bicycling as a vital link in a regional transit system. Here is Clifford addressing the Tampa City Council.


After I addressed the city council, a man friom Temple Terrace came up to me and said that Busch Boulevard is getting repaired and that he hopes it becomes safer for bicyclists. He mentioned the sidewalk work was not going well because poles were being installed in the middle of the sidewalk, which is not good for folks in a wheelchair or pedestrians.

For those interested, here is the SWFBUD statement I gave to the city council today:

My name is Alan Snel and I'm the director of South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers -- or SWFBUD, which rhymes with Swiftmud. SWFBUD is a coalition of retail bicycle stores and bicycle supporters who want to see bicycling garner more resources in Tampa and the surrounding communities in the Tampa Bay market. Our seven stores and one lawyer are in Tampa and across the Tampa Bay area and SWFBUD stores generate more than $10 million in annual revenue and represent thousands of bicyclists.

I helped create SWFBUD because more people want to ride a bicycle in the Tampa area for all types of reasons -- to get to work, to get to school, for exercise, and to visit friends and family. People in Tampa want to bike. I co-founded the Seminole Heights Bicycle Club last year. I know for a fact people want to bike in this town. Folks came to my front porch in Seminole Heights one night last winter to help create a club that caters to people who want to safely bike our streets. Even with a depressed economy, new bicycle shops are opening in Tampa. Trek, a company that manufactures bicycles, opened a Trek specialty store in south Tampa. Flying Fish Bikes in south Tampa opened another store in Westchase. And a SWFBUD member store in new Tampa moved to a bigger space just down the road.

SWFBUD is encouraging our elected officials in Tampa to improve road conditions for bicyclists because the city would become a better place to live and work. But the word on the street that I get time and time again is that too many people are afraid to bike on Tampa’s streets. It is true. I have lived in cities across the country. I have bicycled across the country twice by myself. I have biked in every metropolitan area in this country except Dallas, Houston and Phoenix. I am in the unique ability to put Tampa into a broader context when it comes to bicycling and it is true. Our streets are dangerous for bicyclists.

Our streets are too narrow. They are in poor condition. We do not have sides on the road to bike. And area drivers feel like they own the road. In short, our city is a dangerous place to bike.

So I'm here to ask your help in changing that,starting with the attitudes of your city staff. I personally met and talked with three different public works workers about improving streets in Tampa for bicyclists. I also spoke with the city’s public works director. One staffer wasn't too keen on bicyclists on the street in the first place because she told me it's legal to bike on sidewalks. For the record, I don't bike on sidewalks. Sidewalks are for walking, like the word implies. Accidents occur for bicyclists on sidewalks when cars collide with them at side streets and driveways – and besides, it’s not safe for pedestrians either. A second employee wanted to engage in an argument with me about his assertion that bicyclists run red lights. And a third employee asked me about the best places to buy bicycle tires – completely off the topic of making roads safer for bicyclists. I did eventually meet Irvin Lee, the public works director who said the city doesn't oppose bicycling. It just doesn't have the resources to improve roads for bicycling.

I'm asking for you to take steps to change all that. You see, it's not just about bicycling. It's about quality of life. I have lived in Tampa for a number o years and I'm about to tell you something you probably already know. The city of St. Petersburg has become a more livable city while Tampa remains a dangerous place to be a pedestrian and bicyclist. As a result, Tampa is becoming a less attractive place to live.

On any Saturday morning St. Petersburg's downtown is alive and vibrant. That's because people are walking and biking there. Most weekends here, downtown Tampa is quiet and there's little activity with exception of major events such as a Gasparilla parade.

I realize things move slowly in government. I worked as a newspaper reporter and I covered city hall in Denver and Seattle and also government in metropolitan New York City and South Florida. But I'm asking you to take specific steps to improve living and bicycling here in Tampa: Require bike lanes on all roads in Tampa when they're fixed, repaved or improved; Hire new staff members who's job responsibility is to make sure that streets in Tampa have bike lanes. The city of St. Petersburg has three employees dedicated to pedestrian and bicycle issues. The city of Tampa has zero.

You're competing with other cities across the country for businesses. Businesses don' relocate to Tampa because we host a Super Bowl once every 10 years. They will come for an educated workforce and if you have a quality of life such as parks, safe roads and good schools. If you want to give Tampa a competitive edge, make the city a safe place to get around in ways besides driving a car. People in Tampa want to bike..

I encourage you to join the Seminole Heights Bicycle Club and come with us on our local neighborhood and downtown Tampa rides. We have a ride every Saturday morning except the last Saturday of every month.

I hope to see you on a ride and thank you for your time.