SWFBUD -- South West Florida Bicyclists United With Dealers: Tampa's First Sharrows and SWFBUD Met Tampa Transportation Staff Monday

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Tampa's First Sharrows and SWFBUD Met Tampa Transportation Staff Monday

You're looking at the first "sharrows" in the city of Tampa -- shared-road markings just painted today on Euclid Avenue between Bayshore and Westshore. They have been in the works for several months now after Mayor Pam Iorio killed the plan for bike lanes on Euclid. City staff replaced the bike lane plan with sharrows and signs along Euclid that tell drivers that bicyclists will be in the traffic lane.

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I share everyone's concern over the recent string of bicyclist deaths in Tampa Bay and I believe there's no single way to fix things.

We need a multi-faceted action plan that includes driver and bicyclist education, a public awareness campaign explaining bicycles have a right to the road, many more bike lanes and shoulders, share the road signs, sharrows and a regional paved trail system that links up with key roads and business centers. I'm sure you have other ideas, too.

Yesterday afternoon, I spent 90 minutes with Tampa Transportation Manager Jean Dorzbeck and two department staffers -- Ben Money and John Marsh. John attends many local MPO transportation planning meetings and other local government sessions representing the city of Tampa's interest in bicycling and walking.

They want to convey that they do value bicycling as part of a multi-modal transportation system in Tampa and are looking for your opinions about what can be done to improve bicycling in three general areas: downtown, Westshore and the USF area.

They also shared information about an interesting road project that will help bicyclists.

It's reworking of North Boulevard from Main Street to Martin Luther King Blvd. The four-lane road will be reduced to three lanes with a southern stretch of the road including bike lanes, then transitioning to sharrows -- the shared-road markings you see in the photos above.

The three lanes will include a center-turn lane and single-traffic lanes going in opposite directions.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns about bicycle infrastructure in Tampa, contact John Marsh at John.Marsh@ci.tampa.fl.us; Jean Dorzback at Jean.Dorzback@tampagov.net or Ben Money at Ben.Money@ci.tampa.fl.us

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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