[Thanks to Bjorn Radstrom for passing this along - a very valuable training
opportunity for engineers interested in designing for the bicycle - Anders].
“Bicycle Facilities Design Course” is being offered at the annual Canadian
Institute of Transportation Engineers (CITE 2012) conference in Winnipeg.
The workshop is on Sunday, May 27th from 08:30 to 16:30.
There are details at:
http://www.cite7.org/Winnipeg2012/WinnipegWorkshops.php.
You can register for the workshop without registering for the rest of the
conference.
------------------------------
*From:* Margaret Boyechko [mailto:margaret@mrta.mb.ca]
*Sent:* Thursday, March 29, 2012 2:12 PM
***Subject:* The Great Hike Kickoff 2012****
** **
Check out the attached and come join us on April 12, 2012 – it’s a fun
thing!! No registration required – hope to see you there.****
** **
Margaret Boyechko****
Administration Assistant/Bookkeeper****
****Manitoba**** Recreational Trails Association****
1007 Century Street****
****Winnipeg**, **MB** **R3H 0W4********
204-633-9879****
204-945-1365 (fax)****
www.mrta.mb.ca****
*"In every walk with nature one receives *****
*far more than he seeks."* - John Muir****
This video has been getting a lot of attention over the past few days. The
Walk Your City project is trying to raise money to build an opensource
Guerrilla Wayfinding website that will allow people to print off
walkability wayfinding signs.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cityfabric/walk-your-city
An interesting watch and inspiration as a creative idea to raise funding
and the profile of active travel needs.
S
Rubber could fix sidewalks, put bounce in our steps
By: Benjamin Gillies
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/rubber-could-fix-sidewalk…
Winnipeggers were eager to get out of the house to take advantage of the
nicer weather in recent weeks, only to find the freezing and thawing -- and
the presence of pushy tree roots -- caused many sidewalks to fracture and
shift over the winter, making them not only a nuisance to replace, but also
a potential danger.
Almost exclusively, concrete and asphalt have traditionally been used for
sidewalk construction in North America. Yet, neither is particularly
well-suited to the task. Both materials are brittle, prone to cracking when
trees grow beneath them and vulnerable to weather damage. Their lack of
porosity deprives the soil of groundwater and increases runoff problems.
In the early 2000s, entrepreneurs in the United States sought to better
meet pedestrian needs by finding a type of pavement less likely to break.
Searching for a malleable material, they ground up discarded tires and
designed resilient rubber panels that are harder than a running track but
softer than concrete or asphalt.
This solution proved extremely effective. Not only did the rubber bend to
accommodate tree growth, but when roots became too unruly, the individual
panels could be removed, the path re-graded, roots trimmed and the same
panels re-laid.
In fact, city workers discovered roots actually grew more slowly beneath
rubber as water could seep through the seams between the panels, reducing
the need for roots to spread in search of sustenance. It was also realized
that once installed, the ease with which the panel sidewalk could be
disassembled and reassembled made it faster and less expensive for utility
companies to complete any maintenance or other underground work than having
to dig up or drill into concrete slabs.
Best of all, the alternative material was good for its users, as walking or
running on a rubber, shock-absorbing surface is easier on one's joints and
more forgiving when someone falls. Cities using the rubber sidewalks often
experienced a reduction in liability claims from pedestrians tripping, as
broken and uneven concrete sidewalks were no longer a hazard.
Recognizing these benefits, in the past decade rubber walkways have been
put down in nearly 100 American municipalities. Canadian cities, however,
have been slower to explore their potential. A handful, including Kelowna,
Vancouver and Calgary have launched pilot projects.
Yet, with Canada's extreme temperatures, a material less susceptible to
weather damage may be even more advantageous here than it is down south.
After all, the annual freezing and thawing process can force the
replacement of concrete walks in as few as three years. Tests have shown
rubber stands up well against excessive heat and cold, and the panels are
estimated to last up to two decades without cracking. Additionally, where
installed, the panels remain undamaged by snow-clearing equipment and have
been designed so as not to be slippery in winter. This means that while
they're about a third more expensive than concrete initially, over the long
run they are very likely the most cost-effective and safest option.
It is often said Winnipeg has only two seasons: winter and construction. To
curb the disturbance and costs of this second season, the city should do
what it can to find building materials that withstand our climate without
frequent replacement. To that end, rubber-panel sidewalks seem a highly
promising alternative for future development. With rubber proving itself so
favourable elsewhere, the municipal government ought to consider launching
its own pilot project to see if it could be a good fit here. The result
could be fewer injuries and fewer scarce funds devoted to maintenance. Like
the new sidewalks themselves, that is bound to put a little spring in
anyone's step.
*Benjamin Gillies is a political economy graduate from the University of
Manitoba, where he focused on urban development and energy policy.*
>From the Sustainable Cities
Collective<http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/pmlydon/38206/copenhagen-economics-c…>
:
A study commissioned in 2010 by Bo Asmus Kjeldgaard, Mayor of Copenhagen
found that *driving cars offers up a $0.20 net loss for each mile driven*.
But the major form of transportation in this city of 1.2 million is not the
car, but the bicycle. This leads us to what is perhaps the more amazing
fact from this study…* bicycles offer a $0.35 net benefit to the economy
per mile ridden*.
*Math Note: 1 DKK = 18 cents (2010 currency rates) | 1.61km = 1mi*
Other neat facts about Copenhagen from this study:
- *Sixty-Eight Percent* - An astounding 68% of residents bicycle at
least once a week
- *Most Popular Commute Choice* - Citywide, 35% of residents bicycle to
and from work/school, more than any other transportation method
- *Sorry Cars, You’re Outnumbered* – When taking trips of under 6 miles,
bicyclists outnumber cars 3 to 1
- *Rain, Sleet, or Snow* – Most commuters cycle year-round, even with an
average low of 28-degrees Fahrenheit during snowy winter months and 2.5
inches of rain during summer months
- *Kids Rule* – A full 98% of children in the city own a bicycle
See full study here<http://www.kk.dk/sitecore/content/Subsites/CityOfCopenhagen/SubsiteFrontpag…>
--
*Shoni Litinsky* | Active and Safe Routes to School
Green Action Centre <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>
3rd floor, 303 Portage Avenue* | *(204) 925-3773
Green Action Centre is your non-profit hub for greener living.
Support our work by becoming a
member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/memberships/>
Find us here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/>
Why Bicyclists Are Better Customers Than Drivers for Local Business
by Tanya Snyder <http://dc.streetsblog.org/author/tanya-snyder/>
Friday, March 23, 2012
http://dc.streetsblog.org/2012/03/23/why-bicyclists-are-better-customers-th…
<http://dc.streetsblog.org/author/tanya-snyder/>
Do local and state officials tune out when you try to talk to them about
bicycling? Are they unconvinced by arguments about public health,
transportation options, or clean air? Do business leaders send you packing
when you suggest building new bike lanes and bike parking, fearing that the
loss of car parking will keep customers away?
Then show them the money.
Bikes can mean big business, and businesses are beginning to realize it. At
a Bike Summit panel Wednesday on the economic boost cycling can provide
cities, speakers highlighted another strong message cyclists can bring to
politicians when making their case for investment in bike/ped facilities.
Far and away, the biggest reason business owners resist the addition of
bike infrastructure is that they’re afraid it will limit parking. Once they
realize they can get 12 bike parking spaces for each car spot, sometimes
they begin to change their tune. Even better, they begin to discover that
cyclists can be their best customers. “We tend to shop closer to home and
shop more often,” said April Economides, a consultant who helped the city
of Long Beach, California build bicycle-friendly business
districts<http://www.bikelongbeach.org/Planning/Read.aspx?ArticleId=20>.
Rather than jumping in the minivan and heading to the suburbs to go to the
big shopping malls, cyclists patronize the businesses in our neighborhoods.
Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster understands the value of bikes: “I see parts of
the city on my bike that I would never even notice if I was just driving,”
he said. “It’s a way for me personally to get closer to the city.”
That closeness has a dollars-and-cents value. Cyclists travel at what
Portland Bike Coordinator Roger Geller calls a “human-scale speed” that
allows them to “stop and buy something.” Besides, Economides said, if
you’re car-free you’ve got an extra $6,000 jangling around in your pocket
that you otherwise would have spent on gas and car maintenance (actually,
$8,776 if you believe
AAA<http://newsroom.aaa.com/2011/04/cost-of-owning-and-operating-vehicle-in-u-s…>).
According to researchers with Intelligent Communities, a program of the
National Building Museum, only 16 percent of household car expenses stay
within the local
economy<http://www.govtech.com/e-government/IBM-City-Forward-Launched.html>
.
The four bicycle-friendly business districts Economides helped develop in
Long Beach provide a model of how to encourage cycling without adding
infrastructure. Local businesses see bike access as a boon for local
shopping and dining. They have an informal merchant bike-share program, so
the business owners themselves can enjoy the benefits of biking around
town. The program created the nation’s largest citywide bike discount
program <http://www.bikelongbeach.org/Events/Read.aspx?ArticleId=48>, where
customers get better prices if they arrive by bike. The program also
brought the districts community bike rides, free bike repairs, bike valets
at local events, and even free bike portraits, where you can get your
picture taken with your bike (see left). The programs have brought a flood
of new customers into participating stores.
Two of the four districts didn’t even have a lot of good bike
infrastructure to begin with – but there’s more demand for it now, even
from businesses that used to be bike-averse.
Long Beach got a stimulus grant to create the districts, and the term of
the grant expired just last week. But Economides said participating
merchants are now so jazzed about cycling that they’ll carry on the work.
And it’s a diverse group of businesses: Organizers reached out to Spanish-
and Khmer-speaking merchants in the area and got their full participation.
They also left paper flyers and postcards on people’s doorsteps, since not
everyone is wired.
“Open Streets,” or ciclovias – events where streets are closed to motorized
traffic and become the domain of bicyclists, pedestrians, skateboarders,
rollerbladers, jugglers, dog-walkers – are another way to bring money to
local businesses. Washington University in St. Louis was able to quantify
the economic benefit <http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/23216.aspx> of Open
Streets programs: 73 percent of Open Streets participants spent money at a
restaurant or store on the route, and 68 percent became aware of a
restaurant or store that was new to them.
Business Improvement Districts are another good place to seek support for
pro-bike policies, said Andy Hanshaw of the San Diego County Bicycle
Coalition. Local shopping and dining is what they’re all about, and they
might be happy to sponsor community bike rides and new bike parking.
After all, in downtowns turning car lanes over to people can be a great
moneymaker. Its most stunning success, perhaps, has been Times Square, “the
ultimate end vision of how to pedestrianize the most pedestrian-heavy place
in America,” according to Mike Lydon of the Street Plans Collaborative.
According to a recent study commissioned by the local BID, Times Square
helps generate more than one-tenth of the city’s economic
activity<http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/times-square-lights-up-citys-e…>–
on less than one percent of its land.
>From park(ing) day<http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/09/16/parking-day-once-again-sweeps-the-glo…>,
where people create ephemeral parks in parallel parking spaces, to parklets
that make those tiny parks more permanent, to pop-up
cafés<http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/08/12/dot-unveils-new-pop-up-cafe-in-financ…>,
adding outdoor public space draws people and adds life to the street. Those
spaces also often become de facto additional seating for nearby
establishments, giving them more capacity for free.
“Bicycling, just like walking, helps make a Main Street more vibrant,” said
Economides. “It adds more eyes and ears to the street, so it makes it
safer. So think about a mom pushing a stroller. She’s going to want to walk
down a block that has more people walking and bicycling; she’ll feel safer.
And you do want to attract women and moms. We’re a pretty important
shopping base.”
Rory Robinson of the National Park Service found many other
examples<http://www.miamivalleytrails.org/benefits.htm>of bicycling
spurring economic revitalization, like the opening of the
Mineral Belt Trail in Leadville, Colorado, which led to a 19 percent
increase in sales tax revenues, helping the city recover from a mine
closure in 1999. The 45-mile long Washington & Old Dominion Trail in the
D.C. suburbs brings an estimated $7 million into the northern Virginia
economy, nearly a quarter of that from out-of-towners. And
downtown Dunedin, Florida was suffering a 35 percent storefront vacancy
rate until an abandoned CSX railroad track became the Pinellas Trail.
Storefront occupancy is now 100 percent, Robinson found. “Business is
booming.”
And the economic benefit of bicycling for communities doesn’t end with
cyclists’ expensive cappuccinos and impulse buys. Properties near bike
paths increase in value 11 percent, said Economides. Realtors and
homebuilders consistently find that access and proximity to walking and
biking facilities, especially greenways, makes homes easier to sell. A
reporter for the Indianapolis Star said it
best<http://saveourtrails.ca/money/property_values.htm>in 2003: “It
may not have sand and crashing waves, but the Monon Trail is
the equivalent of beachfront property in the Indianapolis area.”
Add to that the fact that bike lane construction creates about twice as
many jobs<http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/01/07/combat-joblessness-stripe-a-bike-lane/>as
road-building for the same amount of money, and you’ve got yourself a
great economic argument to take to local leaders and politicians when you
ask them to support walking and biking – even (or especially) in tough
economic times.
Tanya Snyder <http://dc.streetsblog.org/author/tanya-snyder/> became
Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress
for Pacifica and public radio. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and
bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Osborne Bridge construction resumes Friday
THE end of winter means it's time for Winnipeg's other season -- road
construction, which begins in earnest Friday with the resumption of the
Osborne Bridge rehabilitation.
The $17.2-million project, which involves the resurfacing and widening of
Osborne Street from Broadway to River Avenue, began last year with work on
the east side of the bridge over the Assiniboine River.
Work on the west side of the bridge will begin on Friday, reducing traffic
to three lanes, the public works department announced in a statement. One
lane will be for northbound traffic, a second for southbound and a third
will alternate, depending on the time. The city employed this system last
year.
The pedestrian underpass on the north side of the Assiniboine River will
remain open as long as river levels are low enough. As of Tuesday, the
level was 7.3 feet at the James Avenue pumping station, or 1.2 feet below
the Assiniboine Riverwalk. If river levels rise, the city urges pedestrians
and dismounted cyclists to exercise caution when they cross the street.
The city hopes to complete construction by September and reopen two lanes
of traffic in each direction while crews erect a barrier in the middle of
the bridge to separate traffic. The entire project is expected to be
finished in October, with three southbound lanes, two northbound lanes and
both a bike lane and sidewalk in each direction.
Get children moving, new guidelines urge No screen time at all for kids
under two
By: Helen Branswell
TORONTO -- Little children should be moving more and sitting less,
according to new recommendations that are being billed as the first
Canadian guidelines for physical activity and sedentary behaviour for
children four and younger.
Kids younger than two shouldn't spend any time in front of a screen -- be
it a TV, a computer or a tablet -- the guidelines say. And for children
aged two to four, screen time should be limited to less than an hour a day.
"There's no redeeming feature of screen time under the age of two," says
Mark Tremblay, who chaired the committee that drew up the guidelines and is
lead author of two scientific papers that analyzed about 40 published
studies to come up with the two sets of guidelines.
"Don't use screens as hypnotic elements to entertain them, to just pass
time. It's not advantageous for the healthy growth and development of a
child to do that."
Tremblay is also director of the Healthy Active Living Obesity research
group at the Children's Hospital for Eastern Ontario Research Institute in
Ottawa. The guidelines were crafted by the Canadian Society for Exercise
Physiology and ParticipAction, with help from Tremblay's group.
The guidelines suggest children under one should be allowed to partake in
active play several times daily -- including things like tummy time,
reaching and grasping and crawling.
For kids aged one to four, parents should aim for three hours of activity a
day. The activity can be any kind, Tremblay says, and doesn't have to be
rigorous. Walking, crawling, playing -- anything but sitting. By age five,
children should be spending at least an hour a day in energetic play --
activities like hopping, skipping and bike riding.
These bars may seem low. Many people have the notion little kids are always
on the go. But in fact, that isn't the case, says Kelly Murumets, president
and CEO of ParticipAction.
When allowed to play outside, children do become very active, Murumets
says. But when they are indoors, particularly if there is a TV or computer
screen around, that's another matter.
"I don't know what it is, I'm sure there's some physiological explanation
for this, but they become transfixed by the screen. And they will sit and
be sedentary for much longer than you would expect toddlers' DNA would
allow," she says.
The professional organization representing Canadian pediatricians is adding
its support for the guidelines. The Canadian Pediatric Society is issuing
its own guidance, which mirrors the recommendations on the amount of
activity children should get daily.
The society's guidelines also call on doctors to counsel families on the
importance of encouraging children to be active and advise them on how to
achieve that end.
Over the last quarter-century, the obesity rate has nearly tripled among
children and youth, the pediatrics society notes in its statement. As many
as 26 per cent of kids between two and 17 years are now overweight or
obese, and that number jumps to 41 per cent among First Nations children.
"We're starting to see kids with health and obesity problems before they
even start school," says Dr. Claire LeBlanc, chair of the society's
committee on healthy active living and sports medicine.
"Parents and caregivers need to incorporate age-appropriate physical
activity into their children's day as young as possible."
Tremblay says studies that monitor and evaluate what young children do find
they are actually far more sedentary than most people would think.
He says frequent activity contributes to bone, motor skill and cognitive
development and protects against the harms associated with excessive
sedentary behaviour.
-- The Canadian Press
Please share this message. Our apologies for cross-posting.
Dear colleagues,
The National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP)
invites you to a free one-day preconference workshop featuring renowned
speakers Dan Burden, co-founder of the NGO Walkable Communities, and
Catherine Berthod, engineer and urban planner for the Ministry of
Transportation of Quebec. The workshop Motorized traffic and health:
interventions to mitigate its impacts will take place at the Canadian
Public Health Association (CPHA) annual conference, June 11, 2012, in
Edmonton. It will focus on three interventions aiming at creating
healthier built environments:
· Traffic calming on urban, residential streets;
· Road diets on suburban roads to allocate space for active
transport infrastractures;
· Redesign of main commercial streets of small communities also
being used as regional transit roads.
Click here to learn more:
http://www.ncchpp.ca/176/presentations.ccnpps?id_article=740
Visit the CPHA 2012 Conference site at:
http://www.cpha.ca/en/conferences/conf2012/registration.aspx.
For questions or feedback, please contact Olivier Bellefleur at:
olivier.bellefleur(a)inspq.qc.ca.
_______________________________________
S.V.P. faites circuler dans vos réseaux. Nos excuses pour les envois
multiples.
Bonjour,
Le Centre de collaboration nationale sur les politiques publiques et la
santé (CCNPPS) vous invite à un atelier gratuit d’une journée en compagnie
des conférenciers de renoms que sont Dan Burden, cofondateur de l’ONG
Walkable Communities, et Catherine Berthod, ingénieure et urbaniste au
Ministère des Transports du Québec. L’atelier Circulation motorisée et
santé : des interventions pour mitiger ses impacts aura lieu lors de la
prochaine Conférence annuelle de l’Association canadienne de santé
publique (ACSP), le 11 juin 2012 à Edmonton. Il portera sur trois
interventions visant à créer des environnements bâtis plus favorables à la
santé :
· Apaisement de la circulation sur les rues résidentielles en milieu
urbain;
· Régimes routiers permettant de redistribuer l’espace des voies
suburbaines au profit d’infrastructures dédiées aux transports actifs;
· Réaménagement des rues commerciales principales des petites
agglomérations qui servent aussi de voies de transit régionales.
Pour plus d’information :
http://www.ccnpps.ca/188/Presentations.ccnpps?id_article=741
Pour visiter le site de la Conférence annuelle de l’ACSP :
http://www.cpha.ca/fr/conferences/conf2012.aspx.
Pour toute question, veuillez contacter Olivier Bellefleur à :
olivier.bellefleur(a)inspq.qc.ca
Olivier Bellefleur
Agent de recherche / Research officer
Centre de collaboration nationale sur les politiques publiques et la santé
(CCNPPS) /
National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP)
Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ)
190, boulevard Crémazie Est
Montréal (Québec)
H2P 1E2
Téléphone: 514-864-1600, poste 3635
Télécopieur: 514-864-5180
Web: www.ccnpps.ca / www.ncchpp.ca
[Friendly reminder about tomorrow afternoon's webinars...]
Green Action Centre and Bike to the Future invite you to join us on
Wednesday, March 28th for a local viewing of two APBP webinars:* **"Empowering
Women to Bicycle for Transportation"* and *"*Best Practices in Maintenance
Programs*"*. Both take place at the EcoCentre (3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave)
and will be followed by group discussion. Come for one or both of the
webinars.
As always, RSVPs appreciated but not necessary. Hope to see you then.
cheers,
Beth
925-3772
* * * * *
Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) presents:
Empowering Women to Bicycle for Transportation
Wednesday, March 28th • 2:00 to 3:30 pm CST
Take in APBP's annual Women Cycling webinar and learn what it will take to
empower women to bicycle for transportation at the same level that men do.
Visit APBP's Women Cycling Project
<http://www.womencyclingproject.info/>website where you can read the
final reports on the Women Cycling Survey,
view the 2010 and 2011 webinars on the Women Cycling phenomenon, and enjoy
the winning photos from the Women Cycling photo contest.
Best Practices for Maintenance Programs
Wednesday, March 28th • 3:30-4:30 pm CST
Efficient and cost-effective maintenance of pedestrian facilities is an
important safety measure. Attend this webinar to learn why maintenance
programs are important, and how to make the case for maintenance at budget
time; how to overcome the barriers to implementing a good maintenance
program; and how to develop the elements of a program that includes both
routine maintenance and responding to hazards. Best practices for
inspection, replacement and snow removal will be discussed, as well as
findings from recent research into pedestrian facility maintenance. The
session will include a preview of the new FHWA publication, "A Guide for
Maintaining Pedestrian Facilities for Enhanced Safety," due to be published
by the end of 2012. The webinar will also include information related to
maintenance of bicycle facilities.
Presenters: Tom Huber, Senior Planner, Toole Design Group; Arthur Ross,
Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, City of Madison, Wisconsin.
--
*Beth McKechnie* | Workplace Commuter Options
<http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action
Centre<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/>
3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3772 | Find us
here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/>
Green Action Centre is your non-profit hub for greener living.
Support our work by becoming a
member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/memberships/>