Hello - The idea of closing streets to motor vehicle traffic to facilitate bicycling has been mentioned to the City's Engineering Office and has been thoughtfully considered by that office. This is a possibility. However, consider that the current Cyclovia event occurs on Saturday mornings for a short period of time when there is relatively little motor vehicle traffic and that to close the roads the City would need to notify residents and post barricades at all of the cross streets during the event. Also, the route would not be totally car-free since residents would still be traveling to/from their homes. In the end it comes largely down to the points that though a benefit would be provided to those bicyclists on the (mostly) car-free route, there would be significant costs incurred by the City. Also, participants would still need to ride on regular streets to get to the event and when arriving at the Farmers Market. That's not to say that it can't be done though ... If anyone is really interested in pursuing this idea, please contact the Engineering Office at 274-6528 - or just stop by (2nd floor in City Hall). Furthermore, after participating in last weekend's Cyclovia event, I was pleased to see how well motorists behaved when passing us, and how well the other participants (especially the young children) behaved when cycling in traffic. Even if some areas are free of motor vehicles, bicyclists still need to learn to cycle safely and effectively on regular streets – the Cyclovia is a great opportunity to do just that. Take care, Kent Kent Johnson Transportation Engineering Technician Office of the City Engineer City of Ithaca 108 E. Green St. Ithaca, New York 14850 (607) 274-6528, (607) 327-0316 (cell) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--- On Wed, 6/18/08, Thomas Shelley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Thomas Shelley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] Cyclovia and beyond To: "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv" <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 6:45 AM Hi, Andy. As a member of the Mayor's Local Action Plan Committee (to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for City operations and the City of Ithaca in general) I have officially proposed that such a Cyclovia program be introduced by the City, with the appropriate street closures, etc. I have no idea what will come of it, but at least the idea is on the table. Tom ****************************************** Tom Shelley 118 E. Court St. Ithaca, NY 14850 607 342-0864 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Compost Educator and General Sustainability Geek _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
