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The Post and Courier

Summerville wants to add to its reputation as an attractive place to live by seeking national certification as a bicycle-friendly town.

Town officials are working toward meeting the standards set forth by the League of American Bicyclists to earn the organization’s designation as a Bicycle Friendly Community.

“It would be a feather in the town’s cap and advertise Summerville’s quality of life by letting people know that alternative modes of transportation are welcome,” said Mark Greenslit, chairman of the town’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.

He’s also president of the Greater Summerville Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition and said the group’s goal is “to make Summerville a better place to walk and ride a bike.”

The League of American Bicyclists announces new additions to its list each fall and spring. Within South Carolina, only Columbia, Spartanburg and Greenville have earned recognition from the group.

Greenslit thinks the certification could encourage new residents to move to the area and might bring in a few guests.

“Bed-and-breakfast visitors might want to ride around in a safe community,” he said.

The application focuses on five standards: evaluation and planning, education, enforcement, engineering and encouragement.

Town engineer Russ Cornette said the next application deadline is in January and that he thinks Summerville’s strongest areas might be engineering and enforcement.

Ordinances have been passed in recent years that dictate bicycle parking must be made available for new commercial construction.

“And if there’s a new road to be built, then sidewalks have to be built on both sides,” he said.

He said upcoming road improvements on Dorchester Road and the next phase of the Berlin G. Myers Parkway will include sidewalks.

Cornette pointed out that the Sawmill Branch hiking/biking trail accounts for more than eight miles of multipurpose trail winding its way through Summerville, and there are plans to add another mile to loop around the Jerry Blackwell Sports Complex near the Gahagan subdivision. Also, two of the town’s major roads, Old Trolley and Ladson, were widened with bicycle lanes.

Cornette said one of the trickiest problems in the effort is retrofitting older parts of town with sidewalks where roads might not have been designed with pedestrians in mind. A more fundamental problem is acquiring funds for wanted projects.

“There’s no money in the general budget (for sidewalks),” he said. “We rely 100 percent on enhancement funds for new sidewalks.”

Over the past few years, Cornette said the town has been able to secure about $100,000 in grants each year. He said that usually is enough for about one mile of sidewalk or multipurpose path, but none of the funds can be used for repair and maintenance of existing walkways.

As far as the evaluation and planning criteria of the application, the town could benefit from some outside assistance.

“We have a Clemson graduate student who has taken on putting together a master plan for the town,” Cornette said. “It will be a guide to use for future planning. It will be ready by the spring and cost the town nothing.”

When it comes to the education and encouragement part of the application, Cornette said that might require private cycling groups such as Greenslit’s to take the initiative to spread the word.

Greenslit, an avid cyclist, runner and walker, said he rides his bike about three or four times a week.

“I use the bicycle to run short errands or pick up my daughter from preschool,” he said. “I average about 100 miles per week.”

From his experience, he said he thinks Summerville already is on its way toward becoming a Bicycle Friendly Community.

“I think Summerville is generally favorable (toward cyclists). I’ve had very few adverse interactions with motorists,” he said. “This is a process of changing attitudes toward cycling.

“I think we’re moving in the right direction.”

Reach Bill Henley at 937-5433 or bhenley@postandcourier.com.

How do you want to spend your federal transportation planning dollars in our region?

Please note that the urban 2035 Regional Long Range Transportation Plan meetings have been set(SEE ATTACHED).  Your input is needed so that the Charleston Area Transportation Study Board (CHATS) can critically evaluate how to spend the federal transportation dollars that come to our region.  Meetings have been set in the Towns of Mt. Pleasant and Summerville, the Cities of Charleston, North Charleston and Hanahan and the community of Ladson.

This urban area update is done every five years per federal legislation.  Your input made a difference in the last cycle as residents indicated that they wanted more funding to be spent on bike and pedestrian facilities.

To view the current Long Range Transportation Plan, please go to the website athttp://bcdcog.com/LRP.htm.

Vonie

Vonie Gilreath, MCRP, M.Ed.

Mobility Manager

Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments

1362 McMillan Avenue, Suite 100

North Charleston, SC 29405

Tel:  (843) 529-0400

Fax: (843) 529-0305

We have been continuing our work on the Master Transportation Plan over the past few months, and thank you all for your diligence in remaining a part of this planning process.  At this time, we have developed a full set of preliminary multimodal recommendations, focusing on key priority areas.  We would like to meet with you to present these recommendations and discuss the prioritization process for these projects.

We will be holding our final public workshop for this project tonight, October 27^th, from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Dorchester County Council Chambers (500 N Main Street, Summerville).  You are encouraged to attend, and we also encourage you to spread the word about this meeting to your friends.  We hope to have a strong turnout for this workshop.

Please let me know if you have any questions.  I look forward to seeing you tonight!

Thank you,

Allison

Workshop2_102709_Flyer

Allison M. Fluitt, P.E., AICP
Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.
allison.fluitt@kimley-horn.com
Phone: 919-653-2947
Fax: 919-677-2050

I am dismayed to report that some of the staff and administration of the Town of Summerville are working to dissolve the ordinance that established the Town’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. They would like to make this committee an ad hoc committee of the planning commission.

Since it was established in October 2007, this committee has has accomplished the following:

Placement of bike racks in all the Town’s parks and playgrounds, and at the new parking garage.

Established a bicycle parking ordinance, requiring new businesses to install bike racks at the time of construction.

Obtained a grant competitive grant funding a complete streets workshop. Had pedestrian crossing signs placed at several locations in town and where the Sawmill Branch Trail crosses roads. (These have recently been removed. Please call the department of engineering at Town Hall (871-6000) and ask that they be replaced immediately)

We are currently working on several projects including a bicycle and pedestrian master plan for the town, a complete streets ordinance, and an application to become to be recognized as a bicycle friendly community. Some at town hall would like us to become an ad hoc committee of the Planning Commission.

We do much more than simply deal with infrastructure, which the town has no budgeted dollars to build. We have to rely on grant money for such projects If this committee becomes an ad hoc committee of the planning commission, it will severely limit our mission and scope of work.

Also, staffing for the committee is in question. And of significant concern, is that an ad hoc committee, which does not have the protection of an ordinance, could be completely dissolved without much difficulty.

What can you do?

Come to the Planning Commission’s next meeting on Monday, October 19 at Old Town Hall at 6 p.m., and tell them that the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee should continue in its present form or it will become much less effective. Please call me at 209-9028, if you have any questions.

Thank you.

Mark Greenslit

Chairman, Town of Summerville’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.

The membership form is in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. Please download Acrobat if you do not already have it.

A few very brief updates:

1. The PCC has partnered with Peter Wilborn of SCBIKELAW.COM to develop a copyrighted bicycle continuing education training course for law officers statewide. Peter and I are working to see that this training course becomes mandatory for all new officers. We are planning officer trainings from mountains to sea in 2008! The program will train officers on how to properly handle bicycle vs. motorists crashes, including a detailed overview on what our laws are, the importance of accident reports and how to protect cyclists’ rights. Furthermore, we are working on the adoption of an official bike manual to be available in all DMVs. Look for more detailed information soon!

2. The PCC has again partnered with Peter Wilborn of SCBIKELAW.COM to purchase fabulous bike lights from Planet Bike(a big thank you to the Hawley Company in Lexington for making this happen!!). The lights will be part of a major safety campaign for 2008. The PCC and SCBIKELAW.COM will be partnering with a small city in South Carolina and their police department to see that the lights are distributed to cyclists in need. Officers will carry the lights in squad cars and provide them to families, individuals and children that need them. Attached to all lights will be a detailed safety brochure.

3. I have been appointed to the SCDOT Strategic Highway Safety Plan Committee and will serve on an Emphasis Area Action Team for the prevention of future bike-ped fatalities. The goal of this committee will be to develop strategies to prevent fatalities on SC roads.

4. The legislation is moving forward on the Senate side. We are meeting with the Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee in mid February in hopes of seeing it pass out of committee in its original format. Be ready to contact your Senators requesting support for this bill at the end of February. We once again must have your vocal support. I feel confident that we can get this bill passed this year!

5. We have other legislative initiatives planned including a statewide advocacy training course in Columbia and development of a statewide Complete Streets bill that could include more funding for bike-ped projects statewide!

6. Finally Senator Jim DeMint stated the following:

South Carolina‘s U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Member: “Gas prices are already at record levels and American families shouldn’t be overtaxed while they are struggling to make ends meet. Until Washington stops funding bridges to nowhere and bike paths while infrastructure crumbles, they can’t be trusted to fix the real problems we face.”(Senator DeMint Statement, 01/15/08)

The PCC has sent communication to DeMint’s office regarding his comments. I will put together some talking points for members that want to contact the Senator’s office. I will also provide where to send those comments. I will not go into great detail here but please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. I highly encourage you to contact his office and let him know how disappointing and erroneous his statement was.

We are in the process of annual membership renewal, please be patient as it takes time to process all the applications. If your address has changed please be sure to update your new information with me!

Thanks again for all the support and cycle safe!

Natalie Cappuccio Britt

Palmetto Cycling Coalition

803-252-1174

www.pccsc.net

Mark Greenslit hopes to change that. A radiologist who regularly rides his bicycle from Summerville to work and back at Trident Medical Center in North Charleston, Greenslit is peddling a plan to have Summerville officially designated a bicycle-friendly town.

New bike trails and extensions of the Sawmill Branch Walk/Bike Trail, plus bike lanes on roads and highways, “share the road” campaigns, signs to remind motorists that bicycles are present and enforcement of traffic safety ordinances could help earn the town the League of American Cyclists’ designation as friendly to bicycles, Greenslit said.

Greenslit, who chairs the Greater Summerville Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition, told Town Council recently that local bicycle riders would not be the only beneficiaries of the designation. Encouraging more bike riding and less dependency on automobiles would not only boost fitness and health for residents who need to be more active, it would have far-reaching benefits to all.

“It will help promote tourism, reduce traffic congestion, improve citizen health, is good for the economy and can save the town money,” he said. He said becoming bicycle friendly “will set the town apart from its peers and attract those who are seeking a high quality of life.”

The league has awarded the designation to more than 40 American municipalities since 1996, Greenslit said. Among South Carolina municipalities, only Spartanburg has earned the right to post the league’s “Bicycle Friendly” signs. Greenslit said “Bicycle Friendly” communities have to meet certain criteria, which can be described as “the five E’s”: engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation and planning, he said.

Getting the designation for Summerville will cost the town something, but not too much, he insisted. He said road maintenance and new road construction are under state jurisdiction, and at Summerville’s urging, the state can be persuaded to include bike lanes and signage beneficial to bikers when roads are built or modified.

Much can be accomplished simply by the town adopting an attitude conducive to biking and remembering to facilitate bicycling when plans are made and reviewed, he said.

The Sawmill Branch Trail, which begins at Gahagan Road and ends a half-mile beyond Luden Drive, needs to be expanded and joined with more trails like it. Bicycle crossing signs are needed in many places.

Some of the most dangerous places for bicyclists are those heavily traveled by motorists: Central Avenue and U.S. Highway 78, where there are few or no accommodations for nonmotorized vehicles, he said.

Mayor Berlin G. Myers and council members told Greenslit the town is not averse to becoming more bicycle-friendly, but the costs of seeking the designation will have to be clear before action is taken.

“Our hearts are with it,” Councilman Aaron Brown said.

“We need some details, and what it’s going to cost us. Everything costs money,” Myers said.

Greenslit said the league awards bicycle-friendly designations at the platinum, gold, silver and bronze levels. Spartanburg received a bronze. Also at bronze are Cary and Carrboro, N.C.; Roswell, Ga.; and Chattanooga, Tenn. Gainesville, Fla., received a silver designation.

The league outlines its “five E’s” criteria this way:

Engineering: Includes formulation of a bicycle master plan, well-designed bike lanes and multiuse paths, secure bike parking and plans for accommodating cyclists on public roads.

Education: Includes teaching cyclists of all ages how to ride safely in any area, from multiuse paths to congested city streets, as well as teaching motorists how to share the road safely with cyclists. A factor is means of distributing information and bike maps and the number of trained league cycling instructors in the community.

Encouragement: How well the community promotes and encourages safe bicycling. Helpful are Bike Month and Bike to Work Week events, community bike rides, commuter incentive programs, a Safe Routes to School program and production of bike maps and route-finding signage.

Enforcement: Addresses law enforcement agency’s liaison with the cycling community, targeted enforcement to encourage cyclists and motorists to share the road and the existence of bicycling related laws, such as those requiring helmets or the use of side paths.

Evaluation and planning: Translates to having a plan and systems in place to evaluate current programs and plans for the future. Important are efforts to determine the amount of cycling taking place in a community as well as ways to reduce accident and fatality rates.

Many car trips are less than 2 miles, and gas isn’t getting any cheaper. Go on a family bike ride on the Sawmill Branch Trail.

Join the Saturday Fun Ride.

Every Saturday in May a group will leave from the parking lot of Sweetwater Grill and Cafe at 103 S. Main Street at 9 am for a leisurely ride of one to one and 2.5 hours. Experienced cyclists will lead the rides. The route will include low traffic streets and the Sawmill Branch Trail. Safety will be stressed. This is a good ride for those who would like to start riding on the roads and for spin class participants who may be interested in riding outside. Best of all, treat you to a well deserved pastry, and enjoy socializing with fellow cyclists at the cafe after the ride.