Category: Lawrence Biking (Page 19 of 34)

Sharing the Road

September 5, 2013 /

Below is an except from the City of Lawrence’s “The Flame” newsletter: (http://www.lawrenceks.org/assets/flame/2013/September_2013_web.pdf)

The City has recently completed some re-marking of roadways in Lawrence for bicycle, motorist and pedestrian safety. Here’s an easy way to understand the markings next time you’re out on the roadways and see the different symbols:

Bike Lanes |Bike Lanes give bicyclists and motorists their own, assigned and separate spaces on the road. Bicyclists should always ride in the direction indicated by the arrow painted on the street.

Sharrows|A “Sharrow” indicates that the streets are good for bike traffic, but are too narrow for separate bike lanes. Sharrow markings indicate to motorists and bicyclists that they must share the road and use the same space on the street as they travel

Bike Route | Bike Routes indicate roads with light to moderate traffic and lower speeds that are expected to have bicycle traffic and where motorists and bicyclist share the roadway.

Annual Bicycle and Pedestrian Count Volunteers Needed!

July 29, 2013 /

Your help is needed to count bicyclists and pedestrians!

Transportation planning and design at all levels requires understanding of actual conditions. This involves determination of motor vehicle, bicyclist and pedestrian numbers. This data dealing with the characteristics of vehicle or people movement is obtained by undertaking traffic counts. Just like motor vehicle counts, counting bicyclists and pedestrians at specific locations will help us to more accurately estimate demand, measure the benefits of investments, and design our projects. This information will also help us target safety and mobility projects and improve our traffic models.

Data collected on bicycling and walking will assist City and Regional Leaders with estimating usage and demand for bicycle and pedestrian facilities. The counts will also be used to track the region’s progress on increasing the use of non-motorized transportation, strengthen grant applications to leverage additional federal funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects, evaluate existing projects, and help determine the location of future investments.

There’s four training sessions you can attend if you haven’t done it before and they are looking for people on various days in September in Lawrence, Eudora and Baldwin City.

To learn more about volunteering and available times, please visit www.lawrenceks.org/mpo/volunteer or contact Jessica Mortinger at [email protected] or (785) 832-3165.

7/20/13 Community Bike Ride Cancelled Due to Weather

July 20, 2013 /

We’re sorry to report because of the thunderstorms in the area and safety concerns over slick roads we have decided to cancel the community bike ride.

More information will be forthcoming.

Not a Pro Racer? Still Lots To Do at This Year’s Tour of Lawrence

June 19, 2013 /

The weekend of June 28th you can enjoy bicycle racing at its best in beautiful and historic Lawrence. The Tour of Lawrence is a set of three separate USA Cycling Pro-AM competitive bicycle racing events.

The TOL actually consists of three competitive bicycle racing events and the weekend’s cash prize list totals over $20,000!

— on Friday night downtown are the Street Sprints sponsored this year by Laird Noller Automotive

— on Saturday, the challenging the KU Campus Circuit Race sponsored by Meadowbrook Apartments goes up and down the hills of Mt. Oread with over 400ft of climbing per lap and is this year’s KCA’s Kansas State Category Road Race Championships

— on Sunday, the Downtown Criterium sponsored by Free State Brewery is using the former two-time Collegiate National Championships course and this year’s KCA’s Kansas State Category Criterium Championships

If you’re not a competitive bike rider there’s lots of other opportunities.. You can volunteer to help at the TOL’s site http://www.touroflawrence.com/volunteers.php

Lawrence Central Rotary and one of our initiative’s Ride Lawrence is sponsoring the free Kid’s Zone on Friday night and Sunday. The fine folks from Lawrence’s Jump for Joy will have inflatables set up for the kids and it’s free! There’s also a host of other kids events that weekend. Click on the image below for more info, times & places!

On Sunday there’s a FREE Kids Bike Race at 11am and at 12:30 is the Mass Street Mile run down Mass Street.

It’s going to be a great weekend in Lawrence so come check it out!

New Bike Racks from Central Lawrence Rotary installed at Theatre Lawrence

June 14, 2013 /

As a part of their biking initiative Lawrence Central Rotary (who sponsors and runs Ride Lawrence ) identified bicycling as an avenue to a healthy lifestyle. To that end we not only sponsor the yearly Community Bike Ride, but we also have raised thousands of dollars to fabricate and install bike racks around Lawrence.

We’re happy to share that the latest creation was unveiled recently at the new Theatre Lawrence building on Lawrence’s west side.

Even the bicycle racks for the new Theatre Lawrence have a theatrical theme. The city requires bike racks to be installed for new construction. and rather than purchase generic racks for a very un-generic building. the theatre sought out Lawrence blacksmith artist Kate Dinneen to design something more appropriate for the theatre’s beautiful new building.

Kate Dinneen admiring her vision installed.

Kate, an artist both in a blacksmith forge and also in a symphony orchestra, graciously donated her time and talent to design and fabricate two metal bike racks for Theatre Lawrence.

One suggests actors holding hands and bending forward in a company bow at the end of a performance, and the other is a representation of theatrical spotlights on poles.

The Lawrence Central Rotary Club generously donated the materials, powder coating and installation for the project. Thanks to the interest and participation of Kate Dinneen and Lawrence Central Rotary, the theatre has pieces that not only are fully functional bicycle racks, but also are pieces of sculpture that add to the exterior beauty of the new building .