Saturday, January 31, 2015

on the record Re: Princeton Council is about to vote on bike lanes

Concerning the 12-January Town Council meeting when the Hamilton Ave parking
ordinance was introduced, the proceedings are on TV30 video starting around the
1 hour 23.5 minute mark.  The URL is http://vimeo.com/116685252#t=1h23m25s
 
Things start with a presentation by Assistant Municipal Engineer Deanna Stockton,
followed by comments from the general public, and finally the dialog/vote by council.

Points made by various advocates for bike lanes were numerous, strong, and clear.

Later comes a separate presentation by Deanna Stockton about engineering improvements
proposed for Prospect Ave between Harrison and Riverside. http://vimeo.com/116685252#t=2h39m45s



Monday, January 26, 2015

Bike Lane Vote At Council Postponed Because Of Snow

Friends of Princeton cycling, 

The Princeton Council meeting for this evening, Monday January 26, has been postponed because of the blizzard. 

Council was due to vote on new bike lanes at this meeting. This item will now be carried over to a different date. If you were planning to attend to voice your support, please stay home instead and stay safe! We will announce the new date as soon as it is decided, and hopefully supporters will still be able to attend.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

outlet locations for the Princeton Bicycle Map

As of today you can visit the following who are stocked with the new bike maps:

Whole Earth Center, 360 Nassau Street

Jay's, Kopp's, and Halter's bike shops

Visitors Center inside Princeton University U-Store on Nassau

Sustainable Princeton office in Borough Hall

More locations to follow, stay tuned.

If you are seeking not a wee bike map, but a haggis, you
had better zoom up to The Argyle with some alacrity.

beating the enemy thanks to a beater bike ?


I recently watched "The Imitation Game" at the Garden Theater,
and can recommend it. As a computer engineer, and having 
seen "Breaking the Code" on Broadway many years ago, I already
knew quite a bit about Alan Turing's triumphal/tragic story. Plus
my parents both grew up during WW2 in coastal towns where
convoys, escort warships, and long-range patrol planes were part
of the everyday scenery; our cottage had been a prefab naval hut.

Turing spent 1936-38 in Princeton, obtaining his doctorate in
mathematics. He resided at 183 Graduate College and likely
spent a substantial amount of time in Fine Hall, which has
since been renamed Jones Hall. His supervisor was Alonzo
Church, who was recruited by Oswald Veblen (no relation),
lived at 30 Jefferson Rd and is buried in Princeton Cemetery.

Turing defended his Ph.D. thesis in May 1938, at a time when 
his favorite movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, had
already been playing in the cinema for several months. Since
the Garden Theater opened in September 1920, there's a
chance I watched the Alan Turing biopic in the same space
where Turing watched and was inspired by the Disney movie.
However, since Turing actually wrote most of his thesis while
back in Cambridge, this coincidence seems almost as unlikely
as the odds that a machine-assisted human would crack Enigma.
 
There are several anecdotes with regard to Alan Turing and
the bicycle. One concerns cryptography, as it relates to the
links of a bicycle chain, as told in Understanding the Enigma:

   "Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson is an interesting and 
    informative novel tying together different generations of 
    cryptography. A passage I found most interesting was in 
    the chapter 'Cycles'. In this chapter, Stephenson expands  
    on the fundamental mathematics behind the Enigma machine: 
    modular arithmetic. Stephenson compares modular arithmetic
    to Turing's bike. For some reason, Turing's bike has a rear wheel
    with one bent spoke and a weak chain link. When the spoke comes
    into contact with the chain at a certain position the chain will fall apart.

Additional details are given in That Strange Bicyclist, Alan Turing:

   While working at Bletchley Park, Alan would use the bicycle to 
   commute to work as well as to get around Cambridge. The bike, 
   however, was an old and defective machine. It also had an interesting 
   problem. As you pedaled it, every so often, the chain would pop off 
   and disengage from the chain ring. Every time this happened, he had 
   to hop off the bike and put the chain back on. [...] He loved his dying 
   bike and would not give it up for something better. In fact, he enjoyed 
   riding such a poorly functioning machine that no one else could. So how 
  did he ride it? Well, legend (from reading an article by Ian Stewart in 
  Nature) has it that he chose the most tortuous path to devising a 
  solution for the problem.     
 
  [...] That's not all. Turing had a bad case of hay fever allergy from an early 
  age. He rationalized that to filter pollen away from irritating and exacerbating
  town, even in the rain. He was indifferent to what others thought about this practice.

In cycling lingo, you eventually decide it's more cool to say "I shipped the chain"
than "my chain has fallen off". So whenever this happens, remember Alan Turing
and all those ships he kept from going to the bottom of the North Atlantic ocean.

 



Thursday, January 22, 2015

Bike Lanes Are Good For Everyone


Princeton Council is about to vote on bike lanes like these, pictured.

Princeton Pedestrian and Bicycling Advisory Committee has a letter in the local papers this week about the Hamilton Avenue bike lanes plan! In particular, we wanted to emphasize that the plan helps not just cyclists, but drivers and pedestrians as well. A cyclist in a bike lane is predictable to drivers, and is not a risk to sidewalk users. Next Monday, January 26, Princeton Council will vote on whether to approve the new bike lanes.

Council member Patrick Simon has published his own letter, stating his strong opposition to bike lanes. It is true that adding bike facilities comes a certain cost, and we expect that Mr Simon's actions will bring a large group of opponents to Council next week. This is a good thing. It is quite correct that Princeton has an open and public conversation about whether the town is ready to make safe on-street bike facilities. This is the time for that conversation, and the members of PBAC are glad to be of assistance in providing information.

If you agree that safe bike lanes are worthwhile, your support on Monday would make a big difference! We expect the public hearing to be early on the agenda. Supporters should aim to arrive at Council chambers at 400 Witherspoon Street by 7.30 p.m. And if you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch at pjpbac@gmail.com. You can also read more about the plan here.


Saturday, January 17, 2015

Re: NYT article: "Mayor De Blasio Looks Toward Sweden for Road Safety"



On Friday, January 16, 2015 4:25 PM, Steve Kruse <k_r_u_s_e@yahoo.com> wrote:



Turns out I omitted this one. Did I omit or forget ?  Hmmmm.....


By Gretchen Reynolds

Active older people resemble much younger people physiologically, according
to a new study of the effects of exercise on aging.




















Friday, January 16, 2015

Re: NYT article: "Mayor De Blasio Looks Toward Sweden for Road Safety"


Recent articles by in the NYTimes "Well" blog include:


Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York came into office a year ago with many plans, perhaps the
most ambitious of which was to eliminate traffic deaths. The need for the goal, known as
Vision Zero, was reinforced by the deaths of 13 pedestrians in the first month of his tenure.

Plans to eliminate traffic deaths involve shared responsibilities among drivers, cyclists,
pedestrians, traffic enforcers and street designers, all of whom must change behaviors
and attitudes.


Older adults account for a disproportionate number of pedestrian deaths, so they need to
make sure they have enough time to cross a street


















January 26: The Date When Princeton Will Decide If We Want Bike Lanes.


Headline news: 'Town Topics' reports on potential bike lanes in Princeton.

Princeton Council voted on Monday night to further consider a concept for bike lanes on part of Hamilton Avenue. This does not mean that the bike lanes will be built! The proposal will now be subject to a full public hearing on January 26. The outcome of that vote will decide whether the bike lanes get the go-ahead or not.

If you want to see safe bicycle facilities in Princeton, now is the time to act. Please consider if you can help support bike lanes in Princeton by:

1. Attending Council on January 26, to speak in favor of the plan,
2. Emailing our Council members, to signal your support,
3. Writing a letter to 'Town Topics' or 'The Princeton Packet' to show that you want bike lanes!

Although the majority of Council members have supported the proposal so far, it is by no means certain that this plan will be approved. Several Council members expressed significant concerns about the plan, because it alters on-street parking provision. So far, the majority of Council and two municipal committees have agreed that this change is worthwhile. But the plan is likely to come under sustained opposition in the coming weeks. Your action may make the difference in convincing Council members that there is strong support for bike lanes.

The Princeton Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee will be writing a letter to local press and sending several committee members to testify before Council. Will you also act to demonstrate that Princeton is fully behind the concept of bike lanes? If you want to read more about the proposal, please see our earlier post, which gives details and answers to frequently asked questions. You can also contact the committee by emailing pjpbac@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you, espeically if you are planning to lend your support!

Thursday, January 15, 2015

random news round-up


In Baltimore last week, Heather Cook, a bishop in the Episcopalian church, was
charged with manslaughter for allegedly driving drunk and sending text messages 
when she struck and killed cyclist Thomas Palermo last month.

Read about the controversial story in the Baltimore Sun here, or in the NY Times here.

"Mr. Palermo, a software engineer at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, was well known 
in the Baltimore cycling community. He built custom bikes, advised friends and 
colleagues on cycling and advocated bike safety."

"On New Year's Day, hundreds of cyclists rode to the accident site to celebrate 
Mr. Palermo's life. The street has one of the city's oldest bike lanes, often filled with 
commuting and recreational cyclists and now featuring memorials. […] As in cities like 
New York and Washington, cyclists in Baltimore have pushed for greater safety 
measures for cyclists and tougher punishments for those who hit them. The death 
of Mr. Palermo has ignited a more intense movement for improvements to bike lanes 
and tougher laws for drivers here.

Meanwhile in Las Vegas last weekend, the annual week-long Consumer Electronics Show 
(CES) came to a close. The show increasingly is a showcase for the "smart connected car"
 
"From Auto Park systems to brain wave monitors, auto-mobile is the next big thing at CES".

"The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has blamed distracted driving for about 
a tenth of all crash fatalities, but NHTSA also notes that fatigue is responsible for more 1,500 
deaths annually. Several makers now use high-tech systems to try to detect when a driver is 
getting sleepy, Lexus relying on a camera that can watch a driver's head movements. A start-up 
named Impecca will bring to CES a new wearable device it claims is 90% accurate at detecting 
when a motorist is ready to fall asleep behind the wheel by monitoring their brainwaves.


As related in this article in the NY Times, the supplier of bicycles to NYC's CitiBike program
got its start in the municipal parking authority of Montreal. The company is now named PBSC
Urban Solutions, and its bike share solution is commonly called Bixi.  Back in 2012, they
" [got in] a pricing spat with 8D Technologies, the supplier that had created the software for Bixi. 
The city-owned company cut off its contract with 8D and developed new software on its own 
for future systems, including CitiBike in New York. PBSC's hurried software was a disaster, not
just because it was full of problems, but also in terms of customer relations. 

8D Technologies has since become the partner of  PBSC's rival, Portland-based Alta Bicycle Share.

Building sustainable green technologies - interview with Isabelle Bettez, CEO of 8D Technologies.

Speaking of Montreal, last winter Duracell (the battery company)  created a social experiment that
challenged strangers to unite. They set up a heated bus shelter that only activated when commuters touched
both sides. Strangers waiting at the stop were forced to create a human chain in order to connect the
two sides of the shelter - and create warmth. Learn more about Duracell's "Moments of Warmth" ad
campaign here or here.


 



Wednesday, January 14, 2015

the vision thing: ideas and priorities for bike route connections


From the annals of the award-winning "Seriously, Does My Voice Sound Like That?" show,
here's a 10-minute narrated YouTube clip discussing a future bike route network. Feedback
and commentary are welcome, either in the "comments" section, or by replying directly to
this email. We hope this slideshow provides a useful glimpse into PBAC's planning activities.

The link to all uploaded clips is https://www.youtube.com/user/PrincetonPBAC/videos




Friday, January 9, 2015

Hamilton Avenue Bike Lane Proposal: Frequently Asked Questions


Proposal for bidirectional bike lanes on part of Hamilton Avenue.

Princeton Council will vote this coming Monday on whether to advance a proposal to add bike lanes to part of Hamilton Avenue between North Harrison Street and Snowden Lane. There's been some great questions asked about the project, and I wanted to take the time to answer them…

1. What exactly is being proposed? Why this part of Hamilton Avenue, and why now?

The proposal is for 5-ft on-street bike lanes in each direction (see image above). Princeton's municipal engineering team periodically resurfaces streets around town. This section of Hamilton Avenue is due for resurfacing, which offers an opportunity to upgrade on-street cycling facilities. You can see full plans and design considerations at the Princeton municipal engineering department website at this link. Residents in the project zone were invited to a public consultation on June 24, 2014, at which they were able to give feedback on the plan. If the proposal moves forward at the Council meeting on Monday, all residents in the project zone will receive a written letter from the municipality advising them again about what is happening. There would then be a 'public hearing' at a future Council meeting, at which the plan would be discussed again.

2. Surely bike lanes would be more helpful and appropriate on Nassau Street, or Witherspoon Street?

Adding bike lanes requires a significant evaluation of a street by municipal engineers. The engineers work on one project zone at a time, and right now, the focus is on Hamilton Ave. When other streets are due for engineering review, PBAC will help evaluate them to see if they are a good fit for bike lanes, and if bike lanes fit with the broader bike circulation plan. Some streets, such as Nassau Street, are controlled by the New Jersey Department of Transporation (NJDOT). In these cases, local officials have less say about how the street is designed.

3. Why are we even talking about bike lanes? Everybody in Princeton drives everywhere.

Almost one in ten Princeton residents who works in town commutes by bike. This is less than in other college towns, but is still a significant fraction. Many other people cycle for recreational purposes. Anecdotal evidence suggests that more people would cycle if roads were safer for cyclists. Princeton has a Masterplan commitment to encourage non-car transportation, including cycling. In other communities, bike lanes have been shown to increase the share of cycling.

4. Surely there isn't space for bike lanes in central Princeton? The streets are too narrow.

Some streets in Princeton are too narrow for bike lanes, but in many cases there are no physical reasons why they cannot be added. As shown in the diagram above from Princeton Engineering Department, there is 60-feet of available public right-of-way at this part of Hamilton Avenue. Space is absolutely not the limiting factor. The question is "how do we want to use the available space?". 

5. Does adding bike lanes mean less parking will be available?

The current proposal envisages a new parking restriction. Parking is currently allowed on the south side of Hamilton Avenue in the project area. To add bike lanes without widening the road, this on-street parking would have to be eliminated. The committee believes that the loss of parking can be mitigated by available parking at other sites, and that the repurposing of space is appropriate to add a safe accommodation for cyclists.

6. Where will people park on Hamilton Ave if we replace on-street parking with a bike lane?

Ample on-street parking is available on any of the five cross-streets that intersect with Hamilton Avenue in this area, and many homes also have off-street parking. On-street parking is currently lightly used on these blocks of Hamilton, although some people would probably have a slightly longer walk from their car to their destination if bike lanes were installed. The committee feels that that this downside is not so serious as to justify incurring the expense of widening the road to accomodate both on-street parking and bike lanes. Temporary stopping to allow for deliveries or access by elderly or disabled car passengers would still be permitted. 

7. If we restrict parking to put in bike lanes on Hamilton Ave, does that mean that parking will be restricted at lots of other places in future?

We aim to build a network of safe bicycle facilities around town, but several different kinds of improvements are possible. Where there is high demand for on-street parking, the conditions are unlikely to be appropriate for bike lanes. Out of four project sites evaluated for Complete Streets improvements by PBAC in 2014, bidirectional bike lanes were only recommended for one- at Hamilton Ave. On-street parking is a major consideration for PBAC when developing a recommendation for Complete Streets solutions.

8. What's the point of just having bike lanes on one short section of Hamilton Avenue? If it doesn't fit into a wider bike lane network, isn't it a waste of time?

We are building a wider network section by section. It's true that Princeton has not invested heavily in bicycle infrastructure to date, but eventually, the Hamilton Avenue lanes will be part of a connected, high-quality network. It would be nice to put in 60 miles of bike lanes in one year, like what is happening in Jersey City, but that is not how we do things in Princeton. Our engineers and PBAC rigorously examine each street to ensure that the correct Complete Streets improvements are selected.

9. A bike lane marked with white paint provides little protection for cyclists if cars swerve into the lane. Would it not be better to install a bike lane with a physical barrier for separation?

'Protected bike lanes' are state-of-the-art for busy roads, and are being installed in many towns across the country. To comply with standards, however, the road would need to be widened to accommodate a protected bike lane, and the committee felt that this was not warranted based on the current level of traffic. Protected bike lanes are an option that we will consider at other sites in future projects.

10. Who is likely to use these bike lanes? Are children not better off riding on a sidewalk instead of in a bike lane in the street?

On-street bike lanes are not intended for young children. Cyclists in Princeton can be considered to form one of several groups. There are children, who should normally ride on the sidewalk (this is permitted by law except on certain busy streets in the downtown). Then there are strong, experienced cyclists, who will ride anywhere regardless of available infrastructure. Bike lanes are intended for the next group- people who would like to ride more, but are intimidated by riding in mixed traffic. Many, if not most cyclists in Princeton are in this group. Existing 'sharrow' markings do little to make this group feel safe on local roads. Dedicated bike lane space, separated from the regular traffic lane, helps make cycling seem less threatening, consistent with Princeton's Masterplan commitment to 'entice people out of their cars'.

11. Would it not be appropriate to wait until a full Bike Plan for the town is designed before adding bike lanes?

The Princeton Regional Planning Board already sponsored a community bike plan in 2002, which spefically recommended that parking should be restricted on Hamilton Ave to make it safer for cyclists (see page 33). PBAC developed its own, updated bike circulation plan in 2012, which also envisages Hamilton Avenue as a key east-west corridor with improved cycle facilites. Any planning exercise is likely to recommend upgrading cycle facilities on Hamilton, because it is the only east-west connector in central Princeton north of Nassau Street. Bike lanes are therefore consistent with past planning exercises, and the community's stated dedication to Complete Streets. If we do not add bike lanes now, local cyclists will have to continue to put up with sub-standard facilities for years to come while we conduct another planning exercise. 

12. Why not use 'sharrows' instead of bike lanes here?

'Shared lane markings' or 'sharrows' were painted on many Princeton roads in 2011. Sharrow lanes involve cyclists riding in mixed traffic with cars and other vehicular traffic. In 2012, the municipality moved to a 'Complete Streets' policy. 'Complete Streets' does not specify use of any particular type of bicycle facility, but states that design should follow 'the best currently available standards'. PBAC considered five potential Complete Streets implementation possibilities, with the goal of delivering a recommendation based on the best available standards.

Chapter 2 of the NJDOT 'Bike Compatible Roadways & Bikeways Planning & Design Guidelines', which is available at this link, specifies that for a road with daily vehicle movements in excess of 2,000, 14 feet of pavement should be provided (exclusive of parking) for mixed-traffic cycling. Hamilton Ave in the project zone sees more than 5,000 daily vehicle movements, according to data from DVRPCAt sites "where it is not feasible to fully implement guidelines pertaining to the provision of adequate pavement space for shared use due to environmental constraints or unavoidable obstacles", NJDOT recommends to consider eliminating on-street parking. PBAC therefore cannot recommend installing sharrows next to on-street parking on Hamilton Ave, because it would not conform to the best currently available standards. To install sharrows in accordance with best practice, we would still need a new parking restriction.

It is the view of PBAC that if parking is going to be restricted, it would be more appropriate to add bike lanes, which provide dedicated safe space for cyclists, instead of sharrows. Many cyclists find cycling in high volumes of mixed traffic to be uncomfortable. Car drivers are also frustrated when they are not able to pass slower-moving cyclists in mixed traffic. Bike lanes are also more likely to draw cyclists off the sidewalk and protect pedestrians. A recommendation for bike lanes at this site does not represent a rejection of sharrows, which are still very useful in appropriate locations. Bike lanes are merely the accommodation that is most consistent with 'the best currently available standards' at this site.



If you have more questions about bike lanes on Hamilton, or any other aspect of Princeton bike planning, please get in touch with the PBAC committee members at pjpbac@gmail.com Princeton Council will vote on whether to advance the bike lane proposal at their meeting on Monday, January 12, starting at 7 p.m.. You are welcome to join us at the meeting to support the proposal, or at any of our PBAC meetings, which take place on the fourth Thursday of each month.


Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Princeton Council is about to vote on bike lanes. Will you lend your support?



Photo- Hamilton Avenue. Princeton Council will vote to decide if bike lanes will be added here.

Do you want bike lanes in Princeton in 2015? If so, we need your help. Last year, members of the Princeton Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee worked with municipal engineers to develop plans for improved bicycle facilities on several Princeton streets, which are currently due to be repaved. One of the projects- on Hamilton Avenue between N Harrison Street and Snowden Lane- would add 5-foot bike lanes, to provide safe space for cyclists to travel separately from cars. This measure is also good, because it would help to reduce conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists on sidewalks.

This section of Hamilton is a particularly good fit for bike lanes. Traffic volumes are quite high, but on-street parking is not used very much, and alternative parking is readily available on adjoining side-streets. PBAC's recommendation for bike lanes was based on careful consideration of different alternatives, and was subsequently endorsed by the Traffic & Transportation Committee.

The proposal now moves to Princeton Council, who must vote to allow the proposal to go ahead. Specifically, parking must be restricted in the project zone to allow for addition of the bike lanes. Not everybody on Council agrees that it's a good idea to prioritize safe bike lanes ahead of occasional on-street car parking. That's why it's up to members of the public to show their support for the proposal. Whether the bike lanes are added depends on you- will you come to Council to show your support?

The proposal will need to be approved by Council twice. First, the Council members have to vote to 'introduce' the ordinance. This will happen next week, at the Council Meeting on Monday January 12, at 7 p.m. at the municipal building at 400 Witherspoon Street. If Council does not introduce the ordinance, then there will not be bidirectional bike lanes. That would be a pity, not just because Hamilton Avenue needs better bicycle facilities, but because a vote against bike lanes here would make it very hard to add bike lanes in other places in town. 

If you want to make bike lanes happen, please sign up to join me at Council and tell our elected officials that Princeton cyclists deserve safe facilities. Please reply to this message or email pjpbac@gmail.com to let us know you will be coming, and to help coordinate support for the bike lanes. If you can't attend in person on Monday, then consider writing to our Council members- you can find their email addresses at the bottom. And please tell your friends!!

If the ordinance is successfully introduced next Monday, there will be a public hearing about the proposed bike lanes at a second Council meeting, probably on January 26 or February 9. This is standard procedure, and if we get to that stage, we will again inform potential supporters. It may seem like a laborious process, but in less than a month's time, we could make bike lanes in central Princeton a reality for the first time! This would be a victory for sustainable transportation, and make Princeton a leader in Complete Streets in the state of New Jersey.

I'm pleased that we are able to offer Princeton residents and elected officials the opportunity to put in place real, safe bicycle facilities in our town. We can't build trails through central Princeton for cyclists, so we have to have the conversation about whether we are prepared to upgrade our facilities to make it easy and safe for cyclists to get from one place to another. Now is the time for that conversation.


Princeton Council and Mayor email addresses: