Ray Atkinson started this blog in 2014 when he moved from his childhood home in Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA (Walk Score of 0) to get his Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from Portland State University (Walk Score of 100). He has a sustainable transportation lifestyle in Key West, Florida, USA. His email is gismap1@gmail.com. The postings on this site are of my own and don't reflect or represent the opinions of the City of Key West, for which I work. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayplans
“Key West at Eye Level” is a reference to “The City at Eye Level”. I am trying to focus on positive things as I have many negative thoughts regarding the approaching immigration nightmare. One positive thought is how I got a new bike rack installed near my home in Key West. I saw a neighbor’s bike locked to the speed limit sign pole, so I used the Key West Connect app to work with my coworkers to install a new bike rack near the existing bike rack.
Photo credit: Ray Atkinson
Future Blog Post
The next few months are going to be life-changing for thousands of documented, legal immigrants and their families in Key West. Many of these immigrants are about to lose their jobs and legal status. I bike, walk, and ride transit with immigrants daily. They are some of my closest friends in Key West. While I struggle with learning new languages, they are helping me to learn and practice my French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and Spanish skills. I am returning the favor by providing them with opportunities to learn and practice their English skills. Since I do not want to risk losing my job by spotlighting the immigration nightmare, does anyone know how to spotlight this situation without receiving backlash from all levels of the government?
I am not sure how many Americans celebrate May 30th as National E-Bike Day, especially since the day was only created by Lectric eBikes in 2023. At least National Bike Month, which is in May and was started in 1956, has a longer history. As the below timeline shows, the first e-bike was patented in the US in 1895. The first two-wheeled transportation contraption was built in 1817, so the day’s history is much older than 2023. Did you know that National E-Bike Day exists? If so, how are you celebrating today? Are you riding your e-bike?
Since today is National E-Bike Day, I want to share my e-bike presentation again. The City of Key West also posted my presentation. As a heads up, you cannot comment on the City’s videos. Feel free to comment on my blog post. I plan to share more about my e-bike planning efforts during these in-person workshops, which will be held at the Bahama Village Community Center in Key West on June 6th and 7th. Refreshments will be provided! I am not sure how many of my readers actually live in Key West. Do you plan to participate in one of the workshops?
Future Blog Post
My girlfriend and I have been discussing whether to buy e-bikes. I used to have e-bikes in other cities, but I have not felt comfortable buying any e-bikes in Key West. My January 14th post explains more about the issue. While my girlfriend keeps telling me that my health is worth spending money on, I want to make sure that I feel comfortable with the expensive e-bike that I decide to purchase. My girlfriend and I are concerned about me losing weight by riding pedal-only bikes. Riding an e-bike requires less physical effort than a pedal-only bike. We currently ride pedal-only bikes because we have not found a bike shop in Key West that will repair the e-bikes that we want to buy. Unfortunately, the e-bikes that the bike shops sell do not fit on the bus bike racks. I am working to order bus bike racks that will fit e-bikes, but this order may take a long time.
Even if Key West Transit’s vehicles can fit all e-bikes, my girlfriend and I want to bike beyond Key West. Many transit systems throughout Florida do not have bus bike racks that fit e-bikes. Due to how many transportation operators ban e-bikes, we do not want to risk being stuck somewhere that we cannot bring our e-bikes with us. I realize that many e-bike users in Key West do not take their e-bike beyond Key West. As a planner, I want to plan for when people decide to start taking their e-bike beyond Key West. I am realizing that my “future blog post” section is getting long. I look forward to sharing more about this importation topic in future blog posts. Are there certain aspects of e-bike planning that you want me to focus on?
Most places in the US call today, May 16th, Bike to Work Day. Since not everyone works and not everyone works on Friday, I want to encourage what the Bay Area does by calling today Bike to Wherever Day. My girlfriend’s situation is a prime example. She works Saturday-Wednesday, so she has Bike to Work Day off work. I think most event organizers, transportation planners, and transportation demand management (TDM) professionals think everyone works Monday-Friday. I am thrilled that my girlfriend has been biking to work or putting my folding bike on the bus every day!
While I do not want to embarrass my girlfriend, she could not even ride a bike when we first met in January. I taught her how to bike, and now she keeps asking to borrow one of my bikes and ride with me. We are trying to buy a bike that fits her short legs and her desires, so she does not need to keep borrowing my bike. Since many of my previous dates resisted my requests to bike, I am thankful that my girlfriend loves biking. She is trying to get in shape to bike longer distances. I think she looks very attractive, but I agreed to help her lose weight. She is helping me to gain weight. Due to how small Key West is, all of our bike rides are less than three miles. We take our bikes on transit when we want to go on trips that are further than three miles. While Key West can still make car-free living easier, we love living in a city that does not have miles of car-dependent suburban sprawl.
Future Blog Post
I plan to share more about how my girlfriend and I are enjoying our car-free lifestyles in the car-dependent US. While we have been taking cute and fun photos together, she asked me not to share any of the photos online. Since I am working on exciting projects at work, I also plan to share about these projects. Do you prefer Bike to Work Day or Bike to Wherever Day? Are you participating?
I decided not to ship my e-bike from Kannapolis to Key West because I have not found a bike shop that will work on repairing potential issues with the electronics for my Wing bike, which has a 42.9″ wheelbase. Due to insurance and liability concerns, all of the bike shops told me that they only work on the electronics for e-bikes that they sell. Unfortunately, none of the e-bikes that they sell have a 44″ wheelbase. Why is the 44″ wheelbase important?
Source: Wing Bikes
Bus Bike Rack Has Max 44″ Wheelbase
I enjoy the option of putting my bike on the bus bike rack, especially when I go on long bike rides. The bus bike rack can only carry bikes that have up to a 44″ wheelbase. I do not want to embarrass the bike shops, so I will just share that they are experts on recreational biking. Due to how many tourists visit Key West and how the bike shops have a local discount to encourage more residents to bike, I understand how the bike shops make more money from tourists that do recreational biking. It honestly felt weird to be a local in the bike shops when most of the other costumers were asking about renting bikes for their vacation.
Since the bike shop staff have plenty to learn about transportation biking, I am thankful that they at least tried to understand why the 44″ wheelbase is important. I am definitely a unique customer because they said I was the first person to ask for a bike that has a 44″ wheelbase. While I thought this was a common measurement, all of the staff asked me how to measure the wheelbase. They had never measured this before, so they got a tape measure and measured their e-bikes. Due to how none of their e-bikes were close to having a 44″ wheelbase, they were shocked that Wing sells an e-bike with this short of a wheelbase.
I may have to convert a pedal-only bike to an e-bike using one of the below approaches. Have you tried any of these ideas?
I start work next Tuesday. I may not have the type of bike that I want. As I have learned throughout my career, I notice things that others are not aware of. While I wish that I could have a more neurotypical mind and feel normal, I believe that I got my new job and am lucky enough to be working in a dream vacation destination because I have a autism and am a highly sensitive person. Since my job involves sustainable transportation planning, I look forward to sharing experiences as I feel more normal as more people shift to a sustainable transportation lifestyle.
I have lived in Key West since Christmas Eve. My car-dependent parents stayed with me through New Year’s Eve to help me move and prepare for work. Since my parents always think about driving when they need to travel, I was curious about how they would approach visiting Key West. Even though we have enough money to splurge on a rental car and parking fees, my parents and I only splurge when we feel the purchase is reasonable. Renting a car isn’t reasonable in Key West when there are so many cheaper and less stressful transportation options available. In addition to the expensive car rental, available car parking in Old Town is stressful to find. As much as my parents disagree with my decision to live a sustainable transportation lifestyle, they asked me to help them travel without driving a car in Key West.
I did not expect to start showing my parents how to travel without driving a car while still in the airport. I have never seen advertising in an airport promoting bike rentals and tours. I think this shows how bike friendly Key West is. While there are bike repair stations in other parts of Key West, I wish there was a bike repair station at the airport for people transporting their bike in a box from baggage claim. I saw a bike repair station at the airport in Portland, OR.
Bike rentals and tours promoted at Key West Airport
Ray’s Parents Biked For The 1st Time In Years
Since my mom used a wheelchair in the Asheville and Key West airports due to not being able to walk far distances without fainting, I was impressed that she agreed to try biking in Key West. While balance issues prevented her from biking with both pedals, she at least tried to bike!
Ray’s mom trying to bike in Key West
My mom didn’t look comfortable in the photo below, so I probably should not have tried so hard to help her get on a bike. I pushed the bike while she held onto me. We only did this for a block, so I learned that I was pushing her beyond her limit. Since I saw elderly people biking in Denmark and the Netherlands, I wish most of the US was also designed to encourage elderly people to exercise. My mom was able to walk without my help after a few days of walking in Key West. I think she just needs to move to a healthier city where she would feel comfortable walking more often. Unfortunately, she will likely stop walking for transportation when she returns to North Carolina.
Ray tried too hard to help his mom get comfortable with biking
My dad also biked in Key West. He had no balance issues, so he was able to use both pedals. We biked together several times when shopping and getting meals. He got so used to biking that he asked me for my bike when doing errands. Since my dad criticized me for biking in Memphis and Kannapolis, I never thought he would ask to use my bike for transportation!
Ray’s dad biking in Key West
My parents also rode transit. I taught them how to download apps to pay for and track the bus. My dad still used cash when riding the on-demand service because figuring out how to pay with the app was too stressful for him. I paid for the Lyft trips because I doubt a Lyft driver will wait long enough for me to teach my parents how to use the Lyft app. Since the Lyft drivers arrived within minutes, I was curious whether transit could compete with Lyft. Thankfully, the wait to get on the free Duval Loop was pretty fast. The bus was cold enough that our glasses were foggy when exposed to the warm weather outside. I prefer being warm, so I wish the bus was warmer.
Ray’s parents riding the Duval Loop in Key West
New Year’s Eve In Key West
My parents are Republicans, so I am glad that they flew back to North Carolina before the New Year’s Eve celebration. The red shoe drop had a drag queen in it. Several drag queens performed during the celebration. My dad wants to ban drag shows for the typical reasons that you can read about on Republican websites. I am glad that I got to enjoy the drag show without having to argue politics with my dad. I was surrounded by thousands of people at the celebration, so it felt good to be with people who support drag shows. Happy New Year!
New Year’s Eve celebration on Duval Street in Key West
The crowd’s body heat combined with temperatures in the 70s caused me to sweat. Yes, it was about 70 degrees at midnight. I don’t want to experience freezing weather again anytime soon. My condo has a year-round heated outdoor pool, and several beaches that have clear water for snorkeling are within easy walking or biking distance, so I can easily cool off while enjoying nature. My mom enjoyed swimming with me at a beach. I am probably making my northern friends and relatives jealous. Feel free to visit! My lease allows one guest, so you can avoid paying the expensive resort prices.
Ray swimming with his mom in Key West
While this post was focused on my unique experience with my parents, I also enjoyed catching up with my former Memphis coworker and group bike rider during her Key West vacation. Since I care about helping other people even when my body is suffering, leaving Memphis was one of my toughest decisions. I am thankful that my Memphis coworkers and friends helped me understand that I needed to prioritize self-care before helping other people.
I could share more in this post, but I want to explore more of Key West and get ready to start working. I also want to explore the other Florida Keys and the rest of South Florida, especially Miami and Everglades National Park. I only went on a Caribbean Sea cruise from Miami about 15 years ago, so I have plenty to explore in Miami. Since I have many topics that I want to write about, is there a topic that you want to read?
Biking in Memphis has given me a new appreciation for the creative sharrows that I depended on for wayfinding when biking in Portland, OR. Since I have heard many bike advocates throughout the US dismiss paint as not safe enough bike infrastructure, I wanted to share how paint can actually be used to improve the safety of bike infrastructure. I have learned during my first seven months biking in Memphis that many people, especially “interested but concerned” cyclists, are unaware of safer neighborhood routes to avoid biking on dangerous highways. I believe a simple marking like a sharrow flower could provide the crucial, life-saving wayfinding that they need to find the safer neighborhood routes. As a feminist, I also believe this design could encourage more women to bike because women usually need to feel safer than men. Do you agree?
Sharrow Flower
I am trying to find an example of a sharrow flower in Memphis. Since I have not found a location so far, I am likely working on installing Memphis’ first sharrow flower. While I can’t share the location until the project is completed, I am excited to see how this project improves bike wayfinding in Memphis. I used to depend on sharrow flowers in Portland to direct me on how to stay on safer neighborhood bike routes, which are called neighborhood greenways. I want to create a similar neighborhood greenway system in Memphis. The low-hanging fruit to create this is to install sharrow flowers at intersections to connect the existing sharrows.
Another low-hanging fruit idea to create a neighborhood greenway system in Memphis is to add way-marking sharrows. These sharrows would help direct cyclists at T-intersections and other unusual wayfinding gaps in the bike network. Memphis usually puts straight sharrows on every block, so using way-marking sharrows would be a new approach.
Future Blog Post
I need to leave for an evening event. I plan to add more to this post later. Hopefully, I will be able to start writing more soon about the Safe Streets and Roads for All Safety Action Plan that I am managing.
“Memphis at Eye Level: Part 2” is a reference to “The City at Eye Level”. I finally volunteered with the bike riding portion of the Urban Bicycle Food Ministry‘s program, which happens on Wednesday evening and Saturday morning. Since I am not an early bird, I was struggling for weeks to motivate myself to wake up early enough to volunteer with the Urban Bicycle Food Ministry. The Saturday morning program starts with cooking at 7am and delivers the food at 7:30am. I previously helped to cook for the Wednesday evening program. I wanted to deliver the food, but I needed to prioritize eating my own dinner. The program is during dinner time on Wednesday evening. The program celebrated eleven years this weekend.
As someone who was raised (felt forced to attend) in Bethpage Presbyterian Church, which is located in North Carolina, and now attends the Unitarian Universalists church called Church of the River in Memphis as I continue to evaluate my religious beliefs as an agnostic in the South’s Bible Belt, I actually find the video below to capture my viewpoint on religion more accurately than any traditional church video. I prefer to be outside the church walls helping my community rather than stuck inside the church walls just talking about how I could help my community. I also love how the organizer accepts anyone from any religion to volunteer. This is what a welcoming church environment should mean. I get frustrated when I see churches say that they are welcoming to only find out that they are only welcoming to people who agree with their viewpoint. I strongly believe churches should be a place where people can discuss and argue about controversial topics. Unfortunately, churches are all too often places for groupthink. I believe groupthink is how some wars were started and why some current wars have no end in sight. I hate groupthink!
Source: Urban Bicycle Food Ministry
Ray’s Experience Volunteering
While I wish it did not take a special day to motivate me to get up early to volunteer with the Urban Bicycle Food Ministry, I finally motivated myself to wake up early when I felt the need to help veterans on Veterans Day. Unfortunately, veterans are more likely to be homeless than other Americans. I was impressed by the program’s operation. The homeless people and other struggling people that we encountered on Main Street were very aware of the program’s existence. They lined up to get a meal from me and the other volunteers. Since I was busy giving out the meals, I did not have time to get their permission to take photos. The organizers said I could take photos if I got permission from the people we were helping.
I may have broken this rule when taking the photo below. The kid got on the adult bike, and I did not have enough time to ask their parent for permission to take the photo before their kid got off the bike.
Involving Homeless People in Public Outreach Process
As I was volunteering, I kept thinking about how I rarely see homeless people in public outreach processes. While I will admit that I want biking and walking to be viewed as something that everyone does and not just low-income people, I realize that currently biking and walking for transportation in Memphis appears to be mostly done by low-income people. I should clarify that I specifically included “for transportation” because I have mostly seen wealthier people in Memphis bike and walk only for exercise. I usually see these people drive for transportation. I hope my work encourages these people to also bike and walk for transportation and view biking and walking as normal modes of transportation. I enjoyed seeing this when I studied abroad in Denmark and the Netherlands. Most people in these countries viewed biking and walking for transportation as normal parts of their culture.
As I try to change the walking and biking cultures in Memphis, I am concerned about how to get homeless people and others struggling on the street involved in my public outreach processes. Since they likely do not have computer or internet access, they likely are not aware of public outreach meetings. I likely will have to go to them instead of expecting them to come to a usual meeting room. Due to my limited budget, I am not suggesting that my program will always be able to do special engagement activities for people living on the street. I mostly wanted to share how this population is often excluded by typical public outreach approaches. Do you think that my program could partner with the Urban Bicycle Food Ministry to organize mobile public outreach activities?
Future Blog Post
I think a great opportunity to experiment with innovative public outreach approaches will be during the City of Memphis’ Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Action Plan creation process, which kicks off this month. Since the USDOT website publicly shares the grant amount, I can share that this action plan has $800,000 worth of federal and local funds. I view the homeless population and other vulnerable low-income street users as critical people to be involved in this planning process. I doubt the typical email and snail mail notification approaches and public outreach strategies will be effective at involving this population, especially due to the fact that they do not have an email address or physical mail address. Have you seen innovative approaches to notify and engage homeless people in your planning process?
Greetings from Memphis! I wanted to publish a post when I moved to Memphis during Labor Day weekend. I felt the need to postpone blogging because I have been busy with moving, unpacking, organizing, meeting neighbors, and preparing for my new job, which starts on Monday, September 11th.
Podcasts About Ray’s New Job
In case you are curious to learn more about my job, I recommend listening to the below podcasts where my predecessors and other people were interviewed about their active transportation work and the future work that I will be managing. Due to the history that is shared in each podcast, I recommend listening to Episode 3 first before proceeding to the next podcast. I copied the episode descriptions, so the descriptions were not created by me. As you will hear in the podcasts, my predecessors and other passionate champions did impressive work to help Memphis become known as a national active transportation leader!
Making bikes affordable to more people by founding Revolutions Community Bicycle Shop led Anthony Siracusa to bike advocacy work on the local, state, and national levels. In time, he saw the bike as only one lever to affect change among many. Anthony’s doctoral studies at Vanderbilt deepened that knowledge by showing him the many Champions and their causes within the Civil Rights Movement. That led him to his current work at Colorado College, where he helps students better champion their own causes.
Kyle Wagenschutz was a critical figure in growing and sustaining Revolutions Community Bicycle Shop in Memphis, alongside founder Anthony Siracusa. Together, the two shared a love for bikes and punk rock, and they found that each subculture played a role in helping them build a community around bikes. Kyle advocated for bike lanes in Memphis, first from his perch at Revolutions, but then as the City of Memphis’ first bicycle/pedestrian coordinator. Anthony and Kyle’s effective “inside-outside” game showed what can happen when government and grassroots work together. The two friends’ partnership helped move Memphis from a “worst city for biking” to “most improved” and on to being a national leader in just six years. Now the Director of Local Innovation at PeopleForBikes in Boulder, CO, what Kyle learned through trial and error in Memphis is benefiting people in other cities.
Episode 30: Nick Oyler is not on the Champions of the Lost Causes’ website, so you will need to access it through this Google Podcasts link. The episode 30 description is below:
Nick Oyler is the Bikeway & Pedestrian Program Manager for the City of Memphis. When the push for bike lanes in Memphis resulted in early victories for the bike/ped movement and then gave way to the city’s initial buildout, Nick was away at college, grad school, and then working in Germany. Following all that news from afar, Nick thought that he might have missed his moment to get involved. But as many multifaceted causes require, there was plenty of work left to be done when he got back to his hometown. Nick’s experience of riding a bike when he was young helped pave the way for his interest in city planning and to his current role, and helped him see the many benefits to cities and people of having a well-designed system of bike lanes and walkways. Memphis has come a long way, but it still has a lot of work ahead of it.
Champions of the Lost Causes
John Paul Shaffer from PeopleForBikes and Nick Oyler from the City of Memphis join us to talk about how Memphis has gone from 2 to 300 miles of off- and on-road bicycle facilities over a decade; which projects have been truly transformative, such as Shelby Farms Greenway and the Harahan Bridge Crossing; and how an intentional focus on equity and neighborhood-based programming has helped more Memphians get on bikes for recreation and transportation.
Later in the program, regular commentator Charlie Santo reflects on moving from transportation mecca Portland, OR to Memphis and trying to navigate the local system. Charlie and Emily also talk about how bike infrastructure and related improvements like traffic calming can potentially help increase access to public spaces such as Tom Lee Park and Riverside Park.
Nick Oyler, bikeway and pedestrian program manager for the City of Memphis, makes a return visit to Memphis Metropolis to talk about pedestrian safety. This past week, Smart Growth America issued its Dangerous by Design 2021 study, which found that pedestrian deaths due to traffic accidents continue to increase nationally. Moreover, the study found that Memphis was the third most dangerous city for pedestrians, with pedestrian deaths up around 75 percent since 2019. In the show, Nick explains the connection between street design and pedestrian safety, why COVID and driver distraction have contributed to the rise in fatalities, and how dedicated funding for pedestrian infrastructure could help change the trajectory. And, why his team created a special map to help memorialize the lives of Memphis pedestrians that have been lost.
Pedestrian deaths in Memphis are at an all-time high and the city is one of the most dangerous in the U.S. for people who get around on foot. But while driver behavior and poor street design are the primary contributors to the problem, pedestrians themselves – the victims – are often blamed. Nick Oyler, Bikeway and Pedestrian Program Manager in the city’s engineering department, pays a return visit to Memphis Metropolis to discuss what the law actually says about where pedestrians can and cannot cross the street, why pedestrian behavior that seems illogical often is quite rational, and how “windshield bias” – seeing the problem exclusively from the driver perspective – is inhibiting the development of solutions.
Nick Oyler has spent the last several years working in and with the community to improve the city’s active transportation systems, first with the Memphis Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and most recently as bike and pedestrian program manager for the City of Memphis. Nick is leaving Memphis to pursue new professional opportunities in Denver, and we asked him to return to Memphis Metropolis one last time to reflect on the successes, frustrations, and opportunities he has experienced during his tenure here.
A city’s ParkScore is a measure of how it compares to other places, using criteria such as access, acreage, equity, and investments. The ParkScore Index is prepared annually by the Trust for Public Land, a people-focused parks and public land advocacy organization. In this show, Noel Durant of the TPL’s Tennessee office visits Memphis Metropolis to talk about why ParkScores are so important and how Memphis ranked in their recent study. Memphis park advocates JoAnn Street also joins the conversation to provide a local perspective. JoAnn is the founder of HUG Park Friends, a support organization for three North Memphis parks, Hollywood, University, and Gooch.
Jackson McNeil, a longtime friend of Memphis Metropolis, recently joined Innovate Memphis as Director of Transportation and Mobility, overseeing the Commute Options program. In this show, we discuss the hard work of (and many obstacles to) getting Memphians out of their cars and onto alternate modes of transportation. Jackson and Emily also discuss the recently published Safe Speed Index, which ranks cities on the average vehicle speeds on streets used by pedestrians.
Ray’s New E-Bike Made His Car-Free Life Easier
Since my blog is focused on my car-free lifestyle, I wanted to share the most significant improvement to making my car-free lifestyle easier. As I shared in this 2022 post, my first e-bike did not fit on the bus bike rack because it was too heavy (58.4 pounds) and long (47″) to fit on the standard bike rack. Thank you to Brandie Macdonald for making me aware of the Wing Freedom ST.2 e-bike, which is light (39 pounds) and short (42.9″) enough to fit on the standard bike rack. I frequently had to leave my old e-bike at home in California because I knew it would not fit on the bus bike rack. I was excited to put my new e-bike on the bus bike rack when I went shopping in East Memphis last week!
I had to rush to get on and off the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) bus, so I did not have time to take a photo of my e-bike on the bus bike rack. Taking selfies with my bike was possible on the Big River Crossing, which is an impressive and wide active transportation bridge between Tennessee and Arkansas. The views are fantastic! My new Memphis friends, who were also born and raised in the Charlotte region (all three of us went to high school in Cabarrus County!) and graduated from UNC Charlotte around the same time as me, invited me to join them on a walk across the Big River Crossing. I am not an early bird, especially when I prefer to sleep in during the weekend, so I felt accomplished with waking up in time for the 8am walk today!
Biking on the Big River Crossing. Photo: Ray Atkinson
View of downtown Memphis from the Big River Crossing. Photo: Ray Atkinson
My new church, The Church of the River (First Unitarian Church of Memphis), is near the trailhead to the Big River Crossing. I honestly had difficulty focusing on the sermon because the church has such an impressive natural view! I felt like I was forest bathing during church!
View from The Church of the River (First Unitarian Church of Memphis). Photo: Ray Atkinson
Future Blog Post
I am trying to keep this post short, so I will share more about Memphis in a future post. Since I have never seen a bike ride combined with cooking and feeding low-income people living on the street, I am excited to experience the Urban Bicycle Food Ministry’s weekly bike rides on Wednesday night and Saturday morning!
I wanted to share a few more thoughts about Arcata before I depart tomorrow to hike and kayak with my retired friend, Stephen Walton, in Redwood National Park. As a reminder, I am still writing this post on my phone because I decided to leave my laptop at home. “Arcata at Eye Level: Part 2” is a reference to “The City at Eye Level”.
Importance of flipping stop signs on bike boulevard
I seeked out biking on Portland’s neighborhood greenways when I lived in Portland because I could avoid having to stop at every minor crossing. Unfortunately, Arcata did not design its bike boulevard (aka neighborhood greenway) the same way. While Arcata signed bike boulevard routes, I believe there were stop signs at every intersection. Flipping the stop signs at intersections with two stop signs or removing the stop signs on the bike boulevard at four-way stops is an easy and cheap way to prioritize people using the bike boulevard. As I have also been observing in Petaluma, it can be challenging to gain support from motorists for this idea because cyclists would be prioritized over motorists. Has your city flipped any stop signs to prioritize people over cars?
Arcata bike boulevard. Photo: Ray Atkinson
Car parking access using trail looks similar to approach used in Houten, Netherlands
I was so surprised by seeing car parking access provided using a trail in Arcata that I asked people walking by whether cars actually drive on the trail to access car parking. While the people walking did not understand what I was asking because they just said it’s a trail, I plan to ask the City of Arcata staff how this arrangement works. Since the intersection sign shows L Street and not a trail name, it appears that this section of L Street was converted to a trail. Due to this being a trail, I am also curious why the sign has “road” in it. A trail is not a road, so does the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) not have a sign that states “Trail Closed To Thru Car Traffic”?
“Road Closed To Thru Traffic” sign next to car parking on trail in Arcata. Photo: Ray AtkinsonCar parking that can only be accessed from the trail in Arcata. Photo: Ray Atkinson
The photo below is from when I biked in Houten, Netherlands. The car parking connection to the trail looks very similar to the approach used in Arcata. While I am not sure whether people in Houten actually drive on the trail, do you see how the car parking is connected to the trail?
Trail connected to car parking in Houten, Netherlands. Photo: Ray Atkinson
Future Blog Post
My vacation continues tomorrow in an area of northwest California that I have not explored yet. My friend and I plan to hike and kayak in Redwood National Park through Friday. Since one of my vacation goals is to be off the grid as much as possible, I am looking forward to having limited or no internet and cell services through Friday. While Arcata put the bar high in weird and surprising approaches to transportation planning, I hope to see more weird transportation planning approaches that surprise me. Am I surprised too easily, or are you also surprised by what I found?
I am writing this post on my smartphone because I decided not to bring my laptop on my 9-day Redwood National Park and nearby cities vacation. While I usually bring my laptop on trips, I packed more than usual this time because I plan to be more adventurous than usual, which is impressive considering I usually have adventurous vacations. “Arcata at Eye Level: Part 1” is a reference to “The City at Eye Level”.
I wanted to write this quick post because the bike parking situation in Arcata is bothering me. Thankfully, I found a slightly secure covered bike parking solution within walking distance of my Airbnb. I wrote “slightly secure” because I am concerned about the people with bad hygiene who I saw in the shopping center potentially trying to steal my expensive bike.
I was originally planning to park my e-bike rental in one of the bike lockers at the Arcata Transit Center. Since a key is needed to use the bike lockers and the transit staff do not work during the weekend, I was unable to unlock the lockers today. I brought my own lock in case the lockers were able to be used with a lock provided by the user. Due to how many low-income people hang out at the transit center, I assume these people may have slept in the lockers if they were kept unlocked when there is no bike in the lockers. I experienced this issue at Clackamas Town Center when the bike lockers were removed after homeless people abused the lockers. How should bike locker providers balance providing cyclists with easy access to the lockers with preventing homeless people from abusing the lockers?
Arcata Transit Center bike lockers. Photo: Ray Atkinson
I searched for alternative covered bike parking in Arcata to protect the battery in my e-bike rental from getting wet in case it rains. This proved to be challenging due to how many racks are uncovered. I am thankful that there is at least some bike parking, especially downtown.
Partly covered bike parking in Arcata. The rest of the rack behind my bike is not covered.Is this bike parking?
Thankfully, Arcata has some legitimate bike parking, which is mostly located downtown. I was honestly in a depressed mood from being alone, so I appreciated reading Greg Bee’s poetry on the bike rack because their poetry improved my mood. I recommend checking out Barb Chamberlain’s blog for more bike-related poetry.
Yes, I have been thinking about stuff beyond bike parking. I was intrigued by how Arcata has permeable pavement with a rain garden. I usually only think of larger cities having this innovative design.
Future Blog Post
One of my vacation goals is not to be glued to my phone, so I am not sure when I will publish my next post about my vacation. I look at screens enough at work!
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