Statewide News Roundup

5/9/12. Man charged with hit-and-run death of bicycle rider turns himself in. (Post & Courier)

5/10/12. Bicyclist dies after accident on Folly Road. (Post & Courier) 

5/14/12. Ride your bike to work this week. (Charleston City Paper) 

5/15/12. Folly Road bike fatality: Victim 'swearving in and out' of bike lane before accident.' (Charleston City Paper)

5/15/12. Rock Hill officers on bicycles. (Rock Hill Herald)

5/15/12. Rock Hill's Ride of Silence a tribute to victims of bicycling accidents. (Rock Hill Herald)

5/16/12. Hilton Head cyclists pedal for safety, the fallen during Ride of Silence. (Hilton Head Packet)

5/16/12. Cyclists highlight need for safety on Upstate roadways (Spartanburg Herald Journal)

Spartanburg Ride of Silence, SHJ.

5/16/12. Globalbike pre-Assault on Mt. Mitchell fundraiser Saturday. (Spartanburg Herald Journal) 

5/17/12. Participants, organizers have fun at Kiwanis tricycle races (Aiken Standard)

5/18/12. Lowcountry bike route reportedly worth millions. (Greenville News)

5/18/12. Charleston Moves Work to Bike Party. (Charleston City Paper) 

5/18/12. Battery to beach bike route would pay its own way, study says. (Post & Courier)

Read more here:
http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/05/15/3976260/ride-of-silence-a-tribute-to-victims.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

Health Impact Assessment: Spartanburg Road Diet

A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a recently innovated tool that is used to measure the potential effects on the health of a population before a project or policy is implemented. The HIA framework was established by the Centers for Disease Control, and it offers recommendations to increase positive and minimize adverse public health outcomes.

Why are they important to bicycle advocacy work? In the words of the CDC, the HIA framework is used to bring potential public health impacts and considerations to the decision-making process for plans, projects, and policies that fall outside of traditional public health arenas, such as transportation and land use. Simply put, advocates can use the evidence of an HIA to support a certain project or policy, in the same way that a conservation group might use an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to consider the environmental impact of certain actions on social, cultural, economic, and natural resources.

For 2011 and 2012, the South Carolina Institute of Medicine and Public Health (IMPH) is working with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to support capacity building for Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) in South Carolina. This project was funded by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers (ASTHO).

As part of the capacity building process, IMPH spearheaded the first HIA in South Carolina and partnered with DHEC, Partners for Active Living, the Spartanburg Area Transportation Study (SPATS), and the Berkeley/ Charleston/ Dorchester Council of Governments (BCDCOG). The HIA examined the potential health impacts of the proposed re-striping and “road diet” of a downtown Spartanburg arterial road, Daniel Morgan Avenue. A road diet is a technique to reduce the number of lanes on a roadway to provide safe space for pedestrians and cyclists.

The results of this report are valuable to the work of advocates and bicycle supporters in the community. The HIA suggests the following impacts of the proposed road diet:

• HEALTH. Through increased opportunities for physical activity and access to goods and services that support a healthy lifestyle, many chronic diseases can be prevented on the community and individual level. Potential improvements to air quality could have a positive effect in preventing and controlling respiratory illnesses.
• SAFETY. The proposed improvements to the road design would allow for increased safety for motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. 

Learn more about the report by downloading a copy here, and if you have any questions, contact Maya Pack, Associate Director, Research & Strategic Initiatives, who directs this exciting project.

Bikeshare Taking our State By Storm

Bike share systems are growing like wildfire, nationally and statewide. The webinars and conferences can't seem to keep up the pace with the ever growing and expanding systems to accommodate these bike rental stations within communities. In the words of NACTO, Bike Sharing has quickly emerged as a cost‐effective and sustainable strategy to bolster public transit usage and get more Americans biking in our cities and towns. They are also a great solution for many SC communities working to improve their bikeability, transportation and recreation options, and overall quality of life.

Spartanburg, SC took the lead, when in the summer of last year they launched their B-Cycle bike share system. Touted as the first bike share in the southeast, Spartanburg B-Cycle is a program of Partners for Active Living, whose mission it is to make Spartanburg County, South Carolina a healthy, more livable community by promoting walking, bicycling and physical activity as a part of everyday life.

Spartanburg B-Cycle. Photo by Carroll Foster, Hot Eye Photography

It has been just near an entire year that the Spartanburg B-Cycle system has been in place, and in that time the program has grown by leaps and bounds. Below are the B-Cycle by the numbers (as of May 14, 2012):

• # trips: 2,171
• # members: 793
• # calories burned: 761,556 
• Equivalent to the calorie content of: 3808 glazed donuts, 1813 chicken biscuits, and 453 large chocolate milkshakes 
• Total miles ridden: 17,116.80 (about ¾ away around the world!)

Two other South Carolina communities are also embracing bike shares as ways to make their communities more bike friendly, accessible, and livable. The City of Greenville Bicycle Master Plan makes strong recommendations that the City take a leading role in developing such bike share programs: The City can provide a crucial role in seeking federal and state grants to assist in the implementation of such programs as well as permitting use of public right of ways, where appropriate, for bicycle sharing equipment. To this end, Upstate Forever was successful in being granted Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) funds in the amount of $129,653.00 to begin implementing their bike share program.

According to the Greenlink Transit Authority letter granting the JARC funds, they will be used to purchase five bikeshare stations (including installation), 23 bicycles, and fifty percent of the operational costs associated with providing this service to the community in the first year. The team leading this project anticipates the systems to be in place late summer or early fall of 2012.

Finally, the University of South Carolina is also working to implement a bike share program on their campus, to also service areas within the City of Columbia. The University is working with the City, and hopes to have a system in place by the fall of 2012.

Based upon our work with the SC Communities for Cycling program, we know that many more communities in the state are interested in implementing bike share programs of their own, so we anticipate these systems to grow. Stay tuned for another update in months to come!

Public Comment Period Open for TIGER Grant Projects

A rendering of how a section of Boundary Street could look 

after redevelopment is completed. (The Beaufort Digitel)

The US Department of Transportation has awarded two Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Grants to projects in Beaufort and Orangeburg counties. The Boundary Street Redevelopment Project and I-95/US 301 Interchange Improvements projects have each received over $12 million dollars as a result of these awards, and SCDOT is now seeking public comment on both awards prior to considering them for inclusion in the South Carolina Transportation Improvement Program.

TIGER Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to projects that have a significant impact on a metropolitan area or region. The Boundary Street Project would bring a complete street to the city of Beaufort and create a more scenic entry to the city. Because designing commercial areas for vehicular access only limits the potential for success, the Beaufort Redevelopment Commission has recognized that the city must grow to be accessible to all. Part of the intent of the redevelopment project to create commercial nodes along Boundary Street that can be safely reached by foot, bicycle, baby strollers, wheelchairs and vehicles.

This TIGER Grant will jump start the project and be matched by $13.7 million local funds leveraged by a voter-approved penny sales tax. As Boundary Street grows and brings more economic benefit to the city, this redevelopment will help create a more liveable community by making it easier to bike and walk around the city. We encourage you to have a real impact on this project by submitting your comments to SCDOT. The comment period will end on May 22, so make sure your voice is heard before then!

Statewide News Round-up

5/3/12. Palmetto Cycling Coalition Announces Safe Streets Save Lives Campaign and Bike Giveaway. (Midlands Biz)

5/3/12. 4th Annual National Handcycling Criterium Championship returns to Greenville, S.C. (USHF)

5/3/12. Pro Cycling Championship leaving Greenville. (FOX Carolina)

5/6/12. National Bike Month: What to know riding around town. (Spartanburg Herald Journal)

5/6/12. A leg up: Group hopes to expand usage of popular Rail Trail. (Spartanburg Herald Journal)

5/6/12. Cycling: Get moving with 2 wheels, not 2 legs, and you've got it. (Spartanburg Herald Journal)

5/7/12. Walk and cycle safely. (Rock Hill Herald)

5/7/12. Do passing distance laws really protect cyclists? (The Atlantic Cities)

5/7/12. Cycling group wants Coleman plan tweaked. (Mount Pleasant Patch)

5/7/12. Know the laws for bike riders and drivers. (WLTX)

5/8/12. Veterans riding bikes cross-country pedal through CSRA. (WFXG)

5/9/12. Students break from the bus for 'Bike to School' day. (WIS)

5/9/12. Hampton Park road may open for bikes permanently. (Post & Courier)

5/9/12. Local health news: Safe cycling effort giving away a bike. (The State)

5/9/12. 'Ride of Silence' honors bicyclists killed on the roads. (Savannah Morning News)

5/9/12. City Council discusses designated bike lane around Hampton Park. (The Digitel Charleston)

5/9/12. Charleston Moves announces 2012 Bike-to-Work Week events. (The Digitel Charleston)

Statewide News Roundup

5/3/12. Safe Streets Save Lives Campaign and Bike Giveaway. (Lowcountry Biz)

5/3/12. Greenville taking steps to land bigger cycling events, official says. (Greenville News) 

5/4/12. Cyclist killed in hit-and-run wreck identified. (Live 5 News)

5/4/12. Greenville's USA Cycling event takes a detour. (Greenville News)

Greenville News photo

5/5/12. West Ashley cyclist killed in hit-and-run identified. (Post & Courier)

5/5/12. 12-year-old bicyclist killed; driver not charged. (WYFF News)

5/7/12. Police searching for motorist who hit bicyclist Friday. (Charleston City Paper)

5/7/12. Coroner: Boy hit, killed crossing road at home. (WYFF News)

5/8/12. Editorial: Greenville will remain cycling hub. (Greenville News)

Donate to the PCC this Bike Month and Get Schwag!

Not surprisingly, we tend to get pretty excited about Bike Month around the office, and this year we wanted to share some of that excitement with you! For May only, with your donation of a minimum of $35, you will receive one of a limited run of Safe Streets Save Lives t-shirts (pictured to the right) or a pair of PCC DeFeet Aireator or Wooleator socks! Because t-shirt supplies are limited, we will only be able to give one to the first 30 people who donate; everyone else will be able to choose what socks they prefer while supplies last! The donation can be a membership renewal, a new membership, or a general donation on top of your existing membership.

If you're not a t-shirt person and would prefer socks, that's no problem! If you have enough gear and would prefer that your entire donation go toward the cause of bicycling in South Carolina, we are more than happy to oblige and offer you thanks! Download this form or donate through Razoo and be sure to email Cait and tell her what your preferences and sizes are. Please make sure to contact us and clarify what you want; it will make the process move much quicker, and we want to ensure everyone receives what he or she wants.

We thank you again for all your support, and wish you all a great Bike Month!