Because we are in peak summer vacation season and the board president LeeAnn and vice president Elisa are escaping the scorching forecast for next week by riding bikes on the Olympic Peninsula, we are getting this month’s newsletter out early! Check out below for opportunities to meet the Bend Bikes team (and Bend YIMBY!), provide feedback about which protected bike lane product installed on Wilson makes you feel the most safe, and learn about City of Bend transportation engineer Robin Lewis’ trip to Denmark to absorb all things bike infrastructure!
Save the Date! Joint Bend Bikes and Bend YIMBY Happy Hour
Come meet the folks behind Bend Bikes and Bend YIMBY! Transportation and land use are intertwined, so we decided to join forces for an informal get together on Wednesday August 10th at 5:30 pm at Bevel Brewing (911 SE Armour Rd Suite B, Bend, OR 97702).
There will be an informal social ride to this event! We will gather at 4:45 pm with wheels rolling at 5:00 pm!
- East side meetup with Brady Park at the corner of Larkspur Trail and Bear Creek
- West side meetup with Kaitlin Greene at the wooden bridge in Drake Park
Let’s wax philosophic about our dreams for dense mixed use affordable neighborhoods in Bend where people of all ages and abilities can walk, bike, and roll wherever they need to go!
Vote on Wilson Protected Bike Lanes: DezignLine’s BikeRail versus DuraCurb?
If you’ve ridden through the new protected intersection at Wilson and 9th and continued east towards 15th, you will see the City is testing out two different protected bike lane products: DezignLine’s BikeRail and DuraCurb. We are on a mission to provide City staff feedback so we can advocate with the City for future projects for the bike lane products that make our community feel safe!
[Photos: Bend Bikes] LEFT DezignLine’s BikeRail and RIGHT Dura-Curb on Wilson.
From each manufacturer…
- BIKERAIL® is a strong, steel barrier system designed to create a fully protected bike lane. It offers the substantial protection of a concrete curb . . . but it’s a modular, quick build solution and is 100% changeable, movable, and reusable.
- Manufacturer Claims to Fame: BIKERAIL® is rapidly deployable and easy to install/uninstall; can be permanent or temporary; provides a choice of vertical elements; has low cost demo kits to test quick-builds to gather feedback; saves time and money because there is no excavation required, has a flexible modular design; and the narrow footprint requires minimal buffer zone.
- Dura-Curb is an easy-to-install raised separator system that provides superior channelization for motorists. Motorists are deterred from crossing over lane lines due to its raised profile. It can be used in a variety of applications.
- Manufacturer Claims to Fame: Dura-Curb is low maintenance and withstands repeated impacts; provides superior visibility, has a quick-release base system for delineator posts, has a modular design, and guides motorists and deters them from crossing over lane lines.
Great Community Bicycling: Lessons from Denmark to Oregon
Robin Lewis is a transportation engineer for the City of Bend and has worked with other staff to create the City’s bicycling master plan which includes a mapped network of low-stress bicycling routes and update the city’s standards to require low-stress walking and bicycling facilities. She was part of a cohort of transportation professionals and students that traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark to “discover how we can create great communities and what role transportation systems, including bicycling transportation, play to improve livability, connect people to other people and places and sustain a healthy environment (the air we breathe, the pollution we create).”
Check out her blog at: http://greatcommunitybicycling.com/ to absorb what she saw and learned… and to figure out how we can bring that to Bend!
[Photos and Captions: Robin Lewis]
Supporting Bend Bikes: Amazon Smile
While we love to support local, we know some of ya’ll just can’t give up the Bezos empire… you can feel a little better by doing it through Amazon Smile and support Bend Bikes at the same time! By selecting Bend Bikes as your “charity,” AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your eligible Charity List purchases to your selected charity, at no extra cost to you.
