21st July, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
The Ciy of Austin beat out Portland, Oregon; Greensburg, Kansas; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Boston, Massachusetts for VH1′s Do Something Award in the City category. The award show was held on July 19 to honor young people’s commitment to social change. Austin won the award because it is “leading the nation in car sharing programs and encourages biking as a primary form of transportation.” Way to go, Austin!
7th July, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
VH1 is putting on the Do Something Awards, which, according to their website, honors young people’s commitment to social change. Different categories of people and organizations will be honored, and Austin is nominated in the City category for encouraging “biking as a primary form of transportation.” Flex that Texan pride and head over to their website to vote for Austin.
20th May, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
Tomorrow is Bike to Work Day, and not only will you be greening up your commute and getting some fun exercise, but there are also three opportunities for free food, so don’t miss out! In the morning, plan on taking a few minutes out of your biking commute to get some free breakfast at several locations around town, including Whole Foods, City Hall, Wheatsville, the Coffee Bean, and Mellow Johnny’s. For lunch, be sure to bike over to the Chipotle on Congress and 8th for a free burrito, bowl, salad, or order of tacos between 11 am and 5 pm! Then, if you’re still feeling hungry, grab an afternoon snack at one of the Austin Public Libraries handing out free goodies to cyclists. Happy biking and eating!
17th May, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
Just a little reminder that this week is Bike to Work Week and Friday is Bike to Work Day! Here’s a link to a lot of helpful info to make your commute easy and safe, and don’t forget to reward your cycling-to-work self with free breakfast and snacks and free Chipotle on Friday!
30th April, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
May is Bicycle Month, and Austin is partnering with several community organizations and businesses to promote bicycling to work, to school, and for fun. Here’s what you need to know to get in on all the biking excitement:
- Today, from 11:30 to 1:30 at the City Hall plaza, the city is throwing a kick-off party with live music, food from Pita Pit, and all the info you need about riding your bike.
- Bike to Work Week is May 17 -21. If you haven’t already, try out a bike commute this week–it can help you wake up, get in shape, and be kind to the environment all at once. Here’s a helpful booklet with suggestions on how to be safe and make the most of your two-wheeled commute.
- Bike to Work Day is Friday, May 21, and several businesses will be providing free breakfast and afternoon snacks to bicyclists. Free food!
- Need a helmet for your new commute? These local bike shops are offering a 20% discount on all helmets during Bike Month!
- And if you’re up for some friendly competition, consider signing up for the Austin Commuter Challenge. Teams or individuals earn points by making trips by bike, regardless of distance. Any trip you would normally spend in the car counts as a point: biking to work, to the store, to the pool, etc. Sign up on the website or at the kick-off party today at City Hall. Today is the last day to sign up, so get on over there and get to biking!
9th April, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
Bicycling Magazine recently listed its top 50 bike-friendly cities in the country, and Austin ranks in at number 11! Click on the other cities on this map to read more about them, or just click the arrows to go through the cities in order of their ranking. And here’s that link to our city’s Bicycle Master Plan again, if you want to read about how Austin is planning on becoming even more bike-friendly.
8th April, 2010 - Posted by katherine - 2 Comments
The Austin Chronicle has a nice update of the Bike Boulevard plan, in which it states, “much of the traffic calming and other devices intended to benefit bicyclists have been moved from Nueces Street, as originally proposed late last year, and over to Rio Grande Street.” The plan is meant to provide a corridor for Austin bicyclists to get in and out of downtown safely. The cycling community is divided in its support of the changes which city council will consider May 13th.
11th March, 2010 - Posted by katherine - 1 Comment
The Chronicle had this really interesting and well written article about the city of Austin’s bike plan, which included a lot of information I was unaware of. For example, did you know that Austin has a bicycle program manager? And that Austin has a total of more than 131 miles of bike lanes, with a goal of having 750 miles? Or that since 2007, Austin has been recognized as a silver level bicycle friendly community from the League of American Bicyclists, a ranking which only 23 U.S. cities met? (10 cities ranked as gold in 2009 and three ranked as platinum (Portland, Boulder, and Davis, California.))
Check out the Bicycle Master Plan for more info about Austin’s goals.
10th March, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
Austin is one of 150 cities that will be a part of Google’s new bike routes map service. Google Maps already provides directions for people traveling by car, public transit, and walking, and now it will provide directions for bicyclists as well. The bike directions are formulated to avoid steep hills and congested intersections and to utilize dedicated bike trails (which will appear as dark green lines), roads with bike lanes (light green lines), and roads without bike lanes that are safe for cyclists (dotted lines). Google employees will be showing off the service at several events during SXSW, including the Mobile Social Event on Saturday.
4th March, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
According to the Austin Chronicle, the city’s Public Works Department unveiled the results of a study done by HDR Engineering, which predicted what the proposed Nueces bike boulevard may do to traffic. The report claims that whether the bike boulevard is built or not, many of the intersections on the boulevard will be congested and experience delays. For more details, check out this article.
22nd February, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
There has been much discussion about making Nueces Street more bike-friendly in an attempt to divert bicycle traffic away from car traffic and to provide a safe, non-hilly street for cyclists. This plan, originally proposed by City Council in its bicycle master plan, has sparked controversy among business and home owners on the street who claim that the bike boulevard would hurt their businesses and decrease their home values. If you’d like to take part in the discussion, there will be a public forum on Wednesday, February 24, at 6:00 pm at Pease Elementary School. Check out the Statesman’s article for more info.