BIKE TO WORK DAY

[Editor’s note: This Week in Bicycling was postponed last week due to the Bicycle Coalition’s partaking in the Manayunk Bridge opening Friday morning, and our subsequent Goodbye Party for our now-former Executive Director, Alex Doty. So, for one week only, This Week in Bicycling is Last Week in Bicycling. Enjoy.]

The Manayunk Bridge opened. The space is awesome. The Bicycle Coalition has posted our photos here.

And there was coverage. Philly Voice wrote about the ceremony and some of the details that led to the bridge’s re-opening. “The 0.6-mile span represents the city’s first pedestrian and bicyclist-only bridge over the Schuylkill River and “restores a vital link” between the municipalities that has been closed for three decades. (Oh yeah, the views are awesome, too.)”

PlanPhilly calls the bridge’s opening a symbol of a changing economy.

12th Street in South Philadelphia has been repaved. And the trolley tracks that made the street unsafe for bicyclists have been buried under pavement. The Streets Department has confirmed that the street will be completely striped by Thanksgiving.

More mile markers on Schuylkill River Trail? Unfortunately, incidents have continued occurring throughout the fall, with trail users reporting being harassed. In response to this, the Schuylkill River Development Corporation has called for installing more mile-markers along the trail to make it easier for trail users to report the location of an incident. The SRDC additionally called for (and seems to have received) more police presence on the trail earlier this year.

Closing Philly’s Gaps with another TIGER. Thanks to the most recent round of federal TIGER grants, our city will now have slightly over $10 million along with matching funding from other sources to spread across three projects, connecting our trails and improving a few trouble spots. These funds are going to further help the city’s ‘Closing the Gaps’ plan, which aims to make connections to North and West Philadelphia easier to access for cyclists and pedestrians. This money will be going towards the development of the rusting and derelict Schuylkill River Swing Bridge into a connecting path between the soon to be completed Grays Ferry Crescent Trail and Bartram’s Mile Trail.

Low income people have typically used bike share less around the world. But the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, the City of Philadelphia, and the Better Bike Share Partnership have made it our mission to change that. The Inquirer’s new Transportation blog has the details.

The next time someone complains about tax dollars going toward bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, you can remind them of this study that shows you pay at least $1,100 per year to drive cars—whether you drive or not.

And, finally, here’s an awesome PSA from Spain about why biking to work is the best.

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