A Great Day for Walking & Biking in the Capital City

From Local Motion

What an amazing weekend in Montpelier enjoying the company of our friends at EnVision Montpelier, Net Zero Montpelier, National Life Group,VBike, Onion River Sports, and many many more!

So much energy and enthusiasm around how walking and biking can create a more climate friendly capital city!

http://www.localmotion.org/walking_biking_in_the_capital_ci…

Saturday July 16 was a day to be remembered in Montpelier. Local Motion and friends gathered in front of the Golden Dome for fun and games, education and outreach on innovative ways to reduce our carbon footprint, and of course...ICE CREAM! Then, that same afternoon, our amazing volunteers provided free valet bike parking for over 70 attendees of the Do Good Fest.

Many thanks to our friends at Net Zero Montpelier, EnVision Montpelier, National Life, Montpelier Alive, Go Vermont, VBikes, Zoom Bikes, Onion River Sports, SlopeStyle, Drive Electric Vermont, Green Mountain Transit, Hunger Mountain Co-op, and Ben & Jerry's. A big thank you is also in order for the many volunteers who made it all possible. It might sound cliche, but it's so very true: it takes a village!

Drive Less, Have More Fun + Do Good Fest

From Local Motion

There is SO much going on in Central Vermont this summer that we HAD to share with you! We are excited to announce that Local Motion's new statewide advocacy role has landed right here in the heart of the Green Mountains and is kicking off with a bang!

On Saturday, July 16 from 10am-2pm we will be participating in the Drive Less, Have More Fun event at the Statehouse in Montpelier . There will be fun and games, including the opportunity to test electric-assist bikes and even make your own smoothie by pedaling your heart out on a stationary bike. Come out and meet amazing advocates for making getting around in Vermont a cleaner, greener reality.

From 2-3pm we will be hosting a riding tour of Montpelier and the Barre-Montpelier Road pilot project on Route 302, which will only be a success if we get out and use it! Then, at 3pm, we will be meeting back at the Statehouse to walk and bike up to the Do Good Fest hosted by National Life. Admission to this amazing event - with fun activities for kids, all of your favorite local food vendors, and music by Big Head Todd & The Monsters- is free! But if you make a suggested donation of $5 you'll be contributing to the Branches of Hope Cancer Patient Fund, PLUS you'll get a nifty Local Motion water bottle. Nothing screams "summer" more than biking and outdoor concerts! 

Visit our website for more information about the Barre-Montpelier Road pilot, then get out and ride it!

WHEN

July 16, 2016 at 10am - 2pm

WHERE

Montpelier Statehouse
115 State St
Montpelier, VT 05602
United States
Google map and directions

US302 Road Diet Update and Survey

From Local Motion

Local Motion is tracking the VTrans resurfacing and lane reconfiguration project on the Barre-Montpelier Road scheduled for 2016. The project runs from around the Wayside restaurant to the Barre City line just south of Highland Avenue in Berlin. We are thrilled that the project will add bike lanes and improve safety for all road users: bicyclists, pedestrians, and drivers, by lowering crash rates, reducing speeding, and providing designated space for bikes. As with any pilot project, it is vitally important that cyclists get out and use it, then provide feedback to VTrans, which has set up a survey.

FILL OUT THE SURVEY

Forty-nine percent of all crashes on this corridor being rear-end, sideswipe and left turn conflicts. These types of crashes are reduced dramatically when two through lanes in one direction are replaced with a single through lane and a continuous left turn lane (also called a 'Road Diet' because the road gets smaller).  Both the town of Berlin and VTrans and advocates desire better conditions for bicyclists in this corridor and the project will address this by using the space available from removing a through vehicle lane to include on-road bicycle lanes, much of which will also be striped with buffers. This will effectively make the bike lanes even safer by further separating them from motor vehicle traffic.

Figure 1. Reduction in potential conflict points by removing a travel lane and adding a center turn lane

Source: FHWA

Here is a video that VTrans put together talking about the project.

Find out more at the VTrans project page.