Last week the City of Durham issued a press release announcing its recognition as a bicycle friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists. Durham was awarded a bronze-level recognition, the lowest of four levels recognized by LoAB. Chapel Hill also received a bronze-level recognition. Close by Carrboro bested both college towns, achieving a silver rating. Several other North Carolina cities also received awards.
This publication picked up on the story this week, and Tuesday’s edition of Towerview magazine had a one-page spread on just how hip the bicycle commuting trend is for the fall. In true magazine style, the short blurb was accompanied by a shopping list to aid interested trend-followers in getting in on the act.
I hope bicycling is more than a fall trend, but I also applaud all of the publicity this healthy and fun form of transportation is getting!
I’ve covered biking and alternative transportation in this column before, specifically my experiences attempting to commute on my bike despite a travel distance of about 9 miles (fairly average for the Duke population as a whole) on some fairly busy roads. Over the summer I was approached by several fellow students with stories about their own attempts and experiences, inspired by the column. I also spoke with regular bike commuters.
The consensus: there is still a lot of room for improvement both at Duke and in Durham, although the city and University are constantly making incremental changes.
It’s sometimes difficult to separate what happens in Durham from what happens at Duke, as in the case with two recent paving projects that intersect campus. The most recent, the resurfacing of Anderson Street that runs through Central Campus, was completed by the City. The smooth black tarmac was still awaiting markings as of this writing, but the project is reported to dispense with the parking spaces that lined the street in favor of bicycle lanes. Score one for alternative transportation, and one for Durham. The mindset that made this possible is the mindset that has the potential to carry Durham toward being an even more bike friendly city.
Contrast this positive change with the resurfacing of Towerview Drive on campus over the summer. One of the concerns of cyclists the world over is the quality of the pavement on which they ride. What may be a mindless bump to a car can send a cyclist over the handlebars. Towerview, prior to resurfacing, was one of the roads on campus that needed the most attention. Duke missed an opportunity when it returned parking to the sides of the road at the completion of the project. Instead of safe, separated, well surfaced bike lanes on one of the only roads crossing the main campus east to west, bicyclists must continue to contend with traffic and car doors opening into their lane of travel.
This is just one example. There will be plenty more opportunities as roads feeding campus and other popular destinations for living, working and dining in the city come up for repair. The recent publication of the Durham Bike Map, while useful, is also a telling reminder of the piecemeal nature of existing bike-friendly infrastructure. It’s a situation that won’t change overnight, but it needs to remain a priority.
In the mean time, a new Duke DIY video on the bicycling page of Duke’s Parking and Transportation website features Academic Dean of Trinity College Norman Keul, a regular bike commuter. Keul made a list of the pros and cons of commuting by bicycle. The pros won and he says never looked back.
There are also perks. For instance, if you register as a bike commuter you can be eligible for a limited number of parking day passes—for those days when the pressed suit really needs to shine or there’s a hurricane in the forecast.
More education and awareness of services available on campus is also necessary. For example: Where are the showers? Do I have access to them? Is there a safe place to leave my bike? Or covered bike storage? Do other people commute by bike?
Recent efforts by the Parking and Transportation office in conjunction with the Office of Sustainability are starting to answer these questions and build a community of bicycle commuters. As an example, during national bike to work week, the Office of Sustainability held a reception for bike commuters that was reportedly well attended and initiated a positive dialogue. The momentum generated by such events needs to be maintained at all levels of the Duke community.
Finally, no piece on bicycling at Duke would be complete without mentioning the Duke Bikes program. It’s awesome. Find it, use it.
Ride safe out there, stay off the sidewalks and remember: Always wear a helmet.
Liz Bloomhardt is a fourth-year graduate student in mechanical engineering. Her column runs every other Friday.
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