The Duke Bike Advocates would like to thank the members of the Duke community who supported our activities last week. Over one hundred bikers rode through campus and Durham in support of better biking infrastructure. Overall, we have received an overwhelmingly positive response from both the Duke community and the administration. We feel that last week’s staff editorial misunderstood our message and we would like to take this opportunity to lay out our vision for readers of The Chronicle.
Approximately 33,000 staff, faculty and students commute to and from campus daily. With effective planning and investment, Duke could actively facilitate alternatives to the almost universal use of automobiles for getting to work and school. Such alternatives include bus transit, carpooling, walking and bicycling. Bicycling should be an important component of a coherent transportation plan at Duke as it has numerous economic, environmental and health benefits.
Improving bike safety and infrastructure at Duke makes sense economically. For example, Duke spends over $8 million to finance automobile parking—building and policing parking lots, and then running buses to them. According to a study prepared for the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, creating bicycle parking is from 10 to 100 times cheaper per commuter than creating car parking. More people cycling would allow the University to save money.
More bicycle commuting is good for the environment. An increase in bicycling translates into a decrease in exhaust emissions, automobile congestion and dependence on fossil fuels. If someone who lives three miles from campus switched from a car to a bicycle for half their commuting days in a year, they would avoid burning over 50 gallons of gas and releasing hundreds of pounds of greenhouse gases.
Encouraging bicycling at Duke would also lead to numerous health benefits. According to the Surgeon General, 30 minutes of physical activity four days a week can reduce the risk of many chronic illnesses including heart disease and diabetes. A six mile round-trip bike commute would take about 30 minutes.
Saving money and improving the health of Duke’s people and environment are priorities. As members of the Duke community who both commute by bicycle and talk to others about bike commuting, we have a useful perspective. We have seen the types of problems encountered on a commute, and we have some ideas about how to make bicycle commuting to campus safer and easier. Below, we briefly describe the recommendations we have made to the University Administration in order to remove some of the barriers and dangers to bicycle commuting at Duke and get more people on their bikes.
We believe that Duke and Durham must work together to increase the number and quality of bicycle lanes around town and on campus. A bicycle lane is a portion of the roadway that has been striped for use by bicycles, and allows riders of all abilities to feel safe on the roads. More bike lanes would increase cycling to, from and on campus. Also, better maintenance of the road surface can make the difference between a safe commute and a potential accident. Duke and Durham should work together to ensure that potholes and grates do not present undue hazards to cyclists.
Once on campus, bicyclists run into structural barriers in getting to their final destinations. There are few options for a cyclist to cross West Campus without dismounting for stairs. Duke should improve bicycle access around existing buildings and ensure that barrier-free paths connect all major locations on campus. With more direct routes available, more people will choose to get on a bike instead of driving. Once riders get to their buildings, they need somewhere safe to leave their bicycle. Covered bicycle parking is crucial to keeping bicycles in working order.
Duke is growing; in addition to the infrastructure improvements listed above, it is crucial to consider bicycles in all future development plans. We also think that the University should hire a full-time Transportation Services employee dedicated to developing and promoting commuter alternatives. No one on campus currently has a mandate to address the multi-faceted issues involved in getting people to and from campus efficiently. A person whose job it was to deal with these issues would be the best way to make sure that planning for alternative transportation does not slip through the cracks.
Improving bicycle infrastructure is a priority at Duke. According to Provost Peter Lange, two of the top priorities at Duke this year are the proactive maintenance of the health of its people and environment. He paid us a great service when he said that he “can think of no better activity which better addresses these two goals than commuting by bicycle.”
Miguel Schwartz
Grad ’08
and seven other members of the Duke Bike Advocate Organizing committee
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