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Alternative Transportation Newsletter Winter 2014
Go Chapel Hill Cycling More - Feeling Great!
Calendar Deadlines & Events _______________ December
Watch For Me Campaign– Safety Trainings Available. Lighten Up Chapel Hill: White Lights on bike front and red on back– coupons available for ALL bike store All Month: Book Your No Charge Green Transportation Presentations January
Watch For Me Campaign– Safety Trainings Available. Jan 14: CBC (Carrboro bike group)-Open Eye Café at 6:30 p.m. Jan 23: BACH (Chapel Hill bike group) meets at Whole Foods (back room) 6:30 p.m. February
The ReCYCLEry: Opportunity to build yourself a bike while also acting as mentor to youth. Watch For Me Campaign– Safety Trainings Available. Feb 11: CBC (Carrboro bike group)-Open Eye Café at 6:30 p.m. Feb 26: BACH meets at Whole Foods (back room) at 6:30 p.m. Contact Us: Len Cone Go Chapel Hill Community Outreach Town of Chapel Hill 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Chapel Hill, NC
Chapel Hill Designated As Bike Friendly Community Bronze Level The League of American Bicyclists has announced its designation of Chapel Hill as a Bicycle Friendly Community at the bronze level. The designation is valid for four years. According to the announcement letter: “The decision involved careful review of your application, supplemental material and consultation with local cyclists. As you know, this award is presented only to communities with remarkable commitments to bicycling. You should be very proud of this accomplishment. “ View the Chapel Hill Report Card. “While we are pleased to receive this unique designation, we also recognize that there is much work to be done to create a safer cycling environment and to make cycling a more convenient everyday choice,” said David Bonk, Town of Chapel Hill Long Range and Transportation Planning Manager. “We are working on many fronts toward this goal.” The Bicycle Friendly Community(SM), Bicycle Friendly State(SM), Bicycle Friendly Business and Bicycle Friendly University(SM) programs are generously supported by program partner Trek Bicycle. To learn more about building a Bicycle Friendly America, visit www.bikeleague.org/BFA. Town Manager Roger Stancil has established an interdepartmental staff group that combines law enforcement, planning, traffic engineering, parks and recreation, and public outreach representatives. The team is championed by Police Chief Chris Blue with project leaders Police Sgt. Celisa Lehew and Len Cone, Go Chapel Hill community outreach coordinator. The group has identified a number of immediate actions to pinpoint problem traffic spots and improve safety. The staff team is working closely with the Town's Transportation and Connectivity Board and the Bicycle Alliance of Chapel Hill (BACH). (Town of Chapel Hill News Release - December 9, 2014)
Go Chapel Hill - 2014
Page 2 Six Regional Leaders Honored at Leadership Triangle Awards Gala
Durham, NC – Over 275 Triangle area business and community leaders converged on the American Tobacco Campus on Thursday, December 11th to celebrate leadership in the Triangle Region. Illustrating the theme of this year’s event, Reflections on the Future, the evening began with a vignette from Wake Robotics, a Cary-based non-profit that provides STEM, advanced manufacturing and leadership development learning opportunities for k-12 students. Young musicians from Kidznotes also provided a pre-reception performance. Girls Rock N.C. closed the gala with an original piece. At this 12th Annual Leadership Triangle Awards Gala, sponsored by the Carolina Hurricanes, five individuals and organizations that have made significant and measurable contributions to the quality of life and economic health of the Triangle region received the prestigious Goodmon Award. The award is named after James F. Goodmon, President/CEO of Capitol Broadcasting, Chair Emeritus of Leadership Triangle, and a leader in promoting regional collaboration and development. The 2014 Award Recipients Are:
Economic Development: Formed in 1991, the First Flight Venture Center (FFVC), a self-funded non-profit, was the very first business incubator in the Triangle. Today FFVC is one of the nation’s largest, most stable, self-funded incubators and has played host to more than 285 companies since its inception. Over 60% of those businesses are still operating five years after graduating from the FFVC program. Arts and Entertainment: Katie Wyatt is founder and Executive Director of Kidznotes, an innovative “music for social change” non-profit program currently serving over 300 students that come from impoverished backgrounds in Raleigh and Durham. Students receive approximately 10 hours of intensive classical music instruction each week at NO COST. Results from the classroom indicate Kidznotes is positively enhancing the intellectual, social and emotional development in the children Community Service: Activate Good is a nonprofit that helps recruit and connect individuals, groups, and companies to fulfill volunteer needs with currently over 230 partnering nonprofits around the Triangle. In 2013 alone, Activate Good facilitated 4,181 volunteer connections, providing a value of over $260,000 in volunteer services to 180 charities in the Triangle. Strategic Partnership: GoTriangle Regional TDM Partnership is collaboration of seventeen partners (one of which is Go Chapel Hill) throughout the Region aimed at reducing commuter congestion and improving air quality in the Triangle region. So far, the project has reduced 237,412 daily commute miles traveled (equivalent to a daily trip to the moon) and eliminated 27,047 metric tons of CO2c (greenhouse gas) emissions. Goodmon Fellow: A graduate of the 2011 Regional Leadership Program, Beth Turner exhibits the proactive regional leadership skills and commitment taught in Leadership Triangle programs. She cofounded the local Girls Rock NC program a rock camp for girls throughout the Triangle, while also serving as a Town Commissioner of Pittsboro, serving on the Town of Pittsboro solid waste committee, and coaching entrepreneurs for the annual 100K Space Frontier Foundation's 'Business Plan competitions. The Leadership Triangle Hall of Fame was formed in 2012 to recognize leaders who have created a lasting legacy of impact and excellence on Leadership Triangle. A highlight of the evening was the induction of the third Hall of Fame recipient, ROBERT A. INGRAM.
Bob served as an annual speaker in the leadership development class series and was a highlight of the program for ten years. He sought out sponsorship for Leadership Triangle and involved Quintiles who has served as a title sponsor for many years. In addition, he has hosted the Leadership Triangle Executive program graduation at the Ingram Collection for over five years. His contribution to the Leadership Triangle has been outstanding and has been felt throughout the classes and organization for many years. The Triangle area is consistently recognized as one of the country’s fastest growing metropolitan areas. A regional perspective on economic development and global competitiveness is necessary to maintain the region’s status as one of the best places in the country to live, work and play. The Leadership Triangle Awards Gala continues to reward regionalism as an important leadership perspective. ****** Leadership Triangle is a non-profit organization established in 1992 to educate and promote regionalism across the separate communities of the Triangle. It does this through regional and leadership development classes, seminars and awards.
Go Chapel Hill - 2014
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Looking to Carpool? Try SharetherideNC.org
Go Chapel Hill - 2014
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Town of Chapel Hill’s Infrastructure Improvements Motorists will be better alerted when pedestrians are walking through certain mid-block crosswalks since Town of Chapel Hill public works teams installed new systems that will flash only when activated by pedestrians. They are bright and blinking! This replaces the old system that used a continual flashing light. There are four mid-block crosswalks to receive the push-only activations – three along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and one on East Franklin Street near Couch Road. The Town is seeking additional funding to improve all such mid-block crosswalks. The installations along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard were completed on Friday, Dec. 5. The last mid-block crosswalk to be upgraded this week is located on East Franklin Street. In other recent work, crews have upgraded the traffic signal at the intersection of Homestead Road and Weaver Dairy Extension to include pedestrian heads. Tree and Brush Trimming for Sight Distance Parks and Recreation crews have trimmed vegetation to improve the sight distance at more than two dozen locations around town. Good sight distance is critical to reducing the potential for traffic collisions. Safe driving requires enough clear sight distance on a road for a driver to be able to see in order to react in a way that is predictable to other roadway users. Sight distance problems frequently occur in neighborhoods where homeowners plant and fail to maintain tall shrubs or build fences that block a driver's view.
Green Box Sharrows Work has been completed to install sharrows with green boxes along Ransom and Church streets. The goal of the upgrades is to increase awareness by using thermoplastic green paint, which can withstand natural elements and traffic for the lifetime of the pavement. The paint will not become slippery when wet. Shared lane pavement markings or “sharrows” are bicycle symbols carefully placed to guide bicyclists to the best place to ride on the road, avoid car doors and remind drivers to share the road with cyclists. Unlike bicycle lanes, sharrows do not designate a particular part of the street for the exclusive use of bicyclists. They are simply a marking to guide bicyclists to the best place to ride and help motorists expect to see and share the lane with bicyclists. What do sharrows mean for motorists and bicyclists? Motorists: • Expect to see bicyclists on the street • Remember to give bicyclists three feet of space when passing • Follow the rules of the road as if there were no sharrows Bicyclists: • Use the sharrow to guide where you ride within the lane • Remember not to ride too close to parked cars • Follow the rules of the road as if there were no sharrows (Town of Chapel Hill News Release - December 9, 2014)
Go Chapel Hill - 2014
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Go Chapel Hill Encourages You To . . .
Join the Chapel Hill Bike Coalition Next Meeting: January 23, 6:30 pm, Whole Foods For more Info go to www.bikechapelhill.com
Go Chapel Hill - 2014
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Chapel Hill Transit Is Fare Free! If you haven’t tried Chapel Hill Transit yet, the fare will surprise you… CHAPEL HILL BUSES ARE FREE FOR EVERYONE! Take Chapel Hill Transit and enjoy quick efficient service to your destination. Beginning And, if Fare Free isn’t already great enough, also discover Chapel Hill Transit’s Real Time Information found at many stops as well as online at http://www.chtransit.org/ . Services are offered, including excellent seating, friendly drivers and quick routes taking you most anywhere you might want to go. For Customer Service and Chapel Hill Transit information, please call (919) 969 – 4933. For EZ Rider service and information please call (919) 969 – 5544. Note: Lot 54 is no longer available for park & ride services except through the University of North Carolina.
Enjoy Chapel Hill Transit’s Quality Fare-Free Service Today!
Go Triangle is the Place for Information! Check out the information available at the Go Triangle website http://www.gotriangle.org. At a glance, you will find anything you could ever want to know about alternative commuting in the Triangle Area is available at this newly designed website. Information includes carpool matching, vanpooling, bicycling, telecommuting and information about all the areas transit services. One of the best features of the website is the Trip Planner. Input your starting point and desired destination and in moments the perfect route for your trip is available! Check out all of the services available at Go Triangle!
Now Follow Go Chapel Hill On: The Web: www.gochapelhill.org Facebook: Go Chapel Hill! Twitter: Go Chapel Hill! Chapel Hill - Carrboro Bike Advocacy Groups Meet Bike Alliance Chapel Hill: Carrboro Bike Coalition:
Meets at Whole Foods, 4th Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. Meets at Open Eye Café, 2nd Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m.
