{"66287":{"#nid":"66287","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Bicycle Improvements Enhance Commuter Culture on Campus","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhether you use four wheels, two wheels or two feet to get\nto Tech each day, you may start to notice some changes for bicycles around\ncampus. It\u2019s not the ghost of Sideways installing bike racks or painting bike lanes;\nit\u2019s the collaboration of students and staff on the Bicycle Infrastructure\nImprovement Committee (BIIC).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EFormed in January, the group plans to improve the quality of\nbicycle infrastructure for the Georgia Tech community to make it safer and easier\nto bike for pleasure, health and commute. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere hasn\u2019t been one department or group looking at bikes\non campus before,\u201d said Gretchen Goldman, committee chair and a graduate\nstudent in environmental engineering. The formation of the BIIC came after\nGoldman met with Student Government Association (SGA) leadership last fall\nabout making bicycle-related improvements to campus. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIn March, the committee received $26,146 from SGA for its\nproposal to add bike racks and lanes to several areas of campus. The funding\nwill provide additional bike racks in three areas that a Capital Planning and Space\nManagement (CPSM) study showed would help the greatest number of students: the\nCollege of Management, the Instructional Center and the Ford Environmental\nScience and Technology building. It will also add bike lanes to Hemphill Avenue\nand Ferst Drive. Racks have been ordered and plans for the lanes have been\ndrafted; Goldman is hopeful that both will be in place by the fall semester. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThough cyclists may benefit most directly from new racks and\nlanes, all of campus can benefit from an enhanced bicycle environment. Aaron\nFowler, alternative transportation coordinator for Parking and Transportation\nand a member of the BIIC, is tasked with the job of promoting alternative\ncommute options to a constantly expanding campus.\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019ve kind of reached a parking limit, but the campus is\nstill growing \u2014 so we\u2019re figuring out how to get new people to campus,\u201d Fowler\nsaid. A Parking and Transportation survey this year showed that many commuters who\ndrive alone would be interested in cycling to campus, contingent on continued\nimprovements in safe, convenient bike routes and secure bicycle parking. \u201c[The\ncommittee\u2019s] got all the major players at the table who have a hand in bikes on\ncampus, and we want to focus on infrastructure improvements that we can pretty\nmuch install and finalize, with little maintenance,\u201d Fowler said. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to the bike racks and lanes projects, the BIIC created\n\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/bike.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Ebike.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E as a hub for all things\nbike at Tech. It also has hosted cycling classes with the Atlanta Bicycle\nCoalition, participated in Georgia Rides to the Capitol in support of \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www1.legis.ga.gov\/legis\/2011_12\/sum\/hb101.htm\u0022\u003EHouse Bill 101\u003C\/a\u003E\n(which passed during the 2011 legislative session), assisted Georgia Tech\nPolice with a bike registration drive and is leading a \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/newsroom\/release.html?nid=65973\u0022\u003Ebike confiscation\neffort\u003C\/a\u003E to free campus racks from abandoned bicycles. For its work, the\ncommittee earned the 2011 Georgia Tech Environmental Initiative Award, given each\nyear at the Earth Day celebration to an individual or group that has had a\nsignificant environmental impact on campus or in the community during the past\nyear. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe wanted to get something done this semester,\u201d Goldman\nsaid, referring to the spring term. \u201cI knew SGA had trusted us with this money\nand I wanted to prove the value of what we were doing.\u201d Future priorities include creating a campus\nbicycle master plan, which will include identifying current infrastructure needs\non campus and exploring funding options for those projects; BIIC members have\nmet with the Student Alumni Association and the Office of Development to discuss\nfunding for project implementation.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe have an inventory of where more\nbike racks are needed throughout campus, so that\u2019s always an option, but we\u2019d like\nto do more to improve safety and commutes,\u201d said Fowler. Parking and Transportation\nnow has \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Shared_lane_marking\u0022\u003Esharrow\nstencils\u003C\/a\u003E that CPSM intends to incorporate in Fowler Street improvements\nduring construction of the McCamish Pavilion.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere seems to be more excitement than in the past about\nbiking on campus,\u201d said Goldman, who has been at Tech for five years and is surprised\nby the positive response across campus. Though Goldman plans to graduate in\nAugust, the BIIC is brimming with ideas that range from bike boulevards in\nnearby neighborhoods to an Options cycling class to create more confident\ncyclists.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTech is a microcosm of bikes in Atlanta,\u201d said Fowler. \u201cI\nhope this infrastructure connects surrounding neighborhoods to Tech and\nencourages biking off campus as well.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Bicycle Infrastructure Improvement Committee works to improve the quality of\nbicycle infrastructure for the Tech community, making it safer and easier\nto bike for pleasure, health and commute. \u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Bicycle Infrastructure Improvement Committee plans a safer and simpler to bike infrastructure"}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2011-05-25 08:41:12","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:08:45","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-05-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-05-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"66290":{"id":"66290","type":"image","title":"BIIC Wins Environmental Initiative Award","body":null,"created":"1449176931","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:08:51","changed":"1475894589","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:09","alt":"BIIC Wins Environmental Initiative Award","file":{"fid":"193296","name":"biic_web.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/biic_web.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/biic_web.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":281804,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/biic_web.jpg?itok=SQAe_hYi"}},"66291":{"id":"66291","type":"image","title":"BIIC Tables at Earth Day 2011","body":null,"created":"1449176931","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:08:51","changed":"1475894589","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:09","alt":"BIIC Tables at Earth Day 2011","file":{"fid":"193297","name":"biic_earthdaytabling_web.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/biic_earthdaytabling_web.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/biic_earthdaytabling_web.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":414150,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/biic_earthdaytabling_web.jpg?itok=O0TJjRPA"}}},"media_ids":["66290","66291"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/bike.gatech.edu\/","title":"Bike GT"},{"url":"http:\/\/space.gatech.edu\/","title":"Capital Planning and Space Management"},{"url":"http:\/\/parking.gatech.edu\/","title":"Parking and Transportation"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"12691","name":"Bicycle Infrastructure Improvement Committee"},{"id":"13060","name":"biic"},{"id":"479","name":"Green Buzz"},{"id":"170","name":"parking"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kristen.shaw@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKristen Shaw\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}