Great meeting tonight! We took a big step forward for safety on Spenard Road. More than 70 people packed the Mayor’s Conference room to testify on a sunny summer evening. Most were supporters of bicycle and pedestrian improvements in one of Anchorage’s favorite business districts. Bike lanes, separated sidewalks and Complete Streets traffic calming measures will be good for business on Spenard Road!

We need to work out some parking solutions and protect our local businesses from suffering losses during construction, but we can get this done. Thanks to Assembly Members Ernie Hall and Harriet Drummond, and all the business owners who showed up including Jae Shin (architect), Matt Jones from Beartooth and Rebecca and Corwyn from Taproot. Thanks to BCA’s John Hettinger for making the meeting, as well.

Cheers to BCA and the Spenard Complete Streets Coalition! More to come…

Call Jay Stange for more details: 907.891.1971

WDRII_Proposed_Alignment_Overview Sidewalk Removal The graphic shows what exactly is in the project and what is being proposed to be removed (the sidewalk on the north side between the C Street and Raspberry intersections). Sidewalks are transportation corridors for children and families.

The project team wants to know your concerns about a sidewalk removal. If you live in this neighborhood, know someone who lives in the neighborhood, or attend Change Point Church,  contact the project manager. Your opinion matters. Pass the information on to neighbors.

If BCA members want their opinion known, please contact the Project Manager listed below.

Jim Amundsen
Project Manager
jim.amundsen@alaska.gov
269-0595

Contact BCA rep Dawn Groth at dawngroth@alaska.net for any questions.

BCA is a member of the Spenard Complete Streets Coalition, a group working to make one of our city’s favorite neighborhoods safer for walkers, the disabled and bicyclists. We will be rallying at a public meeting from 5:30 pm to 7 pm, Monday, July 12 at the Mayor’s 8th Floor Conference Room at City Hall.

Spenard Road is one of the most dangerous places in Anchorage to ride a bicycle or walk. The Bike Plan calls for bike lanes on Spenard, but we must follow up with city officials to make sure it happens. Check out the story in a new column here.

Please come to Monday’s meeting and ask Spenard-area business owners to join our Coalition to push for safer streets which are good for business and for the community.

More info, jaystange@yahoo.com

Yippee! It’s Bike First Friday with a new funner finish location, Cafe Amsterdam at 530 E Benson (Metro Music and Books Mall) for beer!

BCA’s July Bike First Friday theme is Anchorage’s 1% for Art.

For thirty years the 1% for Art Program of the Alska State Council on the Arts and the Anchorage Municipality has celebrated artists and the visual environment by installing permanent artwork throughout  the state and in the city of Anchorage. Most all artwork is selected by a committee of community members dedicated to making Anchorage a better place to live by enhancing its urban landscape. All the artwork is situated in everyday locations frequented by visitors and residents alike. You will visit artwork you might have previously missed that was right before your eyes.

Celebrate the beginning of the weekend, breath some fresh air while pumping your quads, and chase down scavenger hunt questions with your friends/family/kids.

Addresses for 1% for Art installations are here (click to print or save), and the map is here (again, click to print or save). Questions for the scavenger hunt can be found at bottom of this post. Click on the questions to see or print the two page version.

Pick a meet up location with your friends at one of the locations on the scavenger hunt. Plan your attack; concentrate downtown, or pedal to Kincaid to really stretch your legs.

No matter where you start, meet up at our new finish location Cafe Amsterdam 8:30pm to finish and quibble about the answers to the scavenger hunt. BCA’s free spanking bike valet will be set up, so you can relax and enjoy your delicious beer and rowdy friends. Participation prizes to be given out by your good friends from BCA at Cafe Amsterdam at 9:00 pm.

As always, remember to follow the rules of the road, you are BCA’s Bicycle Ambassadors.

There will be 5 Free Coffee And Treats stations for bike commuters this Friday morning! Stop by for fresh coffee and other delicious goodies to fuel your ride. We can always use an extra set of hands, so if you are available to volunteer please email Kristi at bikemoredriveless@hotmail.com.

The BCA will be at the Bacon Station (sorry, no fresh bacon this time), where the Chester Creek bike trail goes under the Seward Highway from 7 to 9.
We’ll also be at Westchester Lagoon, just to the West of the Chester Creek/Lanie Fleischer tunnel under L Street/Minnesota from 7 to 9.
Last but not least, we’ll also be on the Campbell Creek bike trail next to the Seward Highway from 7 – 9.
Chain Reaction will also have a Free Coffee And Treats station, on the corner of Elmore and Abbott from 6:30 to 8:00, and Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium /Southcentral Foundation will have a station at Tudor and Elmore and will be open from 7 – 8:30.
Please join us Friday morning and enjoy some fresh treats on your way to work or around town!

Bike Parking

This weekend the BCA will be offering our Free And Secure Bike Parking at two events. The F Magazine Festival, located at 3142 Mountain View Drive starting at 6 PM Friday, and Pride Fest 2010 from 11 AM to 6 PM Saturday on the Park Strip. Come down to these fun events by bike and let us take care of the parking for you! Volunteers are always appreciated to help park the bikes. It’s a lot of fun and the time flies by, so if you have an hour or two to help out, please email Kristi at bikemoredriveless@hotmail.com.

Lots of fun things happening on the Summer Solstice, Saturday June 19th. From noon until midnight there is the Downtown Summer Solstice Festival with bike parking from noon until 5pm on F Street just north of 7th Avenue (brought to you by the good folks at the BCA). This PDF map of the event includes the bike parking location.

Then there is the Second Annual Solstice Midnight Sun Ride, registration is at 10:30pm and the ride starts at sunset, 11:42pm. The ride goes from the bunker (near the chalet) in Kincaid Park, down the coastal trail to downtown.

The BCA is excited to announce the League of American Bicyclists is sending their Education Director to Anchorage to certify cycling instructors! Becoming a League Cycling Instructor (LCI) to teach BikeEd is a great way to help cyclists in your community. Certified instructors can teach BikeEd classes to children as well as adults. Help bring the joy of safe cycling to others. If you are an experienced cyclist and would like to teach others please consider taking the next step towards certification. Traffic Skills 101 (which the BCA will offer in July or August) is a prerequisite for a certification seminar.

LCI classes start Friday evening August 27 and continue through the weekend, ending on Sunday August 29. REI has graciously offered use of their classroom for the training. The training also includes parking lot drills and a graded ride. There is a $200 cost per applicant, and we may have funding available to help if you are not able to pay the entire amount. For more information contact Kristi Wood at 278-2453, or email me at bikemoredriveless@hotmail.com.

BCA’s first Veggie Roll on Memorial Day weekend was a great success. We had so many people sign up that we had to add a second group. We toured six gardens, each of them quite unique. Participants got some great ideas and advice from the gardeners, and we topped it all off with a salmon BBQ. It was great practice in getting from one end of Anchorage to the other, all by bike. Stay tuned for the Harvest Roll, coming later this summer. It will be a chance to see the fruit and veggie bounty from Alaska’s Midnight Sun right here in Anchorage.

See how easy and fast it is to commute around Anchorage. Bring all your friends to Alaska Randonneur’s Bread & Water 100K

This events starts at the Great Harvest Bakery in Midtown Anchorage, and travels a huge loop around the Anchorage Bowl, circling back to end at the Moose’s Tooth Brew Pub for some fine post ride refreshments and stories. The course if mostly flat, and uses the Chester Creek, Campbell Creek, and Tony Knowles Coastal Trail bike paths as much as possible. There is some road riding, on moderately busy to quiet streets. Rabbit Creek Hill is included to add some spice. And there is a short dirt section through Far North Bicentennial Park from Hill Top Ski Area to Basher Road. This is a great way to see Anchorage’s beauty.