Neighborhood Bike Ride

More photos from the fabulous NBR at http://www.knoxtrans.org/bikeride/index.htm We were so glad the rain held off and we had nearly 200 people!

And remember to mark Wed, Dec 16, 7 p.m. on your calendar for the 3rd annual Tour de Lights. More info to come, but as always we will be awarding prizes for the most decorated person, bicycle, and helmet!

Thanks to Kat Campbell for the photos!

Downtown North Streetscape Public Meeting

The City of Knoxville will host a public meeting to review preliminary plans for a Downtown North Streetscape Plan. The meeting will be held at St John's Lutheran Church- corner of Broadway and 5th Ave. on Thursday evening September 24th starting at 6pm.

Hedstrom Design group has been working with the city and a 20 person steering committee to kick off this design process that will provide at completion a more detailed master plan for future development of the public right of way on the major corridors in Downtown North. Specifically N.Central St, Broadway, Gay St and 5th Ave. have been studied for potential improvements based on earlier recommendations from MPC and a more detailed analysis of current conditions in the area.

There will be a group presentation, question & answer time and the opportunity to study maps and make comments individually on what you like or don't like about the direction of the planning. Using information gathered from this meeting the design team in consultation with the steering committee will prepare a schematic design of the area to be presented at another public meeting later this year. We hope you will come and share your thoughts. Earlier plan documents and information on the subject area can be found at cityofknoxville.org/downtownnorth.

Updates

Sorry for the lack of blogging. Facebook is getting more and more attention so I hope you're checking us out there too.

The Bicycle Advisory Committee task forces on safety/classes, and on performance measures met recently. I'll be writing up some minutes from those meetings soon.

I attended a conference last week on behalf of Smart Trips and got some great ideas for marketing/outreach, for the bike program as well as Smart Trips. We're getting ready to interview candidates for the Smart Trips coordinator position this week. Since I have had to fill in, I'm looking forward to getting the new person hired and on board soon!

The valet bike parking was Sunday (aka Boomsday). I hear it was a good turnout for the first time, but since Lily's bedtime is waaaayyy before the fireworks, I didn't get to see it for myself. Lily and I helped with set up though. A huge thanks to all the volunteers, especially Jesse for bringing all the gear and taking the first AND last shifts.

Next up is the Neighborhood Bike Ride, on Sept 19th at 10 a.m. Please spread the word. This will be our 9th year and it would be great to have our biggest turn-out ever. It helps show the community how important bicycling is, and how many people enjoy getting around neighborhoods by bike. www.knoxtrans.org for route map and more info.