The Roanoke Valley Alleghany Regional Commission will host the following webinars from the APBP Professional Development Webinar Series in 2011. All webinars will be held at the Regional Commission (upstairs conference room) located at 313 Luck Avenue, Roanoke, VA 24010. All webinars are offered free of charge for participants, but RSVP is requested. Please contact Shane Sawyer at 540.343.4417 or ssawyer@rvarc.org to reserve your seat. Directions to the Regional Commission are available at http://www.rvarc.org/contact.htm.

Complete Streets: State of the Practice
Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Design Manuals and Guides
Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Using Social Media to Improve Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities
Wednesday, May 18, 2011, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Bicycle and Pedestrian Facility Design within a Constrained Right-of-Way
Wednesday, June 15, 2011, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Crosswalk Policies, Designs and Signals
Wednesday, July 20, 2011, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Designing and Retrofitting Bridges for Active Transportation
Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Multimodal Level of Service
Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Parking: Buffers, Bikes and Cars
Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Additional information on the APBP Professional Development Webinar Series is available at http://apbp.site-ym.com.

Shane Sawyer
Regional Planner
Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission
P.O. Box 2569
Roanoke, VA 24010
Voice: 540-343-4417, Fax: 540-343-4416
Email: ssawyer@rvarc.org
www.rvarc.org

Cycling advocates from the Virginia Bicycling Federation (Champe Burnley, Bud Vye), Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (Tim Rosato), River City Women’s Racing (Monica Glave), and Bike Charlottesville (Scott Paisley, Heather Higgins) attended a meeting of the House Transportation Subcommittee #2 on January 26, 2011. This is the deliberation of HB 1683 (illegal to follow or pass too closely (3ft)) that we heard. The bill was laid aside (defeated).

Year after year, we try to get a 3′ passing law in Virginia, and year after year it gets killed, despite 18 other states having passed such a law, and it being in alignment with federal standards. How does this keep happening? See for yourself, in this video by Heather Higgins of Bike Charlottesville. This is a great glimpse into the process, and shows what we, bike advocates, actually do (and put up with). [continue reading…]

Learn to ride safely and confidently in traffic, and to teach others do to the same, with these League of American Bicyclists’ courses being offered in Roanoke.

Any bicyclist, from rank beginners to experienced club cyclists and racers can benefit from Traffic Skills 101. Many aspects of bike safety are counterintuitive. Start off on the right foot or unlearn your bad habits, and be able to deal with any road or traffic situation safely and confidently.

Take it one step further, and become a League Certified Instructor. From the League’s website:

Becoming a League Cycling Instructor (LCI) certified to teach Smart Cycling is a great way to help cyclists in your community. Certified instructors can teach Smart Cycling 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. Becoming a League member and taking Traffic Skills 101 are prerequisites for a certification seminar. Instructors are trained at seminars held periodically throughout the year.

Cyclists in southwest Virginia have also found this training helpful in being able to discuss bike safety issues with local governments.

The courses will be offered as follows: [continue reading…]

HB1582/Cosgrove regarding the Transportation Infrastructure Bank has been incorporated into HB2527/Speaker Howell and reported from House Appropriations as part of the Governor’s Transportation funding package.

HB1957/Rust regarding the duties of the Commonwealth Transportation Board was reported from House Transportation 17-0.

HB1993/Janis regarding recklessly running a red light has been modified and reported from House Courts of Justice. Not sure what it looks like in its present form.

SB850/Petersen to permit Sunday hunting failed in Senate Agriculture by 13-2. Patron and Marsden for, all others against.

Docket is now posted for Senate Transportation on Thursday @ 2.

SB928/McDougle Three foot passing of bicycles is on it…

…as is SB913/McDougle to change Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner to CEO plus other changes…

…& SB1370/Blevins requiring rumble strips on all highways w/speed limits of 55 mph or higher.