On Indiana University and cycling:

I think it is way past time for the university to open 7th street on the north side of the Auditorium to bicycles again.  This route is bicycle friendly from Lake Monroe to Ellettsville and beyond.  There is no good excuse for this being closed and we should turn up the heat.  Could we start a petition or something?  I will admit I don't ride that way anymore, but am I wrong that there is no flat option like that through there anymore?
 
We should ask for secure bicycle parking facilities where dorm residents and students at classes could park their bikes safe from theft and the weather.  The cost to protect all of our bicycles would be far less than a single small parking garage.

The IU police auction of bikes is out of control.  I have called the Dean of Students Dick McKaig for three years running.  Persons pay more than new retail for bikes not worth fixing if the bikes had been free.  This is not an exaggeration. Turning IU auction winners away as "not worth fixing" is the norm and "a good deal" nonexistent from our perspective! I see what comes in for repair.  It is robbery and I am not quick to make that charge.  The university needs a "sold" price for every bike that the auction is stopped when the price is reached.  One of the shops each year could provide professional evaluation of worth of each bike the day before the auction.

---

On I-69:

Four fifteen years I have thought that transportation from Evansville to Bloomington could be improved for far less than the cost of building an international interstate highway.  More traffic does travel from Bloomington to Indianapolis, but even that would not require a massive NAFTA I-69.
See COUNT US!, which I founded and am the Director: www.i69tour.org

I-69 and Cycling in the Bloomington Area:
There is an ongoing study of I-69.  Two consultants are doing two studies in our area now. 
DLZ Inc., Section 4 from SW Green County to SR 37 near Tapp Road
and Michael Baker Jr., Inc., Section 5 from SR 37 near Tapp Road to near Martinsville approximately on SR37 now.

I am the Bloomington Bicycle Club Representative for the section 4 on the CAC which stands for Citizens Advisory Committee.  This area has been recognized as one of the best places to ride a bike in the USA.  Feedback from the Cycling community is required by NEPA (National Environmental Protection Act) law, so if you have thoughts, let me know or send them directly to the study.  Please if you comment directly send me a copy.

While I have no more input to the EIS (Environmental Impact Study) for section 5 than anyone else, I do find this section most important, because I would have to ride across I-69 to and from work every day.  Check out this look at what they are planning and what could work better, if the boondoggle were to ever be built here.  The planning going on now is going from very bad to much worse.  If we don't take the time to imagine I-69 cutting through Monroe County and speak up, we are going to have a much less pleasant place to live and ride our bikes.  Our Mayor has pointed out that at times of the day, we have more cars moving east and west than north and south.  I-69 will add congestion to all of our roads if built.  As a flat interstate 8 lanes wide, overpasses will be major hills shared by large numbers of trucks and cars making our crossing very unpleasant.  Following the links above, you will learn that even the approved Tier 1 I-69 here would provide flat crossing points for bicyclists, but the consultants are trying to change this to a few massive shared overpasses.

---

On Bloomington Government and Bicycle Transportation:

Bloomington Government likes to talk bicycle friendly while being among the least active in focused development of Bicycle amenities.  Surely there are good things going on here, but seen Nationally or Worldly, we are more a bicycle community by default than by plan.

We have very bicycle friendly government advisory committees: The Bicycle/ Pedestrian Commission, The Citizens Advisory Committee to the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) and several members of elected offices and appointments are our friends, but when the dollars are to be spent, little happens outside of Bloomington Parks and Recreation.

The few things done for Bicyclist here are most often done through the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department.  The problem with that is that Parks and Rec works within the bounds of what they can own.  That is, they are focused on "green ways". While they are pleasant to ride on and frankly are helping our business.  They are built not from the view of location of bicycle riders and their destinations.  It is recreation not transportation.  We need a focused inventory of streets that could be better used by bicyclists and ways to improve both car and bicycle transportation on the roads that exist with relatively small changes that can improve both modes. 

As gas prices went over $3 with the Katrina Hurricane in September of 2005, at Bikesmiths, we saw previously unheard of interest in bicycle commuting as transportation.  The time has come for Bloomington to give bicycling (and walking) a more respectful analysis, planning and development.