The Anchorage Bicycle Plan comes up for a public hearing in front of the Anchorage Assembly at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 2, at the Anchorage Assembly Chambers at Z.J. Loussac Library.
Longtime Anchorage community trails activist Lanie Fleischer wrote an excellent opinion piece about the Anchorage Bicycle Plan in last week’s Anchorage Daily News. Brian Litmans of Bicycle Commuters of Anchorage and Municipality of Anchorage non-motorized transportation plan coordinator Lori Schanche were guests last week on KSKA-FM’s “Hometown, Alaska” show where they discussed the plan with host Kathleen McCoy.
The Anchorage Bicycle Plan deals with improving bicycle facilities, bike paths, trails, bike racks, safety and other aspects of biking around Anchorage. The Municipality of Anchorage was named Alaska’s second Bicycle Friendly Community (behind Sitka) by the League of American Bicyclists in October 2009, but the plan will make Anchorage more bicycle-friendly.
It’s not part of the bike plan, but one area of concern is a Municipal Traffic Department Title IX rewrite being done by the Anchorage Police Department. This rewrite reverses current code and requires bicycles other non-motorized users to yield to cars at all intersections. Thomas Pease wrote a nice editorial in the Anchorage Press about how this will have a negative impact on cyclists. This rewrite goes against the principles of the plan.
So far several of the local community councils in Anchorage have come out in support of the plan and passed resolutions to show it. So have many local bicycle clubs, such as the Arctic Bicycle Club. Most Assembly members and the mayor also appear to support the plan. If you do show up to the Assembly meeting to show your support, please bring your helmet so the Assembly can see how many bikers are in favor of the plan.
By the way, Bicycle Commuters of Anchorage is hosting the Anchorage Winter Bicycle Festival and Fundraiser from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the BP Energy Center. If the Anchorage Bicycle Plan passes on Tuesday, Saturday night’s event could make for a nice celebration.
Alaska Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance 
The e-mail below was sent to supporters of the Bicycle Commuters of Anchorage from BCA president Brian Litmans:
From: blitmans@
Subject: [bikeanchorage] Overwhelming community support for Anchorage Bicycle Plan
Date: March 3, 2010 4:02:41 PM AKST
To: bikeanchorage(at)lists.groundwire.org
BCA would like to thank all those in the Anchorage bicycling community who came out last night in support of the Bike Plan. BCA, with support from the Anchorage bicycle community, wants to help make Anchorage a more safe, healthy, livable, and economically responsible city and we are willing to ‘lead our leaders.” This Plan is a step in that direction.
If you were at the Assembly meeting last night, you probably came around the corner and saw the bike rack PACKED with bikes!!! It was a great sight. So a big thanks is in order to all those that came out. We really appreciate the effort and the Assembly certainly took notice. While we didn’t get to testify until very late in the evening many bicyclists stuck it out. Those that testified were great, touching on many of the benefits the Plan would bring to Anchorage, including a safer environment, more convenient routes to get around, improved health from incorporating active transportation into their daily lives, building a stronger community and creating a more livable city.
Even those that had to depart early left an impression with the Assembly. They knew we were there in force to support the Bike Plan. If you missed it, you can come on out to the March 23rd Assembly meeting to let them know why the Plan is important to you.
We all are Part of the Solution.
Bicycle Commuters of Anchorage
http://www.bicycleanchorage.org
info(at)bicycleanchorage.org
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