News

The Centre Region Bicycle Coalition and the State College Area School District in support of National Bike Month and to encourage students and their families, faculty, staff and members of the community to ride their bicycles in May are offering three organized rides on May 7, 14 and 21. There will be options for 2, 4, 10 and 25 mile rides. Mechanical support will be available before the rides — come early if your bike needs some minor TLC (brake and shifter adjustments, chain lube, tires inflated — no major tune-ups, repairs, or anything requiring parts). The rides will feature bike paths, bike lanes and low-traffic roads around the State College area. The 2, 4, 10 and 25 mile rides will leave the South High School parking lot at 11 AM. 

The ride on the 14th  will be in remembrance of Mt. Nittany Middle School teacher Beth Donghia. Please bring flowers to place at the Ghost Bike on Boalsburg Rd. Update 5/11/11: A second starting point will be available at Spring Creek Park Please gather there and get signed in around 12:30. The 25 mile ride will meet us at the park and we hope to be on our way by 12:45. The round trip distance from the park is about 11 miles.

The ride on the 21st will be in remembrance of Bodhan Kulakowski, in whose memory the Ghost Bike on Boalsburg Rd was placed. 

Bring your helmet (or you can’t ride; no exceptions!), a water bottle, and if you’re doing the longer 25 mile ride, some small snacks.

We will ride in rain showers, but will cancel if heavy rain, lightning or hail is forecast. Check the CRBC website at http://www.centrebike.org after 8am on the day of the rides for cancellation notices.

HELMETS REQUIRED FOR ALL RIDERS. Riders participate at their own risk. Riders under 13 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian (students who start/return to Spring Creek park do not need to be accompanied). Please print out, sign, and bring along this liability waiver (copies will be available at the ride, too). If you’re under 18, have your parents sign for you. 

Cue sheets: 2011 SCASD CRBC Ride Cue Sheets (PDF)  
Maps for the rides are available here: Two page quick sheet of all the maps (PDF)

Maps on MapMyRide (be patient, these can take a while to load) 
May 7: http://classic.mapmyride.com/event/united-states/pa/state-college/385130401009626139
May 14: http://classic.mapmyride.com/event/united-states/pa/state-college/293130401208578245
May 21: http://classic.mapmyride.com/event/united-states/pa/state-college/891130401208532003

Penn State is showing its support by declaring May 2011 as Bicycle Awareness Month.  Additionally the proclamation states that Penn State joins CRBC and the Centre Region Council of Governments in its pursuit of Bicycle Friendly Community designation.

Penn_State_Proclamation_001.pdf

We’re pleased to report that PennDOT has announced plans to mitigate (that is, eliminate) the rumble strips on the PA Bike Routes throughout Centre County. The link below will take you to a map (Adobe PDF format) of the planned construction.

gis1201_bicycle_rumble_centre.pdf

Here’s the post made to the CRBC listserv by V.P. Chuck Anderson:

This morning [March 2, 2010]  Paul [Rito], Trish [Meek] and I had a conference call with PennDOT. PennDOT briefed us on the timeline and proposed method for repairing the improperly installed rumble strips. We had serious safety concerns over PnnDOT’s first repair proposal, so they came up with a new proposal which is much better.
Here are the details:

Routes to be fixed this year
PennDOT will repair affected portions of state bike routes G and V this season. Places where 4¹ of paving extends outside of the rumble strips will not be changed since they are in accordance with PennDOT standards for edge line rumble strips. PennDOT asked which sections stre the highest priority, and we said 192 and 45 since they get the greatest bike use. PennDOT has created a map of the areas to be repaired and we will have that up on the CRBC website soon. PennDOT is also preparing a map of all rumble strips in our area and that map will also be posted to the CRBC website.

Repair method
1) Rumble strips will be removed by milling a 2 foot wide by 1.5-2 inch deep groove in the asphalt
2) Groove will be filled with a fine-grained asphalt and rolled to match the height of the surrounding pavement
3) Seam between new and old asphalt will be sealed to prevent water intrusion

Timeline
1) Road paving season in these parts starts in the summer
2) The repairs will be put out to bid in May-June and a contractor will be hired to do the work
3) We should start seeing action on the road by mid-summer and the work will be completed by the end of October
4) We will receive updates, including heads up on when road work will be effecting roads, as the process moves forward

No doubt many of you find the timing of this plan unsatisfactory.  It certainly does not fit with the time estimate given to us last fall, but that estimate was not realistic. The magnitude of the problem from a financial and technical standpoint is as great as it is for us riding the roads. The repair as proposed will make up a significant portion of this year¹s maintenance budget for our area.  I think we are looking at a significant response from PennDOT on the issue, not a best case scenario, but there are precious few of those these days when state government finances are involved.