Bike/Walk Alliance for Missoula

Important Decisions For Russell Street

The City and State’s preferred alternative for Russell Street is a 5-lane thoroughfare which will have a huge impact on nearby neighborhoods and require the removal of several houses and businesses. Large intersections and potential for increased speed will make it difficult for pedestrians and cyclists to cross. Support is building for a citizens' alternative called 3-Plus for Russell. You can learn more about it on the BWAM website or www.russellstreet.org.

To see the City and State’s 5-lane plan go to the executive summary (7.10 MB) on the MDT website.

PLEASE get informed and then attend the very important DEIS meeting on Wednesday, September 24, 6-9 pm at Franklin Elementary School at 1901 S. 10th St. W.

If you have questions, contact info@russellstreet.org. You can sign an online petition supporting the citizen’s alternative here.

Missoula In the News Again

Missoula is listed in the top 12 Best Places to Live: Where to Live and Play Now! by National Geographic. Read the story at National Geographic

PEDal Festival Photos

Missoula PEDal Festival 2008 photos are now available at Flickr. These photos provide just a small sample of the activities at this year's 1st Annual PEDal Festival. 

A big thank you to all those who made this event possible, especially the principal organizers from the sponsoring organizations: Erin Kautz - Bike Walk Alliance for Missoula Secretary and event leader, Marlana Kosky - Mountain Bike Missoula Secretary/Treasurer, Chase Jones - Missoula in Motion, Bob Giordano - Missoula Free Cycles. Another special thank you to the merchants who provided raffle merchandise and other financial support to this festival: REI, The Bike Doctor, New Belgium Brewing, Kettlehouse Brewery, Big Sky Brewery, Bayern Brewery, The Missoula Independent, Sweet Pea Sewer and Septic, Art and Rays Lock and Safe, and Missoula Valley Recycling.

The sponsoring organizations would also like to thank all of you Missoula walkers and cyclists who came out to support and enjoy this event. Your continuing support of these organizations helps them to help you maintain and improve the pedestrian and cycling facilities of Missoula. Please consider joining one or more of these exciting groups.

PEDal Festival Raffle Tickets Now on Sale a Success!

Missoula's 1st annual PEDal Festival will be at Caras Park on Saturday August 30th from noon to 8 p.m. If you want to win some cool prizes and support the organizations behind the event at the same time, consider buying some raffle tickets. Prizes include a FAT TIRE COMMUTER BIKE, NOVARA BIKES (ADULT AND KID'S), PANNIERS, RUNNING WAIST PACKS, CANVAS TOTE BAGS, A FREE BIKE TUNE FROM BIKE DR., AND MANY OTHERS.

You can buy tickets now from REI-Missoula (2230 N. Reserve St. #300), Bike Doctor (1101 Toole Ave.), any BWAM board member, or at the PEDal Festival. Tickets are $2 each, or 3 for $5.

3-PLUS for Russell

The City of Missoula and Montana's Department of Transportation (MDT) are about to release a new proposal (reportedly on September 8th) to re-build Russell Street between the Clark Fork River and Mount/14th Street.

Unfortunately, it is likely to be 5-lanes all the way, about as wide as Reserve Street and certain to demolish a number of homes and businesses in the heart of Missoula. A 5-lane road, even with sidewalks and bike lanes, will not be a comfortable place for cyclists or walkers and will have a dramatic impact on nearby neighborhoods.

As an alternative, neighborhood residents and members of several local groups, including BWAM, have crafted a sensible alternative called 3-PLUS for Russell. It is neither a "no-build" approach (leaving things as they are) nor a wide, higher speed 5-lane arterial.

Instead, the 3-PLUS for Russell approach would include different segments better related to the districts they serve, with more lane capacity adjacent to the new urban district emerging near the old mill site and reduced lane capacity (but still with bike lanes and sidewalks) serving the Rose Park and Franklin-to-the-Fort neighborhoods.

BWAM members and others will be tabling around town to share this proposal over the next few months. You'll see folks around at the farmer's market near the XXXs and other venues. If you'd like more info, email bikewalk@bikewalkmissoula.org.

Also let us know if you'd like to help table and share information about the future of Russell Street with other folks in the Missoula area. You can call BWAM at 721-2873 or John Wolverton at yodelingdog(at)hotmail.com.

Two more updates: Steve King, Missoula's Public Works Director, just announced that there will likely be a major public meeting planned to review Russell Street on September 24th at Franklin Elementary School. Also, on August 26th at 7 pm, several neighborhood councils will be hosting a forum on Russell Street. This will take place at Bethel Church at 1601 S. 6th Street West (upstairs).

Read the Missoulian article August 17, 2008.

Labor Day PEDal Fest!

BWAM is in the process of organizing a  Missoula Bike/Walk festival to replace New Belgium's former Tour de Fat festival. Our intent is for a more family friendly Walk and Bike-oriented festival on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, August 30, 2008. We have reserved Caras Park for this event and have several local organizations participating as co-sponsors; MIST, Mountain Bike Missoula, and Missoula in Motion, with active involvement from several local bike and equipment merchants.

We have settled on the name “PEDal Festival,” accentuating the PEDestrian as well as  pedaling cyclists. We will begin at 12:00 p.m. with a bike parade and continue till approximately 8:00 p.m. We will have beverage vendors, food vendors, information tables for local bike and walk organizations, the Safety Team will perform, bands, and other performers to add to the festival atmosphere. MIST will provide parts, pieces, and tools for bike repair/building. In the planning stage is a bike rodeo, as availability of a variety of fun cycles to try out.

We are currently seeking volunteer performers to provide family oriented entertainment during the event. If you know of any jugglers, clowns, bands, performers of short skits, etc. who might be willing to participate, please contact Erin Kautz, or ask the individual to contact Erin @ events@bikewalkmissoula.org for additional information.

Watch for continuing updates about this event.

Orange Street Comments Please

The city and state have striped some temporary 4-foot lanes for cyclists on the busy stretch of Orange between the Clark Fork River and 6th street. We appreciate the effort, but consensus is they are too narrow to be safe and comfortable. Please try them out if you haven't yet, and if you agree they need to be wider, write an email now to Steve King (SKing@ci.missoula.mt.us) and Dwayne Kailey (dkailey@mt.gov), thanking them for the lanes but asking them to narrow the center turn lane by a foot and the adjacent lanes by the few inches needed to provide a full 5-foot bike lane. Please write this week, as it won't be long before the final re-striping of lanes will be done.

Missoula Ranks in AARP Healthiest Cities

Missoula, MT has received rank of 9th for "Greenest Commuters" and 7th for "Skinniest Residents" in the September & October 2008 issue of AARP The Magazine's Healthiest Hometowns. See AARP The Magazine's Healthiest Hometowns for more details.

Bicycle Benefits Comes to Missoula

Bicycle Benefits is a progressive bicycling program designed to reward individuals and businesses for their commitment to cleaner air, personal health, and the use of pedaling energy in order to create a more sustainable community. The program's continual growth decreases parking demand, increases helmet use, and improves cyclists' safety and health by putting more people on bikes.

Check out this organization's website and found out how you can get discounts at cool Missoula retailers and restaurants just by biking there!

Bicycle Benefits: http://www.bicyclebenefits.org

In Memoriam

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Robert Bremer, who was killed while riding his bicycle on N. Reserve St. on June 19th. You can read about this tragedy in the Missoulian.

BWAM members are looking into the reasons for this collision. Another cycling fatality on N. Reserve St. raises even more concerns about the proposed changes (see "Reserve/Mullan Still Up in the Air" at bottom) to bike lanes and pedestrian street crossings at Reserve and Mullan streets.

Local High School Students Get Creative and Lend a Hand for Parking and Peace

Thanks to Hellgate High School Senior Service Day volunteers, the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center's bike racks are no longer crowded by the parked cars. The clever bicycle parts, painted rocks and posts create a cute parking barrier plus a path leading to a space established for bicycle parking. Good bicycle parking facilities are an enhancement to any establishment and say to bicyclists, "Welcome!"

I See London, I See France, I See that the French Know How to Pass!

BWAM Founding member and former board member, Geraldine Carter, sent us these pictures of signs she saw during a bicycle tour in France. The sign informs drivers that France law requires giving bicyclists at least 1.5 meters of clearance when passing.

Geraldine is also a co-founder for Climate Ride 2008, a non-profit ride to raise awareness of global warming and renewable energy. 100 riders will pedal 320 miles from New York City to Washington D.C., starting on September 20th. To join this rider or sponsor a rider, please visit the organization's website.

Wouldn't This Be Nice?

A BWAM member sent this to us recently. With gas prices as high as they are now, and as high as they're expected to rise, this cartoon may not be too far from the truth.

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