The City has a new section of their website titled, “Bike Fort Wayne”.
From the website:
In this section of the City’s web you can explore the ways in which Fort Wayne is becoming a better place to ride your bike.
Have you ever considered riding a bike for transportation rather than recreation? Maybe you already ride your bike to work once in a while; or to run a quick errand in the neighborhood. What would it take to convince you to get on your bike for some of the short trips you make by car? Dedicated space in the street for your bike? A map of local bike routes? Drivers that make room for you on the road? Well, Fort Wayne is making plans to improve the biking experience on city streets in order to support the vision that this can be a bike friendly community where more and more bikes share the road with motorists. The BIKE FORT WAYNE Plan will focus on three topics that will facilitate this transition; designing and building a bikeway network; encouraging and educating riders; establishing and enforcing rules of the road. Cyclists need to have safe routes on which to ride to their destinations as well as a secure place to leave their bike when they get there. The BIKE FORT WAYNE Plan will define a network of city streets that will have bike facilities ranging from additional signage to dedicated bike lanes painted on the pavement. The plan will also explore ways to redesign city streets so that they can better accommodate bicycle and pedestrian modes of transportation. Cyclists and motorists need to understand what the new bike facilities mean, and how to safely share the roadway with one another. The BIKE FORT WAYNE Plan will recommend education activities designed to keep everyone safe on the road. The plan will also guide outreach activities that will promote the benefits of cycling encourage people to think of their bike as a transportation option rather than just a toy or recreational equipment. As the number of cyclists sharing the road increases, local and state laws will need to be modified in order to clearly define the responsibilities of motorist and cyclist so that everyone stays as safe as possible.
The BIKE FORT WAYNE Plan will identify the laws that need to change.
But BIKE FORT WAYNE is more than just a plan; it is a campaign to increase the number of people who ride their bikes as a means of transportation. This will happen with the commitment of bike advocates and planners working to create safe places to ride on our streets and to spread the word about the benefits of cycling and the rules of the road. From the beginning of this effort, the city has engaged residents in the process to identify opportunities to make Fort Wayne bike friendly. This started with a bike survey that attracted responses from over 4,000 individuals who revealed where they ride their bikes and for what purpose. The survey demonstrated just how important biking is to the community and inspired Mayor Tom Henry to establish a task force to advise the staff throughout the planning process. The BIKE FORT WAYNE task force is comprised of nearly forty individuals representing many of the community interests associated with bicycling as a form of transportation. The task force has been instrumental in establishing goals, objectives and strategies for the plan, and they have provided many ideas for establishing the bikeway network.
So, what began as an assignment to make it easier and safer to ride a bike on city streets has turned into a program that pushes the possibility that Fort Wayne becomes a city where riding to work, school, shopping or worship is common place rather than a rare curiosity. You are invited to help push that possibility.