Getting Friendly
Group works toward Bicycle-Friendly Community
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Daniel [email protected]
It’s basically the first event in the area that signifies summer.
But while people will be enjoying the weekend riding their bikes and taking in races, there is a growing group of people working year-round to make sure that every community in Kosciusko County is more bicycle friendly.
Thursday, thanks to the KCV Cycling Club, a “Planning for a Bicycle-Friendly Community” seminar was held at Mad Anthony’s Lake City Tap House in Warsaw.
The program is presented through a joint effort from Bicycle Indiana, the Department of Health and the Indiana Planning Association.
Cyclists of all varieties, along with government officials and members of the public, met to discuss what it takes to become a Bicycle-Friendly Community as well as working on ways to develop more bike paths, safe school zones where kids can bike to school, creating bike lanes and marking roads.
It’s an arduous process to earn the certification.
Communities need to excel in things like education and encouragement of riding a bike.
One thing Kosciusko County isn’t lacking is enthusiasm.
Nancy Tibbett, Bicycle Indiana’s executive director, said that of the seminars they’ve held thus far, including one in Indianapolis, the turnout at the Warsaw seminar was biggest.
Around 100 people stopped by for part or all of the day.
“The big takeaway from this is it gives so much momentum to the community,” said Tibbett.
There are several levels of Bicycle-Friendly Communities.
In Indiana, there are only four communities that have earned a distinction.
Bloomington is a silver-level community while South Bend, Indianapolis and Carmel are all bronze level.
Pete Fritz from the health department was at Thursday’s seminar to discuss both the health benefits of bicycling, and also served as a de facto government proxy.
Fritz helped give insight as to how the area can get funding to help develop the community when it comes to bicycles.
While mapping out a section of Warsaw, Fritz pointed out that paths could be developed near the new Madison Elementary through Safe Routes To Schools funds.
Fred Helfrich is a KCV member and serves as an advocate to help the county earn that certification.
“We’re getting a lot closer,” said Helfrich. “We’re very excited with the turnout for this event.”
Helfrich said the next step is to create an action plan for the community. He said he’d also like to see a task force or committee set up to help put ideas into action.
“Our goal is to go after a lot of low-hanging fruit,” said Helfrich. “The smaller things that we can do, creating safe routes to school zones, marking lanes, things like that we can accomplish in the short term.”
Helfrich said the community probably is still a year or two away from being to the point where they could apply for the Bicycle-Friendly status.
One area that will continue to be developed is in the area of education.
Whether it’s the festival, or press releases or school presentations, Helfrich said KCV will continue to broaden its education of all the benefits of riding a bike.
Helfrich said it was also important for him to broaden the umbrella of the KCV.
“I think for a long time people thought it’s only for people who do road races or mountain bike,” said Helfrich. “But it’s for everyone. It’s for the casual rider or the person who rides a bike out of necessity.”
Along with Mad Anthony’s hosting, the group thanked K21 Health Foundation for its help in bringing the event in.
For more information on the KCV Cycling Club, visit www.kcvcycling.org[[In-content Ad]]
Latest News
E-Editions
It’s basically the first event in the area that signifies summer.
But while people will be enjoying the weekend riding their bikes and taking in races, there is a growing group of people working year-round to make sure that every community in Kosciusko County is more bicycle friendly.
Thursday, thanks to the KCV Cycling Club, a “Planning for a Bicycle-Friendly Community” seminar was held at Mad Anthony’s Lake City Tap House in Warsaw.
The program is presented through a joint effort from Bicycle Indiana, the Department of Health and the Indiana Planning Association.
Cyclists of all varieties, along with government officials and members of the public, met to discuss what it takes to become a Bicycle-Friendly Community as well as working on ways to develop more bike paths, safe school zones where kids can bike to school, creating bike lanes and marking roads.
It’s an arduous process to earn the certification.
Communities need to excel in things like education and encouragement of riding a bike.
One thing Kosciusko County isn’t lacking is enthusiasm.
Nancy Tibbett, Bicycle Indiana’s executive director, said that of the seminars they’ve held thus far, including one in Indianapolis, the turnout at the Warsaw seminar was biggest.
Around 100 people stopped by for part or all of the day.
“The big takeaway from this is it gives so much momentum to the community,” said Tibbett.
There are several levels of Bicycle-Friendly Communities.
In Indiana, there are only four communities that have earned a distinction.
Bloomington is a silver-level community while South Bend, Indianapolis and Carmel are all bronze level.
Pete Fritz from the health department was at Thursday’s seminar to discuss both the health benefits of bicycling, and also served as a de facto government proxy.
Fritz helped give insight as to how the area can get funding to help develop the community when it comes to bicycles.
While mapping out a section of Warsaw, Fritz pointed out that paths could be developed near the new Madison Elementary through Safe Routes To Schools funds.
Fred Helfrich is a KCV member and serves as an advocate to help the county earn that certification.
“We’re getting a lot closer,” said Helfrich. “We’re very excited with the turnout for this event.”
Helfrich said the next step is to create an action plan for the community. He said he’d also like to see a task force or committee set up to help put ideas into action.
“Our goal is to go after a lot of low-hanging fruit,” said Helfrich. “The smaller things that we can do, creating safe routes to school zones, marking lanes, things like that we can accomplish in the short term.”
Helfrich said the community probably is still a year or two away from being to the point where they could apply for the Bicycle-Friendly status.
One area that will continue to be developed is in the area of education.
Whether it’s the festival, or press releases or school presentations, Helfrich said KCV will continue to broaden its education of all the benefits of riding a bike.
Helfrich said it was also important for him to broaden the umbrella of the KCV.
“I think for a long time people thought it’s only for people who do road races or mountain bike,” said Helfrich. “But it’s for everyone. It’s for the casual rider or the person who rides a bike out of necessity.”
Along with Mad Anthony’s hosting, the group thanked K21 Health Foundation for its help in bringing the event in.
For more information on the KCV Cycling Club, visit www.kcvcycling.org[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092