No Excuse Zone Orlando-Final Map

It has taken a while to get the final rides in for the No Excuse Zone, but we finally got them completed and mapped.

We are now going to take this map and perform some additional analysis within the 3 zones. We want to know what the population densities are, % of car traffic and ridership, points of interest, economic centers, neighborhoods, etc. After I get some of this GIS data, I will share the findings. We also want to look at more alternate routes on the ground.

Either way, this graphic demonstrates how efficient many of the arterial roads are to travel here in Orlando. This graphic does not necessarily demonstrate the best routes or the most comfortable routes to ride on. These were strictly the "fastest/direct" routes, and they were all ridden directly on the road or on bike facilities if they were available.

Even though we were able to cover reasonable distances, we could have potentially gone farther, and could have had safer/more comfortable rides if some extra attention had been put on the bicycle and pedestrian transportation and not strictly on automobiles. Hopefully by looking at the statistical data from the 3 zones, we can determine where more investment could potentially be applied, to affect the most people. Ridership will increase by impacting more people and making cycling more comfortable and convenient. Investing in better facilities and cycling/driver education programs are the best ways for Orlando to become more bike/ped friendly. 

No Excuse Zone Orlando-Update

Yesterday my friends and I rode another installment of the No Excuse Zone-Orlando project. We rode toward College Park and were able to explore the College Park area, north of downtown Orlando.

We have become accustomed to the automobile traffic along these large roads, and it has become very interesting to see how they react to cyclists. We haven't had many issues with confrontations, and most people give us plenty of room when they pass us.

We are typically seeing a lack of bicycle facilities in Orlando, and in some cases are present on extremely wide/fast roads. It brings to question why many of these roadways are not re-striped to narrow the lane widths or even remove some of the unnecessary lanes. This would in turn slow the automobile traffic and also make them more safe for cyclists and pedestrians. It could also create more roadway space that is available for painting a minimum 5' bike lanes for cyclists, and give pedestrians on sidewalks a buffer from the speeding cars.

We are on track to complete the roadway survey portion of this project, in a week or two. Then we are on to more in-depth statistical analysis.

No Excuse Zone Orlando-Update

A few weeks ago I announced my intentions to survey the streets of Orlando to find the most efficient routes to get to and from Orlando's downtown. My team of friends and I  have had several survey rides and have seen lots of interesting conditions, and I want to update you on our progress.

As I mentioned on my initial post, we are riding only in the road/bike lanes or on posted bike trails. We are also maintaining speeds of 13mph to keep all of the rides consistent. Our main focus is to strictly document how long it takes to go certain routes, and how far we can get in a particular amount of time.

The attached graphic shows the time zones that are emerging from the completed rides. We still have a few more rides on the east side of town to make all of the connections accurate, but it is pretty obvious that once you make it out of the downtown core, you can ride fairly easily and go almost 6 miles in 30 minutes, from any direction.

Our steps from here are to continue to fill out this "zone" map for the east side of the city and then head west. We then want to look at several of the influential factors in the areas that we ride (population density, points of interest, existing conditions, etc.) and try to determine if there can be some modifications or enhancement to the current routes to make them more connected and efficient. We will also be looking at some of the alternate routes that some areas may use as options for recreational routes, and not just merely for commuting and getting from point A to B as fast as possible.

We are still making modifications to this graphic and are working to make it as legible as possible. I will keep you posted as this project progresses.

Ride on, because there is No Excuse not to!

No Excuse Zone Orlando-First Ride

The first stage ride of the No Excuse Zone-Orlando project was held this morning. After discussing the multiple route options with my team of volunteers, we felt that completing the north and south arteries would be a good step in seeing how the existing facilities worked in moving cyclists through the city.

We left Lake Eola and traveled east on Robinson and turned north on Mills, to ride up the main north-south connection between Winter Park and Downtown Orlando. Surprisingly we made it up to the intersection at Virginia in 10 minutes (2.1 miles), Fairbanks by 20 (3.85 miles), and finished up at Lake Avenue in 30 (5.85 miles). This was all done by riding in the travel lanes or bike lane when they were present. The automobile traffic was flowing at about 35mph+, but the traffic respected us as equals on the road and we had no issues with aggressive drivers.

The main issues with this route is that the bike lane did start and stop in several locations and this created confusions as a rider as to if the current "planned" bike route wanted you to divert off the main road or continue on. If there had been some wayfinding signage or better route designation, then this would have been a perfect ride to get to the Winter Park, Winter Park Village, and head toward Maitland. In our later analysis we will look at the improvement possibilities and potential recommendations.

On our return trip, we diverted over to Denning Drive and winded our way through some of the residential neighborhoods to get back to Lake Eola. None of the streets had any bicycle facilities, but their character was such that the traffic drove slower and cyclists of any riding level could feel comfortable riding there. The streets were shaded and the occasional view of lakes and parks were a pleasant transition after riding for 30 straight minutes in a sea of concrete and strip development.

This route took about 5 minutes longer to get us back downtown, but that is the whole reason behind the analysis. We can evaluate the different routes and determine the pros and cons and possible solutions to improving them. I am going to work on a graphic to add to this post to show where our ride took us and we plan on riding again next weekend.

After today's ride, I am even further convinced that there is No Excuse not to ride a bicycle in Orlando!

Livin In The Bike Lane Is Catching On

I found out this week that several prominent blogs and websites have stumbled upon LivinInTheBikeLane, and are helping to spread the good word about what we are trying to do here in Orlando about cycling.

Of course CommuteOrlando picked me up a few weeks ago and I have been fortunate enough to share some of my blog posts with them. Check out Keri's latest post that contains a quick video that illustrates proper road riding in traffic. It is really compelling and shows how to not only be an assertive rider, but also demonstrates how traffic responds to cyclists and will give the rider their appropriate space on the road.

Since my blog about my No Excuse Zone-Orlando project, the Tulsa Alternative Transportation Examiner, BikingInLA, and Streetsblog all found the post and shared it with their followers. Check out the screen shots below to see the mentioning of the blog.

I am really excited about getting on the road this weekend and surveying some streets for this project. Look for an update on the progress of the No Excuse Zone-Orlando next week and I'll keep you posted as I hear of more sites sharing and spreading the love of LivinInTheBikeLane!

No Excuse Zone-Orlando

After flying back from Texas, last night's Critical Mass ride was an awesome way to get back in the saddle and to be back amongst bicycle friendly people. Critical Mass in Orlando has finally gotten so large that I am not even sure what the exact number of cyclists participating was, easily over 250-300!

As Orlando increases its cycling ridership, I am starting a small project with some of my cycling friends that may help other commuters and cyclists feel more comfortable in using their bicycle in the urban Orlando environment. We are calling it the No Excuse Zone, based on a project that our company did for Sydney Australia with the same premise. Their project incorporated case studies from multiple cities in Australia and Europe, where they performed this same process.

Our experiment is to start at Lake Eola in the heart of the city and ride out in all directions and document different routes that get us 30 minutes down the road. We think that this will create a map graphic that shows zones around the city that show people how far they can go in 5 minute increments. These routes will be based on the current conditions, but my hope is that through some deeper analysis, we can prescribe some facility solutions that could improve the cycling efficiency and safety.

Stay tuned as our experiment gets started and I get some results. The goal is to show Orlando that they have no excuse to not get on their bikes and ride! Ride on!