One of the key tools we will be using in this course in our study of biking around NCSU is a bike audit. A bike audit is an thorough examination of a road or route to assess factors that make it more suitable or more unsuitable for biking. The AARP and the League of American Cyclists have put out a great deal of information on bike audits here. For class on September 11, I would like you to read their toolkit. Also watch this video on bike audits.
In a combination of choosing and being assigned, everyone will end up in a (roughly) ten member group to do one of five audits we are working on. The purpose of these audits is to identify problem spots (or praiseworthy elements) in the biking infrastructure around the NCSU campus.
I have also developed a survey for NCSU students that will provide us some information for each of these audits. I will ask you help in getting students to complete the survey.
A list of the routes to be audited:
1. Hillsborough Street between Cup-A-Joe and Morgan St. (15 people)
2. Connecting Main and Centennial Campuses. (10 people)
3. NCSU and Raleigh’s Greenways (10 people)
4 Biking on NCSU’s campus. (10 people)
5. A City-wide Audit of Bicycling in Raleigh. (15 people)
Review group assignments in Moodle. If you would like to message within the platform, feel free to use the forum here.
Preparation for the Audit
The reading by Furth should provide you with some good scholarly background for thinking about a bike audit. Look it over again. You will be presenting this bike audit to citizens in Raleigh and possibly government or NCSU officials. It will be important to have data, but it is important to have a story. Why should people care? Why is this important?
There are some materials produced by NACTO (the National Association of City Transportation Officials) that describe best practices for bike lanes and bike transportation. I don’t expect you to read all of this, but have a member or two of your group browse through these documents and indicate what might be relevant to you.
— Urban Bikeway Design Guide
— Urban Bikeway Design Guide Working Paper Series
Does your route reflect best practices? Why or why not?
There is an article entitled “Making Cycling Irresistible.” One of your tasks is to see if your route is “irresistible” or not and identify what makes it “resistible.” Are there safety issues? Convenience issues? Lack of attractiveness?
Meeting to Construct a Preliminary Plan
To start out several of you should make yourselves familiar with your assigned route–ideally this would be done by walking/cycling it, but it could also be done through Google Maps/Google Earth. What do you see as the issues your audit should focus on?
During this meeting, if your group decides to assign roles, please note and communicate those with us.
— Deciding What/Where to Measure
Go Through the AARP/LAC Bike Audit ToolKit and map its suggestions to your specific case
— Identify Roles and report these to professor/TA (What are the tasks that need to be done and who will be doing them.).
— Look over route (either in person or via Google Maps/Google Earth)
— What equipment do you need and where will you get it?
the library has some great A/V equipment. The MetaView Glasses will be particularly helpful to take video/images.
Some issues in this bike audit might require communication with government officials. For example, you might want to know who has jurisdiction over a certain street. (the state, the city, or some other entity). You might want to know about accident statistics. To streamline communications, we will appoint one member of the class as liaison.
The most relevant government officials are :
Barbara Goodwin, Raleigh Bike/Ped Manager. Barbara.Godwin@raleighnc.gov
For accidents–Vision Zero Vision Zero is a national-wide program aiming to reduce traffic deaths and injuries
Sean Driskill Raleigh Vision Zero Manager sean.driskill@raleighnc.gov
There are some specific issues related to Hillsborough Street which you should consider.
Timeline
— up to September 11 –chance to express your route preferences
— September 12 groups/routes assigned
— September 30 your preliminary plan: (note this plan will be done by the designers, but should have feedback from other members of the group)
—- what/where you will look at. .
—- assigned roles
—- dates for audit (You should go out at least two times)
Liasons Upload Preliminary Plan Here
— by Oct 10 you will receive feedback from either me, Jordan, or a representative of the bicycle advocacy group Oaks and Spokes
Nov. 15 Audit Due
— copies of your raw data/supporting reports
— a 10 minute presentation of your findings (video, slideshow with audio, podcast, etc.)
— group assessments (by each group member) and individual reflections
Grading
You will be graded on the thoroughness of your analysis, your ability to connect it to class material, your ability to communicate the importance of your work, and your teamwork. If your group has decided to designate specific roles, aspects of grading specific to individual contributions will be considered.
Note: If it is clear that one group (or several groups) have a lot more work in their bike audit than others, I reserve the right to make accommodations (give alternate assignment or ask people to work on another audit) to even things out.