Bikes at UK

The UK Campus Bike Plan is currently being designed.

• Results of an online survey of UK faculty, staff, and students conducted by Toole Design Group in Fall 2004.
• Needs assessment written by Toole Design Group in Fall 2004.

Older survey information:

• A survey of the number of cyclists entering and leaving the UK area was conducted in September 1998.
• Results of an online survey of commuter-cyclists (mostly UK faculty and staff) conducted in February-April 2002.

If you commute to work at UK by bicycle, you may not be aware of two policies that may simplify your life considerably.

• As many one-day scratch-off permits as desired can be purchased at the UK Parking and Transportation office for ca. $2.75 each by faculty or staff (but not students) who do not own parking permits. You can purchase a bundle, stick them in your glove compartment, and use them whenever you need them.
• The UK Parking and Transportation office offers rides to the airport for UK employees who do not bring their cars to campus.

You may want to peruse the UK bicycle map. All UK cyclists should read the UK Bicycle Regulations to learn the campus rules. A few points are worth mentioning here.

• Pedestrians always have the right of way.

• Never ride your bicycle against the traffic flow. Pedestrians at UK have been seriously injured when they stepped into the path of a bike traveling the wrong way on the road.

• Avoid riding on the sidewalk, if possible.

• Wear a helmet. Even the most careful cyclist will occasionally take a spill, and a helmet can prevent a minor accident from turning into a life-changing one. If you think a helmet makes you look less "cool", think about how much less cool you will look when you have to wear a bib to soak up the drool dribbling from the side of your mouth after you fall off your bike and sustain a head injury.

• Never run stop signs or red lights, and follow all rules of the road. Even the best helmet won't protect you if you are broadsided by a car. The most serious bike-car collisions happen when cyclists are unpredictable.

• Do not lock your bike to a stairway railing; it will be confiscated. Instead, park your bike in a designated bike rack. There are enough bike racks on campus to accomodate 3000 bicycles, so you have no excuse not to use them.

UK has recently completed a master plan for the physical growth of the campus. The final draft of the bicycle-pedestrian portion of the Master Plan is now available. The following is a report on the Master Plan by Ann Hartell, who attended a presentation on the plan in mid-September 2002.

They basically have three main principles that they used:

1. create academic communities with distinct sense of place, tradition
2. use a sustainable pattern of growth taking into consideration environmental considerations (sinkholes, storm water, etc.) and energy conservation
3. better connections to downtown (these guys have also been doing the planning for the College Town project)

In terms of transit, they want to greatly decrease the ratio of cars to people on the campus. Currently it is 2 people for every one car--they believe it could be 4:1. They cited numerous examples of campuses that have done this--Arizona, UCal Davis, U of Michigan, Penn State, UNC. The reason this matters?

• Asphalt is environmentally bad--runoff, heat generation, etc.
• Asphalt is ugly
• Asphalt is taking up space that could be better used--in fact they see the surface lots at UK as a resource--building sites or potential greenspace!

Their projections mean that by 2020, 10,585 people on campus would have to find another way to travel besides a car.

Means to do this:

• Raise cost of parking tags (this will cause dissension in the ranks!)
• Reduce demand for tags by improving other transit mechanisms
• Improve transit service to off-campus sites
• Improve bicycle facilities
• Making walking more pleasant and safer

They were careful to point out that the savings realized by not building parking structures/lots is not totally cash in the bank. Developing alternatives costs $$$ as well and promotional activities to get people to quit driving cost $$$. They estimated their plan would require $5.6 million invested in doing this. However, a parking space in a parking structure really costs $1500 per year for construction, maintenance, and financing.

Specifics to bicycle transit: basically it seems integrated into the whole design.

• They were adamant that the axis from Young Library to Memorial Hall be redesigned as a pedestrian plaza & bike passage, eliminating the parking on the west side of Rose but having walkways generous enough to accommodate service/emergency vehicles. They had a nice example of another campus where they had done this.
• They propose having Rose loop around and be a circular driveway for drop-off at the hospital instead of going clear through (closed at Huguelet). Only bikes and peds could pass between buildings to continue down the current Rose routes. At this point, the issue of emergency vehicles using Rose was brought up and they responded that the Medical Center is saying that the ambulances that use Rose are new drivers and drivers from other counties--experienced Lexington drivers use Limestone--so Med Center has no problem with closing it off.
• Dedicated cycling routes down Cooper and Limestone along with traffic calming stuff like landscaped medians and narrow lanes. They believe that traffic should slow down on campus and that there shouldn't be freeways. They also believe that ped bridges should be avoided as that is "giving up on the street" and abandoning it to cars.
• Connecting Virginia through to Rose.
• A Park and Ride system for students who live off campus.

It seems that they envision bicycles as being a vital part in improving the look and function of campus. As an aside, they said something about how University was going to be striped with bike lanes and when I told them that there is some resistance to striping the improved bike lanes because the lanes would have to go to 10', and they seemed disgusted. The traffic engineer expressed how that attitude demonstrates the kind of real changes of perception that will have to take place.

A gentleman raised the question of whether or not all this building expansion was necessary given the Distance Learning programs. The planners responded that they believed it is important for university students to go off and live on a campus. I also commented that I would hope that UK would want to develop into a campus where people learn about different ways of moving around and perhaps that could be carried away and applied in communities wherever alumni might end up. By adopting the plan, UK could be a real force for better cities/transit planning everywhere. Anyway, the planners like that . . .

... If the trustees accept this plan, that will require that facilities for bicycles be integrated into everything that is done from here out.

They present to the trustees tomorrow--the final plan comes in in October.

Anyone who commutes to UK by bike knows the challenges that commuter-cyclists face, but many problems are reduced when cyclists are courteous to drivers and pedestrians and follow the rules of the road. Meanwhile, we are continuing to try to make UK a more bike-friendly place. Suggestions are most welcome.