Spring Newsletter 2015

There is a lot going on with Bike Anchorage as we roll into summer, and here are some of the latest and greatest highlights:

Summer Bike, Bus & Walk Commuter Challenge Starts June 1st!

The Bike Anchorage – AIA Commuter Challenge kicks off June 1^st. It’s a friendly competition designed to encourage you to leave the car behind and go by bike, foot, or bus. The competition is based on the number of trips you make, and you compete with other places of work of similar employee size to get the greatest percentage of trips made by healthy, money-saving, and fun choices of biking, walking, or taking the bus. Register your business, agency, department, organization, etc., today! (Check out our FAQ & Rules page too)

Community Rides

Bike Anchorage is excited to start a summer Community Ride Series! Join us every other Wednesday for FREE rides led by volunteers and designed to build community among our neighbors—all by bike! We’ll share low-traffic, cut-throughs and routes, will learn about oru community, and build friendships all for fun. Check out upcoming rides here!

Anchorage Museum Partnerships

Bike Anchorage will also be teaming up with the Anchorage Museum to offer summer bike tours. Check out the schedule here, with more rides to be added as we go!

Ticket! Get your ticket today!

Help Bike Anchorage raise some money for its great work by buying a raffle ticket (or several) to possibly win two Alaska Airlines tickets to anywhere they fly – NO blackout dates—two tickets on the Alaska Railroad, or a Mystery Prize! Only 109 tickets will be sold as we work toward laying down 109 miles of bike lanes. We have changed the date and location of the drawing to the Renewable Energy Fair on Saturday July 25th. You need not be present to win, but we hope to see you there! Get yours today by contacting [email protected]

Moving Forward with More Bike Lanes

Following the success of creating a good Anchorage Bike Plan is now about making it happen. Building bike lanes is key to making our city safer and more comfortable for people to go by bike. We have focused on working with the Municipality to put down core, low-cost bike routes identified in the plan, including A Street and Arctic Boulevard/E Street!

CRW Engineering is a long-time supporter of Bike to Work Day and Bike Fridays with its “Fuel ‘N’ Go” bike station and is recognized by the League of American Bicyclists as a Silver Level Bicycle Friendly Business. CRW is partnering with Kittelson & Associates, a bronze-level business, to implement new projects. You can make your voice heard by adding your comments to this fantastic interactive map of upcoming projects. There is still a long way to go to make the changes Anchorage needs, so be sure to add your name to our petition to have federal dollars set forth for Bike Plan implementation (to make up for the $1.3 million that was lost)—please do so today!

Spring Recap

Bike to the Ballot Box

Bike Anchorage was excited to get out the vote for the mayoral run-off in early May in a fun “Bike to the Ballot Box.” About 80 people came out, and we had amazing partnerships with Anchorage Park Foundation, We Are Anchorage, Alaska Trails, Alaska Center for the Environment, Anchorage Live.Work.Play. Thanks to everyone that came out!

Bike to Work Day 2015

Bike to Work Day has just been growing and growing! With about 30 treat stations, we got over 3,600 people on their bikes that morning. Special thanks to all the treat station hosts, contributors, and volunteers that made it all possible!

Bike To School Day - 2015

Anchorage School District students celebrated Bike to School Day (BTSD) on Wednesday, May 6th with over 50 schools and facilities promoting healthy habits, safe bicycling and a cleaner environment. The Bicycle Shop-Dimond and community organizations partnered to provide a free bike safety check and carnival beforehand. Special thanks to ASD teachers Lindsay Jones and Kimberly Resheske for their work facilitating BTSD this year!

More changes to come!

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REI Grant

We are excited to announce that Bike Anchorage received an REI grant to partner with REI, Alaska Trails and Singletrack Advocates to install bike fix-it stations in town and at trailheads to keep you riding. Look for them to come!

Anchorage Safe Routes to School Grant

The Alaska Injury Prevention Center received a Safe Routes to School (SRTS) grant to implement the "Bikeology" curriculum at ASD schools. The grant supports the purchase of a trailer and 35 One Size Adjusts To All bikes, and safety and maintenance equipment. The program is modeled one in Eugene, OR, where its director Shane MacRhodes will teach ASD’s two-day course on bike safety education at the Anchorage School District Summer Academy in late May.

Anchorage Park Foundation Challenge Grant

Bike Anchorage received Anchorage Park Foundation's 2015 Challenge Grant to install a real-time digital bike counter totem along a popular section of trail and an extensive process for us to analyze and use that data. Currently, the most publicized data on bike commuting is just through volunteers counting the two-wheeled traffic on Bike to Work Day. This project will help Anchorage understand what the numbers are year-round, which in turn will allow organizations and agencies to continue to support increasing those numbers.

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