Saddle up, cyclists. Raleigh plans this spring to install its first on-street parking corral for bikes.

It will replace an automobile parking space on the south side of East Hargett Street, just west of South Wilmington Street, near the Raleigh Times bar and restaurant.

A corral is a big bike rack. This one will have room for 10 to 12 bicycles, said Eric Lamb, the city's transportation planning director. It's being donated by Saris Cycling Group, a Wisconsin bike-rack maker.

Raleigh has regular bike racks, enough to provide free parking for about 100 bicycles, installed on sidewalks around the downtown. Sometimes these bikes compete for space with pedestrians on busy sidewalks. A sidewalk rack nearby will be removed when the on-street corral is installed on Hargett, Lamb said.

“If it gets good use and we don’t have any problems with maintenance or damage, maybe we can expand this to other locations” downtown or along Hillsborough Street, Lamb said. When this parking space is taken out of circulation for cars, the city will add two new metered parking spaces in a little-used commercial loading zone nearby.

Lamb said he knew of only one other on-street bike corral in the state -- in Wilmington.

If you want that red light to turn green, park your bike right here.

That's the message behind this pavement marker on Farrington Road / Beaver Creek Road (SR 1008) at the U.S. 64 intersection in the Wilsonville community near Jordan Lake.  You can see the diagonal cut for an embedded pavement wire sensor that tells the traffic signal you're waiting for your green light. [9/18/12 update: see today's Road Worrier column with reader comments.]

Cyclists: Do these things work? Let me hear from you. Please include your name and weekday phone contact info.

NCDOT installed this one in rural Chatham County. Local officials have installed bike detectors at traffic signals in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Charlotte, Greensboro and other burgs.  (Why not Raleigh?) ... [MORE]

Maybe it wasn't head-strong bicyclists who started that little dust-up on Dairyland Road between the two-wheelers and a DOT paving contractor. Maybe, Orange County bike rider Ivan Bachelder says, it was the contractor's fault.

As the Road Worrier reported today (see column with reader comments), DOT is repaving the rural Orange County road, extremely popular with bike riders, and adding 24-inch paved shoulders on both sides. There were alarms when the paving contractor pilot truck found itself meeting cyclists head-on.

DOT and others said the cyclists had ignored a flagger's request to stop, and had decided to go.

But at least in some cases, Bachelder said by email, the pilot vehicle drove too fast and the cyclists fell behind. Then, when making a return trip, the pilot truck met the cyclists head-on: ... [MORE]

Triangle-area planners have won nearly $100,000 in grants from the state Department of Transportation to promote walking and bicyling in their communities.

Holly Springs will use a $28,000 grant to develop a plan for providing bike facilities and encouraging cycling in the town. Raleigh will use a $47,500 grant and Creedmoor will use a $24,000 grant to develop pedestrian plans.

The three communities were among 12 cities and towns that received $327,100 in planning grants from the state Department of Transportation.

At hundreds of locations worldwide - including one in the Triangle - cyclists will gather at 7 p.m. Wednesday for a slow Ride of Silence to honor other cyclists who have been killed or injured while riding on public roads.

The local event is in Research Triangle Park, a 6-mile loop starting and ending at the Triangle Life Science Building, 86 T.W. Alexander Drive (corner of NC 54 and Triangle Drive).

Cyclists should arrive early. The group will be escorted by Durham police reserve officers. Helmets are required. Lights are suggested (and required at night by state law - sunset is at 8:10 p.m.). ... [MORE]

These transportation bills were filed on first day of the 2010 legislative session:

- HB 1685 (Cole) TURNPIKE AUTHORITY TOLL ENFORCEMENT CHANGES

- HB 1686 (Cole) BICYCLE SAFETY CHANGES (require cyclists to travel no more than two abreast on the highway, and to go single file when a faster car wants to pass them)

- SB 1129 (Boseman) GAP FUNDING FOR CAPE FEAR SKYWAY BRIDGE (set aside $40 million a year to cover gap between cost and expected toll collections on this Turnpike Authority project)

- SB 1131 (Goss) TURNPIKE AUTHORITY TOLL ENFORCEMENT CHANGES

- SB 1132 (Goss) MOTOR VEHICLES LAW CHANGES

At this hour, the legislature's Joint House-Senate Transportation Oversight Committee is deciding which transportation bills it will push in the legislative session that starts this week. One of them would tell bicycle riders not to travel more than two abreast, and it would have them go single file when cars want to get past them.

And as we speak, two-wheelers and four-wheelers are mixing it up in a parallel online debate (see today's Road Worrier column with lots of reader comment) about the bike bill.  

You can find the text of that draft legislation below (the one whose filename ends in 27) along with draft bills that would tackle predatory towing (... 26) and give the Turnpike Authority more power to collect those electronic tolls in the not-too-distant future (... 30).

Documents:

I'm writing about one proposed bill that could change relations between motorists and bicyclists in North Carolina, and about a second bill that would put new limits on towing operators that remove cars from private parking lots.

If you've had experience with either of these issues, I'd like to hear from you. Please e-mail me and let me know how I can contact you. [See updates, added 5/10/10, below.]

1) With NCDOT reminding North Carolinians during Bicycle Safety Month that "bicyclists share the same rights and responsibilities as other drivers," legislators are considering a proposal to put new restrictions on groups of bike riders when they share the highways with car drivers. ... [MORE]

With 12 days left in the 2010 campaign, 4151 Triangle folks have taken the SmartCommute Challenge.

You simply pledge to try a new way of getting to work or to campus. How hard is that?

The deadline is May 15.  Participants are eligible for bikes, gadgets, $1500 cash and other prizes.

I know from past SmartCommute campaigns that this is how lots of people discover whether taking the bus could be a real option for them. Sometimes, they find the answer is Yes.

This year the three-county campaign also features a Flickr photo contest with $750 for the best pic submitted by folks showing how they bike, bus, walk, carpool or (I'm leaving something out I know) telecommute to work. Oh, or vanpool. I know they don't say telecommute any more - they say telework.

The 2010 SmartCommute Challenge is about to crank up. That means Triangle commuters will get the chance to win cool stuff in exchange for simply promising to experiment with a new way of getting to work.

This is a three-county, month-long campaign for people who commute to jobs or college in the Triangle. To reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality, commuters are encouraged to cut back on driving solo. Alternatives include taking the bus, joining a carpool or vanpool, walking or biking, or "teleworking" from home.

It's pretty easy. Between April 15 (Thursday) and May 15, ... [MORE]