the Shasta Living Streets team | Shasta Living Streets

November 1, 2012, NE corner of Bechelli Lane and Cypress Avenue, 4-5:00pm, Party continuing at View 202 after 5:00pm

Join Us on November 1^st for a celebration of Redding’s First Sharrow and of the positive movement in Redding and across our region for complete streets infrastructure and roadway design that makes it possible to walk and bicycle safely for everyday transportation and health.

Sharrows are roadway markings used to: Improve the position of bicyclists and motorists on roads without bike lanes; Reduce aggressive motorist behavior; Encourage safe bicycling behavior; Increase the comfort and safety of people who bicycle on city streets; Increase the number of people who bicycle for everyday transportation by addressing people’s number one concern: safety.

Why are we excited about sharrows? Sharrows help reduce conflict on the roadway and they send the welcome message that bikes belong. They help bicyclists ride out of the gutter and away from car doors. Sharrows are a low cost improvement for a livable city.

Why a sharrow in this location? People on bicycles use this street on their way from neighborhoods and businesses on the south and east side of town, out to the Dana to Downtown connection across the river. This section of road was deemed too narrow for a bike lane. The sharrow helps bicyclists know where to be without a bicycle lane, and helps motorists know to expect bicyclists here.

MEDIA:

Jefferson Public Radio – Audio recording, interview with Anne Wallach Thomas and Charlie Gandy, October 31, about sharrows and active transportation in our region.

Cyclists celebrate accessibility to Redding streets, article in the Record Searchlight about sharrows and bicycling in our community. “We want people to feel safe doing things that are healthy and make them feel good,” – Councilwoman Francie Sullivan

Bicycling and walking for everyday transportation is good for a lot of things — it’s healthy, it’s green, it’s quiet, it’s fun, it’s fast, and it builds community. Creating a safe place on our streets for bicycles and pedestrians does not require big, expensive new infrastructure projects; it’s about revising how we use our already existing streets. It’s about making cities and towns in our region navigable, not just by cars, but also by human power. It’s about providing the basics to everyone, in their neighborhood, now — thus giving people transportation choice.

Safe access for bicycling and walking for everyday transportation has been shown to address many health and community concerns: obesity and disease from sedentary lifestyles, economic hardship as energy prices rise, air pollution, inactivity of children and youth, streets that don’t support neighborhood retail, neighborhoods that lack livability, and death and injury to people from transit-way crashes.

Shasta Living Streets is a local program that seeks to increase the health and community benefits of everyday physical activity for all community members in our region by promoting safe access for biking and walking as everyday transportation.

Stay Connected with our Active Community: Facebook: Shasta Living Streets