When the weather gets cold and wet, many people decide to hang up the bicycles for a while and turn to other activities instead. Oulu, Finland, however, is the winter cycling capital of the world, despite the fact that they have eight and a half months of winter every year!
Do you keep riding through all weather? What do you do to stay comfortable and safe when it’s cold, dark, and rainy?
We’ve been working on building up a collection of different bike routes for transportation and recreation, which you can view here. Have you used any of these routes, or do you have suggestions for other routes to add to the collection? Let us know!
Recent additions include the 2014 Rotary Ride route, and two alternative routes between downtown Bryan and Texas A&M University.
The City of College Station is taking bicycle detection to a higher level by adding radar detection to intersections. And to assist bicycle drivers in knowing they are at an intersection with radar detection, we are providing bicycle detection pavement markings.
And, the intersection of Timber Street at George Bush Drive is the first intersection with both of these devices.
At Timber and George Bush we have installed radar detection that detects bicycles more accurately than devices used at other traffic signals throughout the city – inductive loops and cameras. We have also installed bicycle detection markings to inform bicycle drivers that they will be detected at the intersection every time — not hit-or-miss like with other detection devices.
When a bicycle is positioned on top of the marking, the traffic signal knows the bicyclist is waiting for a green light. When the light turns green, they may proceed through the intersection.
As funding becomes available, radar units and bicycle pavement markings will be added to other signalized intersections.
For more information or to express other traffic concerns, contact me at 979-764-3690 or jrobertson@cstx.gov.
James Robertson | Graduate Traffic Engineer
City of College Station | Public Works Department