Participate in the Santa Fe’s Bike Future

The Santa Fe Metropolitan Bicycle Master Plan is open for public comment, bringing up new questions about equity and access on the Southside

Santa Fe has done a lot to try to become a more bike-friendly town over the last decade. Sure, riding through some areas of the city and along major roadways like Cerrillos Road still feel like a risky experiment as cars whiz by uncomfortably close to the bike lane, and crossing major intersections can make even the most seasoned cyclists nervous.

But with new bike lanes along many roads in town, the completion of projects such as the underpass under St. Francis Drive and the extension of the paved River Trail, Rail Trail and the Arroyo Chamisa Trail, commuting to work by bike has become a whole lot safer and is certainly more enjoyable than it once was. Yet, these improvements have been disproportionately concentrated on the northwest side of town.

On the Southside, much remains to be improved, and even though certain trail projects have been completed in the area, connections between bike routes are often missing or hard to find.

The Santa Fe Metropolitan Planning Organization released a draft on Friday for the updated 2019 Santa Fe Metropolitan Bicycle Master Plan for a 30-day public comment period.

The draft outlines everything that has been accomplished in making Santa Fe a more bikeable city since the plan was originally published in 2012, and provides all currently available biking statistics for the city. This year's update reexamines which projects to prioritize going forward, and aims to serve as the primary guiding document for city planners when it comes to any bike-related public works projects. In crafting the plan, the MPO turned to national guidelines from the League of American Bicyclists, with the hope of achieving a Gold ranking from the organization as a "Bicycle Friendly Community" by 2024. Since 2012, the city's ranking has risen from bronze to silver, reflecting significant improvements since the master plan was initiated.

For those who cycle, the opportunity to comment is well worth paying attention to, because the plan only gets updated every five years.

Top policy recommendations outlined in the draft are:

  • Education of motorists and bicyclists about safe behavior;
  • Creation of incentives to travel by bike; and
  • Establishment of a district wide safe rides to school program.

Suggested implementation steps are all about extending the networks of trails and connections for bicyclists and adding new bike lanes to existing roadways, as well as creating safer means for crossing major roads.

The plan organizes potential future projects for the short term, mid term, and the long term. New features include an interactive website and database that will  map both past and present bike-related infrastructure projects and allow ongoing opportunities for public input.

"In the short term, for instance, one project that we are prioritizing is to build an underpass along the rail trail going under St. Mikes," MPO Transportation Planner Erick Aune tells SFR. "Many people might not be riding their bikes if they are worried about crossing these big intersections, so we want to make those safer. We also want to continue the River Trail and keep on building trails infrastructure south of town. In the long term, it's about looking at how to create a complete network of trails and systems to make easy to get around anywhere and to solve some of our equity issues."

Aune says that addressing equity is one of the major changes in the 2019 approach to the plan.

But is this shift in focus enough to truly address equality issues when it comes to transportation in our city? Among other factors, community input in the form of a survey that garnered 858 responses from bicyclists in Santa Fe played an important role in the prioritization of projects and policy recommendations—yet the respondents to the survey were predominantly white, male and over 65, even after the survey period was extended in an effort to reach a more diverse demographic.

George Cortez is the Bike Resource Center head organizer at Chainbreakers, a volunteer bike shop and clinic that offers free bike services and maintenance help for youth and  those who may not be able to afford a car, and serves as a community resource for anyone who wants to wean themselves from car dependence and learn to turn a wrench to do their own repairs. Cortez estimates more than half of the people who visit the shop are Hispanic, a little less than half are female, and most are in their 20s to 50s. Though the MPO enlisted the Bike Resource Center to help reach a larger demographic for the survey, Cortez says they did not get enough time to collect responses that accurately reflect both the demographics of the city and of cyclists.

Cortez identifies the need to educate both cyclists and motorists about road safety and bike laws as one of the most important things the city can do to make Santa Fe more bike friendly. This is in line with the 2019 master plan, where education is at the top of the priority list. Yet when it comes to proposals for future projects, Cortez says more could be done to find out what the needs are of working families living on the Southside.

"If you look at the Southside, biking becomes a lot more dangerous," says Cortez, explaining that many bikers still have to rely on the bike lanes along the sides of major thoroughfares such as Airport Road to get to town. And, to date, none of the projects have addressed safe passage across Cerrillos Road, for example. According to data collected by the MPO, intersections along major thoroughfares in Santa Fe are also where most accidents happen.

"The thing is that that's where our workers reside. That's where our resources should be focused going forward. But without getting out into those communities and figuring out what they really need, our dollars won't be as effectively spent as they could be," says Cortez.

On Sundays, a crew of volunteer bike mechanics teach people how to fix their bikes for free at the Chainbreakers BRC. Community members who can't afford to buy a bike can get one for free in exchange for volunteering their time and at the shop and learning how to maintain their own wheels. "We are trying to teach the public to be self-sufficient, to be empowered to fix their own bikes," says Cortez. Those who participate in the exchange get a free bus pass to boot as part of the city's buss pass rebate program, which offers a free bus pass to anyone who spends more than $200 at certain bike shops or who volunteers in exchange for a bike at Chainbreakers.

All parts and frames at the BRC are donated.

The shop is also in the last week of taking applications for its yearly Bicycle Resource Center University, a free 13-week program that teaches participants how to do everything on a bike from fixing a flat to putting a bike together from parts. Applicants are chosen based both of need and on demonstration of a commitment to give back to their communities. The deadline to apply for the course is April 30.

If you regularly bike on the Southside, now's the time to provide feedback on the master plan to see if it accurately reflects your needs. Get a hard copy of the draft at citywide bike week events from May 11-29.

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