No Excuse Zone Orlando-Update
It has taken a while to get the final rides in for the No Excuse Zone, but we finally got them completed and mapped.
We are now going to take this map and perform some additional analysis within the 3 zones. We want to know what the population densities are, % of car traffic and ridership, points of interest, economic centers, neighborhoods, etc. After I get some of this GIS data, I will share the findings. We also want to look at more alternate routes on the ground.
Either way, this graphic demonstrates how efficient many of the arterial roads are to travel here in Orlando. This graphic does not necessarily demonstrate the best routes or the most comfortable routes to ride on. These were strictly the “fastest/direct” routes, and they were all ridden directly on the road or on bike facilities if they were available.
Even though we were able to cover reasonable distances, we could have potentially gone farther, and could have had safer/more comfortable rides if some extra attention had been put on the bicycle and pedestrian transportation and not strictly on automobiles. Hopefully by looking at the statistical data from the 3 zones, we can determine where more investment could potentially be applied, to affect the most people. Ridership will increase by impacting more people and making cycling more comfortable and convenient. Investing in better facilities and cycling/driver education programs are the best ways for Orlando to become more bike/ped friendly.
Ken, who is your intended audience for the map? I hinted at this before but a quick glance at that map shows a whole lot of arterial roads which seem like they’d be pretty miserable to ride. Most folks I know who like the idea of riding would quickly determine from the map that no good routes exist. Hopefully that is not true in general. I see you do have one more comfortable route to the right of 17-92 to Winter Park. But South OBT in rush hour? Is that the only efficient option?
Out of curiosity I did pull up your Brisbane map and looked at the couple of areas I know. It seems that the bike routes tested are different than the respective arterial roads I would normally drive. That is consistent with my expectations of a bike map.
I agree with your take on the Brisbane map and your comparison between the two. This isn’t intended to be a bike route map, but more of an evaluation of existing routes/facilities. That was the same use of the Brisbane map, but they already had existing facilities on those routes that took you in and out of the city.
Orlando has prescribed routes that take you around the city, but the arterial roads are the direct routes. Level of service analysis of these routes would definitely come up short, but that is why I am highlighting Orlando’s existing network. The alternate routes that we are also reviewing, will be more comfortable, but they don’t get you near as far in 30 minutes.
I do hope that this map highlights the efficiency of cycling as transportation, but I do want routes in Orlando to be available to allow anyone to go buy a loaf of bread or some milk on a road that they feel comfortable on.
Fair enough Ken. Indeed, I am surprised to find that Winter Park is within range while using a relatively quiet route. On the other had I didn’t realize Baldwin Park was so far away.
You mentioned prescribed routes. Are those available somewhere?
Jayeson, there is a wayfinding project underway for the Maitland/Winter Park area. It is being funded by Winter Park Health Foundation and carried out by Metroplan. It will include wayfinding signs and a map with the routes on it. I’m not sure of the timetable for when all that will be completed. We hope to expand it to adjacent communities, too.
Cool. I have been collecting up my quality of ride experiences here: http://tinyurl.com/y5wrpun . It makes for a good excuse to get out and do some exploring. Or just ride down a busy collector road to see if is any good. Plus I’m having a blast drawing in all with with Google maps. I’m not sure whether anyone else cares for drawing in routes but Google does have this great feature where you can overlay a bunch of maps on top of each other.
Cool map Jayeson. Maps like this are a good starting point to create a bikeway system on roads that are tried and true.
One of the guys that helped on a few of the No Excuse rides, works for a firm that worked on the Wayfinding Plan for Maitland, Winter Park, and Eatonville. I have seen the draft plan and it looks good.
Keri, do we talk to commissioners, mayor, etc on getting something similar for Orlando? The Families, Parks, and Recreation Vision Plan for Orlando voiced the need for bicycle improvements. Are there things in the works from that, other than the mountain bike park?
Ken, I think Bike/Walk Central Florida will play a primary roll in this. There is some indication that several commissioners are potential allies. Parks & Rec and Get Active Orlando are HUGE allies in all of this. What we need to do is coalesce a community of interested and active citizens — grass roots — who are asking for bike routes, wayfinding, civility, permeability, etc. That’s why I set up the collaborative connectivity map, it gives bwcf some people power — a constituency.
Jayeson, your map rocks! I’m looking forward to studying it more closely.
Ken, the No Excuse Zone Map is great! I’m sure you don’t need someone to suggest more things for you to do, but it would be helpful to have these for all the areas in Metro Orlando with high job concentrations. For the future, those Job/density centers will be the focus of higher density development and transit service. The folks at Metroplan Orlando would be happy to point you to those areas. Also maps could be done for the 17 SunRail Stations.