Kansas Cyclist - Kansas Bicycle Guide and Reference

Cyclists in Omaha, Nebraska are celebrating the release of Omaha’s first bike route map.

The map is designed as a tool to help cyclists find routes through the city by bicycle. Although Omaha has a growing metropolitan trail system, trails don’t go everywhere, and people often must use the street system for commuting, access to trails, recreational trips, and other purposes. The bike route map is intended to compliment the Metro Area Trails map produced by the City of Omaha.

The map identifies multi-use trails and bike lanes, paved shoulders, continuous streets, survivable arterials and cautionary streets. The map is destination-based, showing points of interest in the Metro area as well as where the local bike shops are located. The new map color-codes streets based on their traffic levels, space for cyclists and other factors. The map also notes the city’s steepest hills.

The map, produced by community health group Activate Omaha, is available for free from local bike shops and Community Centers, or you can request a copy by email (send your name and mailing address to info@activateomaha.org). You can also view the map online (PDF).

Read more: New bike map may push people to ride more from the Omaha World-Herald, Omaha: New map inspires cyclists from Bike Commute Tips Blog.

The Omaha World-Herald recently ran a series of articles about Driving’s new reality, which incuded articles such as “Energy-efficient hybrid buffers costs of a long commute”, “Those carefree car days mom recalls from youth: gone”, and “Farmer saw the writing on the wall, and it said ‘$$$$’”.

The articles point to people starting to change their driving habits, noting that gasoline consumption in Nebraska and Iowa has decreased slightly in recent months.

In one of the articles in the series, He bikes to work in an effort to wean himself off car use, Omaha bicycle commuter Troy Nelson is profiled:

After a combination of $3 gas and a price hike at his parking garage, Nelson decided in February to begin biking to work. With spring here and summer on the way, Nelson expects to make the 7-mile round trip by bike every workday, shaving his driving by 35 miles a week just as the year’s highest gas prices hit.

Biking can be rough in Omaha traffic. Part of Nelson’s route includes 24th and Leavenworth Streets. Drivers have yelled and cars have passed very close. “When you commute, you have to know where to ride in the lane,” he said. “If you’re too far to the side, cars try to pass you without changing lanes. I can only wish for bike lanes.”

Congratulations, Troy, for making the decision to bike to work.

But still, when a 7-mile round-trip bicycle commute is seen as extraordinary, and when a daily 100-mile commute (from the “hybrid” article) is seen as reasonable, attitudes toward the “new reality” of the ever-increasing costs of gasoline still have a long way to go…

North Platte, Nebraska has a borrow-a-bike program called “Healthy Pedals”, which provides bicycles and gear that residents and visitors can check out, free of charge, to explore the trails, streets, and highways. North Platte is the point where the North Platte River and South Platte River join to create the Platte River, and the resulting river valleys are among the most scenic areas in the state.

North Platte has an extensive trail system, and numerous lakes and parks. Other North Platte attractions include the Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park, the world’s largest railyard, Bailey Yard, the Lincoln County Historical Museum, containing displays detailing the history of the famous North Platte World War II Canteen, and the 20th Century Veterans Memorial.

The Healthy Pedals bicycle checkout program is housed at the North Platte Recreation Center (1300 South McDonald Road), which offers bicycles for adults and children, including tandems and trailers. Checkouts are free of charge with a valid drivers license and a valid credit or debit card. Helmets and locks are also provided at no charge. You can also rent GPS devices for a modest fee.

Although walk-ins are welcome, you are encouraged to make reservations at least 24 hours in advance. Reserve your bikes by calling 308-535-6772.

See also: North Platte Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The Winter 2007-08 edition of The Nebraska Blueprint has two bicycle-related articles:

• Bike Lanes: Making Space for Safety discusses the evolution of the bike lanes in downtown Lincoln, and quotes Scott Opfer, manager of engineering services and operations for the city of Lincoln, and Randy Hoskins, assistant city engineer:

  Since the bike lanes became available in late August 2006, Opfer and Hoskins have received mixed feedback.

  Most negative feedback has come from motorists. Most of the issues raised by motorists concern the loss of a lane of automobile traffic, as well as traffic congestion near parking garages.

  As far as cyclist feedback, most has been positive, Hoskins said. “Most cyclists have been pretty happy with it,” Hoskins said. “They’re glad to have their own space on the street.”

  Because the bike lanes have enhanced downtown Lincoln, Hoskins said he looks forward to the incorporation of more bike trails and lanes. If the bike lanes gain greater acceptance and popularity residents of Lincoln “will see some of those plans continue on,” he said.

  “Hopefully this is like a first step in making the town more bicycle friendly, particularly for students who attend the university,” Hoskins said.

• Engineering The Downhill Bike features an interview with Joel Smith, owner of Tomac Mountain Bikes, a company based in Lincoln that produces high-performance mountain bikes. The article focuses on the development and testing of Tomac’s new downhill racing bike, The Primer 220 DH:

  The Primer 220 “is designed for a very specific and unique application: big jumps, drop offs and generally extremely rough terrain. In fact, the end user is typically riding a chair lift to access the trails, so it’s not your normal Sunday afternoon ride around town bike,” Smith said. Simply put, downhill biking is a race to the bottom of a steep hill. And while skill is a major factor in handling the terrain, the race is a short one – meaning the performance of the bike is extremely important.

The Nebraska Blueprint is a biannual publication produced by students at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln