Bikeville
Bikeville is the City of Greenville’s bicycle friendly community initiative to educate
and empower every bicyclist and motorist to Share the Road. The goal is to provide
safe bicycling facilities and useful educational resources about bicycle safety
issues in our community.
Download Bicycle Safety Brochure
Background
The City of Greenville’s Bicycle Friendly Community Initiative began is 2006 by a
City Council Resolution. The goal of a Bicycle Friendly Greenville is to
provide infrastructure, education, and outreach to increase the number of trips
made by bicycles. This will be achieved by improving our roads to accommodate bicyclist
and the creation of programs that encourage alternative transportation.
Bicycle Friendly Community
The League of American Bicyclists has honored Greenville with its prestigious Bicycle
Friendly Community award. The League of American Bicyclists’ mission is to promote
bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation and work through advocacy and education
for a bicycle-friendly America. Greenville was granted the bronze-level Bicycle
Friendly Community designation for four years and the League of American Bicyclists
will provide the City with feedback on what it can do to make Greenville even more
bicycle-friendly. Announcement of the Bicycle Friendly Community designation comes
at an ideal time as the City plans to begin a comprehensive Bicycle Master Plan
study in January 2010.
The City submitted its Bicycle Friendly Community application in August 2009. The
application was carefully reviewed and scored by a committee, which also consulted
with local cyclists in the Greenville community. Communities are judged in five
categories, which the League of American Bicyclists refers to as the Five Es: Engineering,
Education, Encouragement, Enforcement and Evaluation & Planning. A community must
demonstrate achievements in each of the five categories in order to be considered
for an award.
According to Bill Nesper, director of the Bicycle Friendly Community Program for
the League of American Bicyclists, the award is presented only to communities with
remarkable commitments to bicycling and is a national recognition of the City’s
“tremendous efforts to create a truly Bicycle Friendly Community.”
View a slide show of some of the Bikeville initiatives
Bicycle Maps
The following links utilize Google mapping technology and are intended to help guide
bicyclists along bicycle friendly routes. The hope is that you will use the interactive
maps to discover which network elements are most convenient to your home, work,
or frequented destinations. Our goal is to provide a convenient tool that can be
used to discover our bicycle friendly community. Each map link will display a specific
network type such as Bicycle Lanes, Greenway Trails, Bicycle Routes, and Mountain
Bike Trails. Maps can be viewed without a Google account, however if you already
have a Google account or decide to create one, you can Manage and "Save"
each map in the "My Maps" section of Google Maps. We will be adding to
these maps, so check back frequently to get the latest information.
If you have any problems with the following links or maps, send an email to
bikeville@greenvillesc.gov. Please
remember to ride safe, wear a helmet and follow the rules of the road.
Current Bicycle Lanes Map
Current Greenway Trails Map
Current Signed Bicycle Routes Map
Current Mountain Bike Trails Map
Overall Bike Network Map
View Greenville County's "signed Bike Route" maps
County Swamp Rabbit Trail Map
Greenway Bicycle Ride
What: Lunch time Greenway Bicycle Ride
When: Third Friday of Each Month @ 12:00 p.m.
Where: Meet at Linky Stone Children’s Garden (on Reedy View Drive
, near River St .)
Who: Anyone with a bicycle and a helmet
Join Brian Graham, the City’s Greenway Planner, for a bicycle ride along the City’s
section of the Swamp Rabbit Trail. This is a great opportunity to get out of the
office, enjoy some fresh air and get some exercise on a Friday afternoon. All level
of bicyclists are encouraged to attend - the pace will be easy and no one will be
left behind. We’ll meet at 12 noon at Linky Stone Children’s Garden and ride for
about 30 minutes. A longer ride may be available for those who don’t need to make
it back to the office in such a timely manner.
All participants are encouraged to wear a helmet. This ride takes place on
the 3rd Friday of every month, so mark your calendar’s in advance…For more information, please contact Brian
Graham at 467-4350 or bgraham@greenvillesc.gov.
Download informational
flyer on the Greenway Bicycle Ride
Bike Month Events
Each May, the City organizes annual events to celebrate National Bike Month. There
are so many ways to join the festivities in May.
View Bike Month 2009 Schedule
Bicycle Friendly Greenville Updates
On Tuesday, July 15th, 2008, the City of Greenville hosted a Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) Workshop with the
BFC Director for the League of American Bicyclist.
View the Presentation
View the Workshop Results
and Action Step Recommendations
Summary
of Action Step Recommendations as determined by the workshop attendees:
- Start a BFC Committee and set the goal of applying for the BFC application and reaching
Gold by a certain time. To volunteer for the BFC Committee,
email Andrew Meeker.
- Set up a League Cycling Instructor seminar to certify instructors who can teach
children, adults, an motorists. Start regular class for each of these groups.
- Create a plan for improved signage (bike lanes, yield to bikes/pedestrians, share
the road, bike parking) – start implementation on most traveled roads first.
- Expand the bicycle network and increase network connectivity through the use of
bike lanes, shared lane arrows and signed routes. This will provide a broader range
of facility choices for users of various abilities and comfort levels.
- Facilitate the creation of a stronger, more centralized advocacy group that will
take the lead on education and encouragement program. Work with the PCC to launch
this initiative
- Create a bicycling website for Greenville that will act as a central hub for bicyclists
and potential bicyclists to gather education tips, local bike routes, people to
ride with, and news about events and other cycling-related activities. This site
will also act as a place for bicyclists to comment on current bicycle projects and
to report facility maintenance issues, etc.
- Expand public education campaigns to promote the "share the road" message and the
rights and responsibilities of all users. Develop public service announcements for
TV, radio, and in print.
- Adopt a Complete Streets policy in the community.
- Develop a series of short (2-5 mi.) loops rides around the community and provide
appropriate way-finding signage. Integrate these rides into a local bike map.
- Improve marketing and education of bike rack and bus bike rack use. Ensure that
drivers are educated as well.)
- Fill out BFC application!
The following is a list of BFC initiatives already underway:
View examples of some infrastructural improvements that
you may see around town.
Downtown Bike Plan
In 2005, City Staff and members of the
Greenville Spinners Bicycle Club collaborated to develop
a
Master
Plan for bicycle infrastructure improvements. This plan was then presented
and approved by Greenville City Council in 2006. Although much has changed in the
years since the plan was originally developed, it is still used as a framework for
a network of on-street bicycle friendly streets.
Bicycle Parking
The City's
Bicycle Parking Ordinance is designed to encourage development
projects to include alternative parking methods that accommodate bicycle travel.
The Ordinance requires that any new development which provides vehicular parking
areas, provide bicycle parking at a rate of 10% of the proposed vehicular parking.
It also allows projects to substitute a percent of required vehicular parking by
providing additional bicycle parking, thereby reducing parking lot areas. This Ordinance
ensures that Greenville will continue it's efforts to meet the needs of it's citizens
and visitors while protecting the environment.
The City has recently installed Bicycle Racks throughout downtown.
See plan for locations. For additional information on types of Bicycle Racks
and other Bicycle Parking Guidelines,
click here.
Rack n Ride
All
GreenLink buses now
have the capacity to carry 2 bicycles. Bicycles ride for FREE. Loading the bikes
is easy, just follow the directions on the rack., or view an instructional video
now.
History was made for cyclist’s safety in South Carolina in June 2008. Governor Mark
Sanford Signed into law The Bicycle Safety Act, which amended Article 27, Chapter
5, Title 56 of the 1976 Code. The Act is designed to provide greater safety for
bicyclists on South Carolina roads and to bring South Carolina statutes into greater
conformity with the Uniform Vehicle Code. This effort was spearheaded by the PCC
(Palmetto Cycling Coalition) and was supported by cycling advocates statewide. Review
a
is an important step in the City’s Bicycle Friendly Community campaign.
It also reinforces the City’s commitment to improving travel conditions and travel
choices for people of all ages & abilities. The City of Greenville is now committed
more than ever to providing appropriate accommodations for pedestrians, bicyclists,
and transit riders…while promoting safe operation for all users.
Planning for and accommodating all roadway users makes everyone safer, including
motorists. Complete Streets have across-the-board benefits like improving air quality
and public health while providing transit options. The
cites one study that “found that
43 percent of people with safe places to walk within 10 minutes of home met recommended
activity levels, while just 27 percent of those without safe places to walk were
active enough.”