Recently, I was selected to serve on the board of directors for the Friends of the Lafitte Corridor (FOLC), an organization dedicated to turning an abandoned rail line running from the New Orleans French Quarter into public recreation space and linear park.

The Lafitte Corridor played a huge role in the development of New Orleans. First a canal dug by the Spanish as a route for commerce, the city enclosed the canal and allowed the Great Southern Railway to use the right of way for their rail line into the city. The railway ran through historic neighborhoods like Storyville (red light district and birthplace of jazz) Treme (home to Creoles, voodoo & red beans) and Mid City (Bayou Saint John, streetcars & above ground cemeteries), terminating at Canal and Basin Streets. With the building of New Orleans' Union Passenger Terminal in the 1940's, the railway slowly fell into disuse; most of the tracks were ripped up about a year ago.

Although the bike trail along the Lafitte Corridor has been in New Orleans' master transportation plan for years, funds for the project just began to emerge before Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, the catastrophic flooding New Orleans endured due to poorly designed federal flood protection barriers have forced city government to operate in crisis mode for an extended time.

Recognizing that a sharply reduced City Hall staff placed the bike trail and greenway corridor in peril of being lost to developers, a citizen's coalition of neighbors, former residents and local cyclists came together to form FOLC. Though new, FOLC has already received a variety of grants including one from the Rails To Trails Conservancy; to date, over $400,000 has been raised for the project. Additionally, a new film studio known as LIFT is building an initial phase of the trail along the edge of their property so the linear park is certainly moving forward.

Help FOLC Railbank The Historic Lafitte Corridor
Railbanking this former right of way of the Great Southern Railway into a bike trail does more than generate green space; it preserves a corridor that played a central role in the birth of Jazz and the development of New Orleans. Also, a blighted and overgrown corridor can become an enduring symbol of hope and place of recreation that will spur redevelopment and growth at a vital time. As a board member of FOLC, I humbly ask for your help. Visit our new website (folc-nola.org), tell your friends what we're doing and, if possible, donate some time or money to see this project through.

Respectfully,
Larry Lagarde

Labels: bike trail, bikeway, commuting, rail bank, rail banking, rail trail, recreation, transportation

Did you know that in Los Angeles, the average time a driver spends in traffic totals a ridiculous two and a half weeks per year?

Glen Janken is a 55 year old native of Los Angeles that's had it with L.A.'s notorious traffic. He's resolved to use alternate transportation like buses and bikes to get around.

Yesterday, Glen wrote about a recent shopping excursion. He rode his bike 30 miles to the store then rode the bus back, placing the bicycle on the bike rack on the front of the bus.

The most interesting point concerning Glen's journey is that his return journey by bus took as long as the bike ride to the store. Glen believes that the lack of stop signs or traffic signals on the bike trail combined with the bus having to go through traffic is why the travel times were the same.

Following are some useful sites for living without a car in Los Angeles:

Glen Janken's car free L.A. lifestyle blog...
fixlatraffic.blogspot.com

CarFreeLA.com offers a variety of articles about living in Los Angeles without a car.

The LADOT offers info on bikeways and local transit services.

Labels: bike trails, bikeways, car free living, Los Angeles, mass transit, multi modal, transportation

There was a post this evening on the Washington Area Bicyclist Association weblog about taking bikes on the various transit bus, train and light rail systems in the D.C. area. Happily, it was reported that all D.C. area mass transit operators allow folding bikes aboard (though some require folders to be bagged). Unfortunately, the news is not so good for riders of standard sized bikes.

For the complete details including links to the various transit agencies' info on carrying bicycles, visit...
http://washcycle.typepad.com

Respectfully,
Larry Lagarde
RideTHISbike.com
Urging bicycling for recreation, commuting, health and a better future.

Labels: Bike Friday, bike guidelines, bike regulations, folding bicycle, mass transit, transportation, waba, washington area bicyclist association