Cyclists and community organizers from around the metro gathered downtown on Saturday for an all-inclusive discussion of cycling accessibility. The event was hosted at the Midwest National Park Service Headquarters on the Omaha riverfront. I have to praise the location first. The building is situated right at the foot of the pedestian bridge, and has a wonderfull view of the river and downtown. To top it off, the building is Leed Gold Certified.

Corey and I were only able to attend a short portion of the day-long event, but we made sure to join at the portion that was most important to us. We were there for the review of the Omaha Streetscape plan hosted by Omaha By Design’s Connie Spellman.

She gave a concise but informative presentation about Omaha’s initiative to integrate pedestrians, bicyclists, and the environment into our streets. The streets that are now exclusively built for cars. (Did you know that Nebraska doesn’t have a Department of Transportation? Only a Department of Roads. Makes you wonder how we don’t have a better mixed use planning.)

She highlighted the successes in the Benson Ames Alliance master plan. Next year they are beginning the first phase of the streetscape redesign.

Connie made a point to motivate members of the audience to contact their City Council Person and the head of Omaha Public Works to advocate for better bicycle and pedestrian transportation options. She said that these public servants (an underutilized word, but so important in this time of jaded politics) really do want to hear from constituents and act on their behalf.

This summit reinforced the good and the bad for cycling in Omaha. The good is that Omaha isn’t a huge city. It is practical to move around by bike or foot. Also, the bus system has recently added bike racks to the front of busses. And of course, Omaha has over 80 miles of bicycle trails snaking across the city. The challenges are streets that are often poorly designed, crowded with drivers who are impatient and uninformed. And, the topography of our city, make East/West traffic difficult. The hills are challenging, but the bike trails and bike lanes are limited in this direction.

I asked if there is ONE street in particular that we should contact our local representatives about. I wanted to know which East/West street had the greatest chance of being renovated in the near future. She strongly suggested that we advocate for Leavenworth Street. This street is well graded, and is dangerous currently because it carries too much traffic. Redesigning this street can greatly contribute to the quality of life for neighborhood residents as well as cycling commuters.

I’m making my calls this week. I’d encourage you to do the same.

On Saturday, Corey and I attended a meeting of the Omaha New Urbanism & Sustainable Development Meetup Group (website). The meeting brought together a diverse group of people whom all share a vision for vibrant and livable neighborhoods in Omaha.

The conversation was riveting, and those in attendance were up to their elbows in real-world experience. The members are clearly out in the community making change happen.

‘New urbanism is an American urban design movement that arose in the early 1980s. Its goal is to reform many aspects of real estate development and urban planning, from urban retrofits to suburban infill. New urbanist neighborhoods are designed to contain a diverse range of housing and jobs, and to be walkable.’

Those of you who read my posts regularly already know how I feel about sustainable development. And if you check out the links to the right of this you will find several interesting resources on sustainable communities and transportation.

There are a couple of new urbanist developments in the work in Omaha right now. Omaha By Design has a nice online feature where you can learn more about Midtown Crossing and Aksarben Village. It is great to see these pedestrian friendly neighborhoods being born. They promise to bring excitement and new personality to the heart of the city.

As a side note, during the meeting we talked a bit about the Place Game. This program is hosted by Omaha By Design (see above), and teaches us how to evaluate our neighborhoods.

The Place Game is based on the key factors that make a great public space. These factors were identified 30 years ago by William H. Whyte in his book, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces.

Check out the Place Game to see examples and learn how to play. And stay tuned for more from the New Urbanism group. Their plans are coming together for a really cool hand-on workshop in October.