Bike easy in New Orleans
New Orleans is a biking city; it's evident when one considers the success and proliferation of such community-based cycling organizations as Bike Easy, the NOLA Social Ride, Crescent City Cyclists, the New Orleans Bike Club and Plan B, all of which contribute to and promote the culture of biking that has taken root in our flat, compact, mostly sunny (up for debate) city.
The updated 2013 Bike Map and Guide to Safe Cycling is available free in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.
“It's a valuable tool to help people navigate the city's bikeways, whether they are new to bicycling or venturing to a part of the city they are unfamiliar with,” says Dan Jatres, pedestrian and bicycle program manager at the Regional Planning Commission for the New Orleans area. He is a 2005 Tulane University graduate in political science and management.
“The Guide to Safe Cycling presents an overview of Louisiana bicycle laws and helpful tips in straightforward language. We hope this information will make it easier for people to ride bicycles safely and easily,” Jatres says.
Including such useful information as the locations of bike lanes, shared lanes and connector routes, the map is designed to help New Orleans cyclists choose the best, safest route to their destination. Many of these improved routes are the result of cyclist feedback, which Jatres says the planning commission welcomes. The commission serves the New Orleans metropolitan region including Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes.
Copies are set to be available in the Reily Student Recreation Center on the uptown campus soon. If you want to explore New Orleans by bike, do yourself a favor and pick one up.
Benton Oliver is a senior at Tulane University majoring in communication and music.
