The New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition has announced that New Brunswick is slated to host New Jersey’s first “Ciclovias (literally “bike ways”) through the city on this Sunday, October 6, 2013 from 10 am to 3pm. This “Open Streets” event will be closed to cars with more than three miles of streets open so residents can walk, push baby strollers, skate, run, bike, use wheelchairs and walkers, rollerblade, dance and utilize the roadways in countless creative and active ways.” More information on the Ciclovia can be had at the following link.
In addition to the Ciclovias event, Rutger’s will present a discussion on Friday, October 4 at 3:00 p.m. entitled “Cycling and Walking for Healthy, Sustainable and Socially Just Cities”, with talks scheduled by internationally-recognized bicycling experts Guillermo ‘Gil’ Penalosa, Executive Director of the Canadian non-profit organization 8-80 Cities, and John Pucher, professor of urban planning at Rutgers.
Professor Pucher’s talk will reportedly “describe and illustrate a range of policies and programs necessary to make cycling and walking safe and convenient for daily travel, as it is the case in many European cities”, and “will also provide specific examples of policies, program, and infrastructure in American and Canadian cities that have greatly increased cycling and walking levels while improving the safety of cycling and walking.” Professor Pucher “emphasizes the need to reduce motor vehicle speeds through comprehensive traffic calming of residential neighborhood streets and to provide safe, comfortable, physically separated cycling facilities along major arterials, since most Americans will only ride a bike if protected from motor vehicle traffic.”
Mr. Penalosa is scheduled to speak after Professor Pucher, on “Sustainable Mobility for Ages 8 to 80: Creating Vibrant and Healthy Cities for Everyone.” Amongst the topics he is scheduled to discuss, are “why safe infrastructure to walk and bike anywhere should be a right, as they are the only individual mode of mobility for many people, including all children and youth around the world. He will present the development of Ciclovia / Open Street international movement, focusing on the benefits of Ciclovia as well as walking and cycling to mobility, public health, the environment, economic development and recreation and will discuss how walking, cycling and public transit are means the to the end to the creation of vibrant cities and healthy communities where residents will live happier.”
Following the lectures, there will be a question-and-answer session moderated by Charles Brown, a senior research specialist at the Rutgers University’s Voorhees Transportation Center.
The talks by Mr. Penalosa & Professor Pucher will be held in the Special Events Forum, located in the Civic Square Building, 33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, N.J.