Bicycling
Biking in Charlotte shouldn’t be scary. Here’s how I do it.
This might surprise some people who think bicycling in Charlotte is serious, or scary: Riding is fun! If you come and ride your bicycle with me, you’ll most likely have a good experience. I’ve been leading bike rides since 2013, sometimes three per week. I also teach CyclingSavvy, a skills course that equips riders to […]
Car-free Life for a Family of Four in Delft, Netherlands
Charlotte-based architect and urban planner Martin Zimmerman talks with Melissa and Chris Bruntlett about their latest book and their family’s first few years living and navigating Delft, a 1,200 year-old city in the Netherlands, mostly by bike, at speeds rarely exceeding ten miles per hour. To the casual tourist, this human-scaled city of 104,000 calls […]
Here’s how Pam Murray lives car-free in Charlotte
Pam Murray sees Charlotte through different eyes — and from a different seat — than most people as she moves about the city. Murray, one of the biggest bicycle advocates in Charlotte, uses her bike for everything from getting groceries to hauling furniture. She bikes somewhere around 20 miles a day on average, only using […]
Finally, biking in uptown without fear
Pedaling through uptown last week alongside cars and pedestrians, I felt something that I’ve rarely felt before on city streets: Relaxed. That’s because I was riding not in lanes of traffic or in a tiny, painted “bike lane,” but in a full-sized, two-way, striped and painted lane for bicycles, separated from cars by a concrete […]
Is Charlotte car culture finally changing?
As a post-World War II, Sunbelt city that grew up in the age of the automobile, a car has long been pretty much a prerequisite for a comfortable and convenient life in Charlotte. Despite the completion of the Blue Line light rail, added miles of greenways and bike lanes, and new options like fleets of […]
Can Charlotte’s auto-dependency be cured? Planners launch Strategic Mobility Plan
The heightened attention to COVID-19 aftershocks has not distracted local planners from tackling related issues that beg for solutions. High among these is overcoming Charlotte’s long-standing love affair with the car — especially reliance on driving alone, even when carpooling, light rail, cycling or other options are readily available. Charlotte Department of Transportation Deputy Director […]
What’s on our city’s wish list? See some gifts for Charlotte
It’s hard shopping for the city that has it all: Gleaming office towers, a new-ish light rail line, a booming population and one of the world’s busiest airports. But that doesn’t mean Charlotte couldn’t still use a few gifts this holiday season. After all, despite the city’s obvious and explosive growth, there are still plenty […]
Mapping out Charlotte’s future: Streets plan accounts for more than cars
Charlotte planners are trying to change the city’s decades-long focus on building streets solely for cars with an effort to map and plan for future bicycle lanes, expanded sidewalks and more accommodations for alternative ways of getting around like scooters. The first phase of that effort — mapping and planning for the streets along the […]
Can Charlotte actually become a bike-friendly city?
Cycling advocates hope the future of Charlotte biking is on display behind a row of plastic bollards lining Sixth Street – but they caution that the city has a long way to go. The Charlotte Department of Transportation last week opened the city’s first substantial, protected, two-way bicycle lane, connecting the Little Sugar Creek Greenway […]
On-campus bike share arrives at UNC Charlotte
[highlightrule]To sign up for the UNC Charlotte bike-share program visit gotchabike.com/charlottewheels [/highlightrule] Bike sharing has arrived at UNC Charlotte. The program launched July 31 with 100 bikes and 10 hubs for the bikes. The UNC Charlotte bike share program, Charlotte Wheels, is run by Gotcha Bike. The Gotcha Bike app lets users reserve and return […]