Let’s Walk&Roll to Work with the MPO!

By North SA Chamber Editor
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WR 2014 logoThis May at the 18th Annual Walk & Roll Rally, the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, City of San Antonio and Bexar County will be celebrating walking and bicycling as desirable forms of transportation, exercise and recreation.

The Walk & Roll Rally pops up for one hour only at 8 a.m. Friday, May 2 at Main Plaza in downtown San Antonio! A Mayor’s Fitness Council-endorsed event, the Rally applauds residents who use active transportation in their daily routines as well as encourages others to consider what trips they could make by foot, bike, or bus. Join an organized walk or bike ride to the rally point and enjoy refreshments, door prizes, music and a flash fashion show featuring local bicycling and walking street styles. Robert Rivard reports in as Master of Ceremonies, and invited speakers include Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, San Antonio City Councilmember and MPO Chairman Ray Lopez and other transportation and health leaders. VIA Metropolitan Transit is again providing free bus transportation for cyclists with bikes on the day of the Walk & Roll Rally.

The Walk & Roll Rally kicks off a full calendar of events in May, recognized since 1956 as National Bike Month, that offers opportunities for everyone in the Alamo Area to learn more about or share their love of walking and bicycling. To keep track of all local bicycling and walking events going on during May, visit www.walkandrollSA.com or contact the MPO’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Planner, Allie Blazosky, at blazosky@sametroplan.org or 210-230-6911.

Active transportation in San Antonio is growing rapidly. Some of the joint transportation partnership initiatives that are helping fuel this momentum include:

  • The Bicycle Mobility Advisory Committee holds three Bike Night public meetings yearly. The next one will be 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 14 at the VIA Metro Center (1021 San Pedro).
  • The MPO’s Bicycle Travel Patterns Study showed that about 325,000 people – almost one in five Bexar County residents! – ride a bike at least monthly.
  • Recognized as a Bronze Level Bicycle Friendly Community, San Antonio has grown its on-road bike facilities mileage 800% from about 30 miles in 2000 to over 240 miles in 2013.
  • San Antonio Parks and Recreation has built 45 miles of off-road hike and bike trails along Leon Creek, Salado Creek and the Medina River as part of the Howard A. Peak Greenways. Another 40 miles are under design or construction.
  • The grand opening on October 5, 2013 of the Mission Reach concluded restoration and enhancement of 13 miles of the San Antonio River, popular with cyclists, walkers and kayakers.
  • San Antonio B-Cycle currently operates 52 bike sharing stations with up to 15 more locations to be added throughout 2014.
  • All VIA Metropolitan Transit buses have bike racks, including inside its Primo Bus Rapid Transit.