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| Trail crossing by Manhattan Park, Cedar Rapids |
This year's observance of Bike to Work Week--or whatever time period is celebrated in your community--occurs in the shadow of a hostile presidential administration that has shown itself willing to stop at nothing to get whatever it wants. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, a former reality TV star and U.S. representative with zero experience in transportation policy, has ordered a review of any federal grants that include bike infrastructure (Kuntzman 2025). While claiming bike lanes cause accidents and traffic congestion, he has removed research from the DOT website that shows the opposite (Wilson 2025). Viable alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles are the only way to reduce traffic congestion, as well as a key way to reduce climate change, but the Trump administration has scrubbed those data as well.
Why is bicycling so threatening to those now in power? Lyz Lenz (2025) notes the link to community building, which is itself threatening to an individualist ideology: "Project 2025 specifically criticizes the Federal Highway Administration for funding parks, trails, bike paths, and sidewalks--all the things that make our communities accessible and walkable." She argues that the Department of Transportation under Duffy "helps set in motion a vision of American life that is small, isolated, and alone."
Here on Holy Mountain, our vision is of an America that is large, connected, inclusive, and in no real way threatening. And by golly, spring is here, the sun is out, we have a good two weeks until the bugs show up, and there are bikes to be ridden! And who do we see spiking the guns of disillusionment, but our very own city, along with neighboring towns and the Corridor MPO!! Yes, Bike to Work Week is back, with innovative programming like commuter group rides and a Tuesday evening family ride with decorative lights encouraged.
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| Pedal for Pancakes gathering by the Cedar River |
Monday, May 12 (high temp 84)
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| Morning commuters cross 1st Avenue E |
Looking only at traffic-related safety, would most people allow an unaccompanied 12 year old to cycle here?
Maybe. Most of what I rode today was on appropriate bike infrastructure in manageable traffic. I encountered two pinch points that would deter many ordinary people from attempting a ride downtown during working hours. The 1st Avenue trail crossing treatment is much improved from its initial form, but it still would make me anxious if the 12-year-old put too much trust in it. This morning, as I awaited the commuters, a senior woman, resplendent in an all-purple outfit, approached 1st Avenue on her bike. She pushed the crossing light, and we crossed together. "Are they going to stop?" she rhetorically asked about the 1st Avenue traffic. "Sometimes they don't." Today they did.
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| No traffic, no problem: Heading downtown on 3rd Avenue at 8th Street |
Later, when I was chatting with the commuters, they all said that most safety issues were at intersections. One guy talked about 3rd Street and 8th Avenue SE, where car traffic in the right-turn lane is competing uncertainly with cyclists in the bike lane. I brought up 3rd Avenue and 8th Street SE--yes, a completely different intersection--where the separated lane starts on 3rd, but first you have to cross 8th where cars are waiting (we hope) to get onto Interstate 380. I know the city's grid well enough to avoid this intersection, but I'm not 12 years old. Denver's Bike Streets organization has created a map to help people navigate that city safely on bicycles; maybe we could gin up something like that here?
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| Commuters gather at McGrath Amphitheater for the return trip |
