We (Chapel Hill on Bikes) are working on mapping the low stress bike routes around town and we need your help.

What is a low-stress bike route?

These are the bike routes you would bike with a child, maybe with some help using sidewalks or social trails. There are a lot of them, and some are something of folklore! (e.g. “Cut behind the tennis court, and between the fence that is pushed over.”)

That sounds amazing! How can I help?Our first goal is to safelyg get kids biking and walking to school, so we first want to highlight low stress routes to local schools. That’s where you come in.

A step-by-step guide on how to help:

bike-map

  1. First, visit the CHCCS Map and identify the school zone you know well.
  2. Click layers -> Select the Elementary, Middle or High School District and find your zone.
  3. Take a screenshot and use your favorite program to overlay lines. Some easy ways to do this include:
    1. Powerpoint
    2. Canva,
    3. Photoshop
    4. Ride with GPS
    5. Microsoft Paint
    6. (You can even print it out and use a highlighter and take a picture!)
  4. Make notes about the route, whatever you would tell your neighbor when describing it. Annotations and notes would be helpful. Low-stress if you use the sidewalk or look for the cut through at the end of Alton Road to Michaux.
  5. Send it over to us [email protected]

Example: 

example-of-mapping-for-bikes

Extra Credit:Photos of any hidden neighborhood easements are helpful so we can find them when mapping with a GPS.

hidden-neighborhood-easement
Is there a desire path (meaning, a path that people have walked or biked on which has created a path?)

Is there a route that is almost perfect except for a few small things that the town could tackle? Example: There’s no curb cut to access a sidewalk easily, the crosswalk signal doesn’t give enough time to cross, etc.

 

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Arleigh Greenwald is better known as Bike Shop Girl on the internet. (She also runs Chapel Hill on Bikes.) She is a new resident to Chapel Hill, NC where she moved after owning an electric and cargo bike...