Welcome back to The Spark, our monthly celebration of how people just like you are creating positive change, one meaningful step at a time. The Spark is generously supported by Laura Rice. Sign up to Reasons to be Cheerful’s weekly newsletter here and you’ll get The Spark in your inbox at the start of each month In this issue Throw a block party and make your street safer How neighborly rides can fix a transit desert Does your community need a walk audit? A safer street disguised as a block party The leafy residential neighborhood that runs along Ninth Street in Berkeley, California, is frequently used as a high-speed corridor by drivers passing through. But on a Saturday in April last year, this speeding traffic was banished from one block of the street, and replaced with a two-way bike lane, rubber speed humps and cones that would allow only local traffic to enter.  The new configuration, which lasted just one afternoon, employed a touch of harmless subterfuge. Ninth Street neighbors and the local organization Bike East Bay got a permit from the city for a block party, then turned the “party” into a shining example of how safer, slower, human-centered streets can benefit a neighborhood. Alongside a potluck and a free repair station set up by a bike shop, volunteers surveyed locals about how they liked the bike lanes and street features.  While short-lived, pop-ups like this can give residents a chance to try out different street configurations, and provide data that can then be used to advocate for longer-term change. Pop-ups like the one on Ninth Street often include a free bike repair station. Courtesy of Bike East Bay “I’ve experienced the impact of seeing it,” says Hilary Near, the Ninth Street resident who applied for the block party permit. Cycling is booming in the U.S. During the pandemic, between 2019 and 2022, the number of daily trips Americans took by bicycle increased by 37 percent. In places with mild weather and robust bike infrastructure, cycling rates rose even more. Yet in many U.S. neighborhoods, riding a bike can be dangerous. Almost 1,000 cyclists are killed in crashes involving motor vehicles in the U.S. each year. Infrastructure, research finds, is key to making cycling safer — and more popular. Building out features like protected bike lanes improves safety not just for cyclists, but all people using roads. Running parallel to a main traffic corridor, Berkeley’s Ninth Street has long been popular with cyclists. It’s unusually wide, a legacy of the early 1900s when an electric trolley ran along the street. It has painted markings and signage designating space for cyclists, but cars are often double-parked, and the width of the street can tempt motorists to drive at higher speeds.  Near has cycled along Ninth Street for years, she says, but it wasn’t until she moved into a house there that she became more interested in how the thoroughfare could be reconfigured. “It could be so much better,” she says. Near attended a Bike East Bay meeting at a curry restaurant on her corner and learned that the organization was interested in setting up a pop-up on her street. The group had staged short-term pop-ups before, partnering with local residents. “People get really used to how a street looks and operates,” says advocacy director Robert Prinz. “It’s sometimes hard to think about what else could be there.”  A pop-up, Prinz says, is a chance to “try before you buy.” While residents get a taste for how their streets could work differently, organizers can gather feedback and data that builds a case for more permanent projects. This can help municipalities overcome a barrier for active transportation infrastructure: limited resources. With data from pop-ups, funding applications are more competitive, Prinz says. “Any edge that a city can give itself to eke out the competition gives them a better shot of accessing that funding.”  Weighed down by negative news? Our smart, bright, weekly newsletter is the uplift you’ve been looking for. [contact-form-7] Many East Bay pop-ups have led to change. The first the organization held — a temporary bike lane on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland —  helped realize a bikeway now separated from traffic by concrete barriers. To put together a pop-up, Prinz suggests starting small. Focus on testing out changes on a single neighborhood street or intersection; busier streets will likely require more coordination with authorities.  Collaborate with lots of local groups, he advises, including business associations, even if they don’t seem to perfectly align. Recruit volunteers, and take advantage of their skillsets. More than 50 volunteers contributed to the Ninth Street pop-up. While Near got the permit and communicated with neighbors, others painted sample road signs in advance, and surveyed road users about the different transportation features on display. In general, Prinz says, pop-ups don’t need to be expensive. For the Ninth Street pop-up, Bike East Bay had grant funding to buy portable supplies, like speed bumps and posts, which the group now loans out for demonstration projects in the area. But in the past, they’ve staged pop-ups with nothing but cardboard and a little paint. Learn more about how to organize a bike pop-up with Bike East Bay’s webinar, and find more resources from the Tactical Urbanism Guide. In transit deserts, neighbors become rideshares No car? No problem. This isn’t a sentiment generally heard in rural areas. But in Central Vermont, when someone needs a ride but can’t drive themselves, they can call up Free Wheelin’.  Free Wheelin’ is an almost entirely volunteer-run organization that was launched in 2019 by two friends who often drove their neighbors to medical appointments, the store or the bank. Riders call a central number to schedule a ride at least two days in advance, and volunteers sign up for slots that suit their schedule.  Free Wheelin’ helps people in rural Vermont get around. Credit: MindStorm / Shutterstock They started it in response to a stark reality: An estimated 30 percent of U.S. rural areas don’t have any reliable non-car transportation options at all. For people who don’t drive — including some older adults, people with disabilities and others without access to a car — that can make life in rural America a constant mobility challenge.  Free Wheelin’ has a cadre of volunteer drivers who offer their passenger seats and their time to anybody who needs a ride. The group provides about 100 free rides a month. Similar volunteer-run services operate in upstate New York and southern Minnesota.  Learn more about volunteer-run ride programs from the Rural Health Information Hub.   Could a “walk audit” improve your community’s walkability? While interest in active transportation like biking and walking has been growing since the Covid pandemic, a hurdle for many people is a lack of safe infrastructure. Forty percent of Americans say their communities are not walkable. A simple first step toward making a community more pedestrian-friendly, advocates say, is to do a walk audit. These audits can be used by individuals or groups to explore a neighborhood’s pedestrian potential. Walk audits have been first steps toward realizing significant change in some communities, like revamping a busy artery road that divides the city of Harrisonburg Virginia.  Find a toolkit to lead a walk audit from AARP. The post The Spark: Banishing Cars With a Block Party appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.