A projected 2016 bike-sharing program. The formation of the bicycle advocacy group Bike Walk Louisiana and its impending Louisiana State Bike Summit in Baton Rouge in November. A nearly three-mile greenway path through downtown, the LSU Lakes, City Park and Southdowns neighborhoods. Additional bike racks installed around the city.
As Business Report details in a feature from the current issue, the signs abound: Baton Rouge is making strides to become a more bike-friendly city.
But hot, humid and stormy summers, poorly marked bike lanes and heavy traffic deter most from using their bikes to commute to work. In fact, less than 1% of all Baton Rouge residents bike to work, according to data from The Alliance for Biking and Walking.
Then there’s the safety issue. In August, a cyclist was killed while trying to cross Goodwood Boulevard near the new Main Library. And according to data released in August by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Baton Rouge ranked third in the nation for bicycle fatalities between 2008 and 2012. Florida ranked first and Delaware second.
Business Report recently spoke with five rare Capital City cyclists who choose to brave the commute to work on their bikes instead of in their cars. They offered up tips for staying cool in the summer heat, avoiding impatient drivers and heavily traveled roads and staying safe in a city where most people choose to grip a steering wheel instead of handlebars.
One of the five regular bike commuters the magazine spoke with is Pat Arbour-Reily, who says some of her co-workers are shocked she rides her bike to work—and if it’s dark, hot or raining, she receives numerous offers for rides home.
“Baton Rouge is a car town,” Reily says. “And people will see me leaving and it will be dark and they say, ‘How will you see in the dark?’ And I say, ‘Have you ever heard of Thomas Edison? Do you have lights on your car? I have lights on my bike!’”
Read the full feature, which includes profiles of Reily and her husband, Larry, as well as Marcel Dupré, Mark Martin and Pam Volentine Rushing. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
