Health & Fitness
Go “green” in Green with AMATS’ Bike-N-Brainstorm June 22
The Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study (AMATS) is hosting its second Bike-N-Brainstorm of the 2013 season in Green. The agency’s popular Bike-N-Brainstorms are an innovative way that the agency uses to gain public insight as to what should be done to improve biking in the Greater Akron area.
The Green Bike-N-Brainstorm will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 22 at the Nimisila Reservoir C-1 Parking Lot located at 5056 Christman Road in Green. The city of Green and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources are partnering with AMATS in this event.
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A Bike-N-Brainstorm begins with cyclists meeting at a designated area before embarking on a group bike ride along key corridors to experience firsthand what it’s like to bike there. At the end of their ride, group members are invited to participate in a brainstorming session with agency personnel to share their ideas as to what can be done to improve bike travel within the corridor.
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Participants may choose to travel on a 3-mile family friendly route or an 8-mile route through various parts of Green. Short breaks are scheduled along the ride to highlight diverse riding conditions and potential improvements.
AMATS Planning Coordinator Krista Beniston notes that the agency’s most recent Bike-N-Brainstorm drew 62 attendees who trekked along a 5-mile route through the city of Kent in late April. Organizers for the Green ride are hoping for the same level of enthusiasm in the southern Summit County city.
“The feedback that we receive following these rides is incredible and helps our agency and local communities immensely in planning and prioritizing bike infrastructure improvements,” Beniston continues, “In April, AMATS participated in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Midwest Regional Bicycle Safety Summit in Minneapolis and our Bike-N-Brainstorms were hailed as a best practice by federal officials.”
The agency hosted two well-attended rides in Akron in 2012 and a number of the ideas offered by cyclists during these events made their way into the 2012 Bike Plan, the agency’s long-term vision and priorities for bike transportation, and Transportation Outlook 2035, the area’s new long-range transportation plan.