News-Record: Fast Forward: A bike-friendly city

College students returning to Greensboro this fall found a much more bicycle-friendly city. The city’s bike lanes and trails, which have been spreading throughout the city, are making it much easier for freshmen to leave their cars at home. “As a college student, it’s really expensive and kind of a lot of trouble to have a car,” said Melissa Arbaghast, a UNCG freshman. Arbaghast, 18, said she brought her bicycle to Greensboro from her home in Jacksonville and has found the city very bike friendly.

The Greensboro Urban Bicycle, Pedestrian & Greenway Master Plan has been opening the city to bicyclists for more than a year — and more bike lanes are coming. The plan already has put bike lanes alongside car lanes on Florida Street from Holden Road to Lee Street and on Spring Garden Street from Park Terrace to McGee Street. “I couldn’t believe it when they told me about the bike lanes,” Arbaghast said.

“They make such a huge difference getting around. You don’t feel like you’re in somebody’s way. You’re just commuting, too.” Stephen Harriman, 23 , said being able to get around the city without a car was one of the things that attracted him to Greensboro as a graduate student at N.C. A&T. “We should all be thinking of ways to get people out of their cars and for us to use our cars less,” Harriman said. “It’s a nicer city to live in if it’s not bumper-to-bumper traffic and car exhaust fumes all the time. It’s a nicer city to live in if it’s built for getting out and walking and riding your bike.”

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Greensboro bicyclists can learn more about biking in the city at the summer general meeting of Bicycling in Greensboro . The meeting will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Greensboro Central Library at 219 N. Church St. The group is a local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organization that aims to help make Greensboro more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. Members will have a presence at the upcoming BB&T MS Tour to Tanglewood — a bike ride to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis society and its search for a cure.

The ride will take place Saturday and Sunday , and more than 1,500 riders will participate , with routes ranging from a 22-mile one-way ride to a 175-mile round trip through Guilford, Forsyth and Davidson counties. Riders pay a $35 registration fee and $200 minimum donation to participate.

The bike team raising the most money for the tour so far this year is Team Erica, a Greensboro-based team riding in memory of Erica Booker, a 5-year-old girl who died of a rare, aggressive form of Multiple Sclerosis in 2004. The original team had just nine members and raised $7,500. This year, the team boasts more than 100 members and has raised more than $51,000 for the cause. Have a question or just need to vent about transportation issues?

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