Light Off

I've been spending a lot of time writing about Philly's streets the last couple of days, mostly related to biking infrastructure. Here's a picture that doesn't describe the streets at all, but bear with me here:

I post this pic because of the light just below my bike bag (featuring a nifty patch courtesy of my girlfriend). I snapped this some time Sunday evening. I was riding home last night, and at some point I must have hit a rather large pothole that snapped it off. I'm not all that upset about it, as it was a dinky $5 buy that well outlived its worth. I also have another light to replace it, as well as tons of other high visibility techniques deployed on my bike, so I don't feel my safety was compromised all that much beyond the lackluster conditions of the road surface.

In fact, I didn't notice my light was gone until much later in the ride, when I stopped to take a look at the newly re-painted bike lanes on Spruce Street (yes, you read that right):

If you look off in the distance, you can see the lines are much more defined compared to yesterday:

I ventured into the crosswalk (when appropriate, of course) to get a better view. Like I said, it's good to know that even without a light, my bike is still blatantly visible in artificial light:

Also notice the cape painted behind the bike graphic on the pavement. Ultimately we're making progress here, but there's still a lot of work to be done. New bike lane stripes will help this particular street a ton, even if it still needs to be re-paved. Now the pursuit continues for a protected bike lane...

There's another demonstration planned around City Hall at noon today, in support of Vision Zero. I'm writing this on the train back into Center City, so pending its arrival, I'll join in. Happy Tuesday.

#bikeyourbirthmonth