Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

Journal photo/Andrew Dickerman
Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline takes the lead on Francis Street while participating in Rhode Island's Bike to Work Day this morning. Other riders are John Nicholson, Tom Deller and police Officer Robert Zabinski.

PROVIDENCE -- This morning, Mayor David N. Cicilline traded in his suit, car and driver for a 14-speed Gary Fischer road bike and blue gym shorts to ride from his East Side home to Kennedy Plaza, where he greeted about 50 dedicated cyclists who rolled up for the 52nd National Bike to Work Day.

The mayor, a handful of state officials and bike advocates gathered at the City Center before 8 a.m. amid free coffee, bagels and cycling-related trinkets, and to show support for bike commuting, a choice which makes up only 0.2 percent of all trips to work in Rhode Island, according the Providence Bike Coalition, the event’s organizer.

“Obviously, biking to work is a very simple way to decrease congestion, improve the quality of the air we breathe and [it is] a beautiful way to see the city,” Cicilline said to the helmeted and messenger bag-clad crowd. “The city is working hard to make biking a clear and easy option.”

Cicilline said the city has completed plans to put up bicycle signs and add bike lane striping on five city streets: Elmwood Avenue, Broadway, Charles Street, Smith Street and Hope Street, which will be completed this fall.

More Bike to Work Day activities will be held in the Kennedy Plaza ice rink from 3-6 p.m. today, including vendor booths, raffles, safety demonstrations, music and information of about upcoming bicycle signage and lane striping.

-- Journal environmental reporter Natalie Garcia

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