Delaware Bike Summit

Internationally recognized Bicycling advocate to speak at Delaware Bike Summit

Dover -- Born and raised in Europe, Michael Ronkin grew up biking and walking everywhere.

Today, Ronkin, a resident of Corvallis, Ore., helps communities in the United States to become more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. As head of the Oregon-based firm, Designing Streets for Pedestrians & Bicyclists, Ronkin has traveled the country as a consultant and offering his bicycle and pedestrian urban design courses.

Ronkin will be one of the headliners at the April 24 Delaware Bike Summit at the Dover campus of Delaware Technical & Community College. The Bike Summit is a one-day conference that will bring in speakers from around the country who will discuss what actions Delaware needs to take if the state is to become more bicycle friendly.

There, he plans to speak about the changes that could be made to make Delaware streets more accessible and inviting to bicycles. Many of the changes are relatively minor and inexpensive, he said, but some changes are much larger.

''We need to make changes because roads are extremely inefficient when used only by one mode of transportation,'' Ronkin said. ''We can significantly raise the capacity of our roads by including other forms of transportation.''

Having visited Newark and Wilmington in the past, Ronkin said the bike and pedestrian issues in Delaware are similar to those in other states.

''Because the problems are similar, the solutions will work in Delaware like they worked in many other areas,'' Ronkin said.

Ronkin has managed a range of bicycle and pedestrian planning projects at state and metropolitan levels and has lead efforts to create, interpret and implement various transportation programs available to improve conditions for biking and walking.

Sen. Thomas R. Carper, Gov. Jack Markell and Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) Secretary Carolann Wicks also join the list of summit speakers.

Another high-profile speaker at the Bike Summit will be Andy Clarke, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based League of American Bicyclists. Clarke, a graduate of the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

The Bike Summit is organized by the Delaware Bicycle Council, and a committee made up of members from DelDOT, Wilmington Area Planning Council, White Clay Bicycle Club, Doever/Kent M.P.O., Sussex Cyclists and Bike Delaware.

To get out the word about the Bike Summit, committee members made presentations to 30 different city and county council meetings, asking political and civic leaders to attend. Committee members also took five days to ride nearly 200 miles across Delaware and held 10 press conferences in as many towns, explaining why local residents should attend the Bike Summit.

Registration for the free summit begins at 8 a.m. and the event lasts until 4:15 p.m. To register, go to www.bike.deldot.gov.