Our Mission

The Bike Walk Alliance unites cyclist and pedestrians to work together to make walking and cycling safer and easier in Westchester and Putnam Counties.  In doing so, we will improve the health of our people, our communities and the environment as a whole.

What we do:

• We raise public awareness of walking and cycling as important forms of transportation that are essential to the growth of healthy and sustainable communities.
• We reach out and engage cyclists and pedestrians to work together to make their local communities safe and enjoyable for cycling and walking through the enactment and implementation of Complete Streets policies.
• We champion the development of regional trails and bike routes that connect our communities into a cohesive grid.
• We work with public and private corporations and institutions to promote cycling and walking by their employees and customers.
• We act to protect the legal rights of cyclists and pedestrians to travel safely throughout the region.

Our Work

Since it was founded in 2009, The Bike Walk Alliance has served as the unified voice of the cyclists and pedestrians in Westchester and Putnam counties. Some key accomplishments are:

With support from the Westchester Community Foundation, we’ve hosted the Westchester Bike Summit in 2009 and 2010, partnering with Westchester County and local governments to discuss ways to improve infrastructure and promote healthier lifestyles in New York City’s northern suburbs.

We won approval of Merrill’s Law, the safe biking bill that requires New York motorists to pass cyclists “at a safe distance” on roadway, making the state one of18 nationwide with such protections for riders.

We convinced Mamaroneck village officials to craft a model bike parking ordinance that encourages cyclists to park their bikes at hitching posts, and lets kids ride bikes on village sidewalks, except in the crowded downtown area.   We also stopped a bike parking ban in Carmel.

We worked with the municipal and county leaders in Westchester to complete the South County Trailway, get bike parking in Tarrytown and North White Plains, work out a route for the East Coast Greenway and re-start work on the Bronx River Pathway in Yonkers.

In 2013, we will be expanding our efforts to press for Complete Streets policies and implementation plans in across the region as well as to get funding for completion of the missing link in the County Bike Trail, extensions of the trail into adjacent communities and initiation of efforts to get sidewalks in our towns and wider shoulders on our state highways.

Join Us

We need your help to grow and expand our advocacy agenda.  Take a few minutes to join in by taking any of these small steps.

• Taking this survey and share your ideas about making our region and pedestrian friendly.
• Join our mailing list and stay informed about bike and pedestrian issues in our area.
• Contact us to learn how you can advocate locally or regionally.
• Make a tax-deductible contribution to help us grow.
• Tell your friends about us.

About the Bike Walk Alliance

The Bike Walk Alliance of Westchester & Putnam is a program of the East Coast Greenway Alliance, a 501(c)(3) organization. All contributions are tax-deductible.

Our Team

 David Wilson, of Mahopac, co-founded the Bike Walk Alliance in 2009, following the inaugural Westchester Bike Summit. Wilson is a longtime member of the Westchester Cycle Club, where he now serves as advocacy director. He was the club’s longest-serving president, serving from 2006 to 2010 at a time when the club doubled its membership, quadrupled the number of rides led each year, and became the leading voice for bike advocacy in the lower Hudson Valley.

Wilson grew up riding his bike in the northern Connecticut town of Granby, delivering the Hartford Courant by bike and riding 1.5 miles to elementary school.  He joined the Westchester Cycle Club not long after arriving in Westchester in 1986.

Wilson has led the campaign to install bike racks on Westchester County buses, create secure bike storage at commuter rail stations, and erect signs along the East Coast Greenway along Westchester’s Sound Shore.  In 2010, he organized the statewide coalition that pushed for passage of Merrill’s Law, the bill signed by Gov. Paterson that requires motorists to pass cyclists at a safe distance.

Wilson, a veteran journalist, also writes about cycling, with articles on biking appearing often in The Journal News. While at the regional daily, his assignments included covering the State House, county governments in Westchester and Putnam counties, municipal government in White Plains, New Rochelle, and Yonkers, and K-12 education throughout the region.  Since 2007, he has written for university publications across the country. He is also a regular contributor to Everett Potter’s Travel Report, an online travel magazine where Wilson occasionally writes about cycling destinations.

Contact David at davidmckaywilson@aol.com.

Duff Bailey is a lifelong cyclist and outdoor enthusiast who began his transportation activism in the early 1970s when he was engaged in the campaign to stop highway development in the Boston area and trade in the federal funds for transit projects, instead. He became active in Boston’s cycling activist community and produced the first edition of the Boston Bike Map, which documented bike routes throughout the metropolitan area that cyclist could use to bypass dangerous roadways.

He moved to New York City in 1976 and worked with the newly formed bike/pedestrian and transit activist group, Transportation Alternatives, where he led the effort to map out bike routes throughout NYC, many of which are now part of the city’s network of paths, lanes and bike routes. He later served as President of the TA Board as it transitioned from volunteer to professional management. He also wrote articles for Velo News and Bicycling Magazine and had a regular column on bicycling in the Staten Island Advance.

He moved to Chappaqua in 1987 with his family as he pursued his profession in Information Technology managing complex information technology projects for major companies in finance, telecommunications and media. He holds the PMP (Project Management Professional) certification from the Project Management Institute and is former President of PMI’s Westchester Chapter. In his spare time, he volunteers as the Bike Walk Alliance’s Executive Director.

Contact Duff at mailto:dbailey@bwawp.org.