Council put the final stamp of approval on the plan for bicycle lanes along Hillsborough Street. The 4-foot bike lanes will run along both sides of the street from Enterprise Street to Gardner Street.
The plan has one more hurdle to cross before it becomes official. The North Carolina Department of Transportation maintains the street and will have to give approval.
A diagram of the bike lanes.
The bicycle lanes will cost the city about $40,000, according to transportation manager Eric Lamb. The Hillsborough Street renovation project is under budget, Lamb told the council’s public works committee earlier this year, and the funds for the bike lanes can come from those savings.
Photo by Will Butler. Read how the bike lanes will interact with the new roundabouts here.
Nina Szlosberg, a member of both the Hillsborough Street Partnership and the DOT board, told the same council committee in January that she would help the city get the bike lane proposal though the state approval process.
City council members also approved a deal to have a new company called City of Spokes, an offshoot of the Raleigh Rickshaw Company, provide bike rental services downtown.
The plan will put four bicycle rental stations downtown, one at the convention center and the rest along Fayetteville Street.
Wake Schools resolution
Councilors voted unanimously on a resolution opposing what Mayor Charles Meeker called the “re-segregation” of Wake County schools.
Meeker’s wife, Dr. Anne McLaurin, is a member of the Wake County school board minority, and has opposed moves by the newly elected members to end the economic diversity policy.
