{"id":18302,"date":"2013-02-27T13:08:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T18:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=18302"},"modified":"2013-02-27T13:08:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-27T18:08:00","slug":"raleighs-bicycle-infrastructure-continues-to-expand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/2013\/02\/27\/raleighs-bicycle-infrastructure-continues-to-expand\/","title":{"rendered":"Raleigh\u2019s Bicycle Infrastructure Continues to Expand"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Mike Dayton moved to Raleigh in 1987, hardly any of the city’s roads could be considered “bike-friendly.” Even as recently as 2010, only four miles of roadway featured designated bike lanes or shared-lane markings.<\/p>\n

The city has increased that number by more than five times since then, and plans to double it again by the end of next year. By the end of 2014, city transportation officials say nearly 75 miles of Raleigh roads will be more bike friendly thanks to local streetscape projects and matching funds from the state and federal transportation departments.<\/p>\n

“This is the finest moment for cycling since I’ve been here,” said Dayton, who serves on the city’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The nine-member commission was created to help City Council develop and prioritize streetscape projects in ways that best serve Raleigh’s cyclists and pedestrians.<\/p>\n

“BPAC was set up at a time when more and more cyclists were asking for facilities, and realizing that a city the size of Raleigh deserved to have a better infrastructure in place,” Dayton said. “To [the council’s] credit, they’ve listened to our opinions and they take us seriously.”<\/p>\n

The infrastructure projects recommended by BPAC include one of five different bike-friendly features:<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Construction of new bicycle lanes
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Maintenance of existing lanes
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Narrowing roads to include bicycle lanes through a \u201croad diet\u201d
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Widening roads to include an outer shoulder for cyclists<\/p>\n

\"Raleigh<\/a>

<\/p>

Credit: City of Raleigh<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

“The goal is to promote biking as a viable and safe form of transit, and make sure everyone has access if they want,” said Jennifer Baldwin, the Bicycle & Pedestrian Coordinator for the city\u2019s Office of Transportation Planning. “Greenways are a great recreational system, but they don’t have the Point A to Point B network of bike lanes and sharrows,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"sharrow\"<\/a>

<\/p>

A sharrow in Raleigh.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sharrows are shared-lane markings, seen on Raleigh streets as a white painted image resembling a bicycle.<\/p>\n

The City Council adopted new prioritization guidelines last week for its ongoing streetscape efforts<\/a>, placing emphasis on projects in the Hillsborough Street and Oberlin Road areas. Baldwin said many of the projects will be paid for with 80-20 matching planning grants from the state, as well as $1.6 million in federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funding.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n