Thursday, July 15, 2010
Transportation Bike Action at City Hall Tomorrow/City Pledges 55 Miles of Bike Lanes and Facilities
Posted by Mary Cashiola on Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 2:55 PM
After all the uncertainty over the city's bikes lanes — they were going to create more when they repaved; then they weren't; now they are again — and the controversy that created, local bicycle advocates are asking Memphis mayor A C Wharton and the City Council to ensure that all future paving projects using federal dollars include bicycle facilities.
- Off topic: I like this girl's shoes.
In response to a public outcry, the city has decided install 55 miles of new bike lanes and facilities, much of it funded through the city engineer's budget.
Bicycle advocates, who plan to meet at City Hall Friday, July 16th, at 12:30 p.m., initially wanted Wharton to send plans for the 30 miles back to the city engineer's office and include the lanes.
"While the Shelby Farms Greenline, the Wolf River Greenway, and bike lanes on Shady Grove show some movement in the area of Green infrastructure in Memphis, our city remains ashamedly behind the curve in promoting human powered transportation options," says a letter addressed to Wharton and the council.
"Investing in such infrastructure is not merely an appeasement to cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts; it is an investment in our community and the public realm. Investing in infrastructure that promotes biking and walking has been shown to stimulate new business, attract talented workers, lower public health costs, stimulate tourism, increase property values, and raise tax revenues. In short, Memphis stands to gain an overall quality of life increase by investing in infrastructure that enables more bicycling and walking."
The Wharton administration says it isn't possible to revise the plans in time to get the federal funding, but they will pay for bicycle improvements — it may be lanes; it may just be signage — along those 30 miles. In addition, they've identified about 25 miles of road being repaved with either Surface Transportation Program money or the city engineer's operating budget.
“Even though bike lanes were regrettably omitted from the city’s recent stimulus fund application, I have directed our City Engineers to make any necessary adjustments to their operating budget plans so we can get these lanes and facilities in place,” Wharton says. “Initiating this program to create 55 new miles of bike lanes and facilities is critical to the livability and health of our city.
The first project will begin Monday, July 19th, with the striping of bike lanes on Horn Lake Road.
"The recent announcement from Mayor Wharton that 55 miles of Memphis roads will receive bicycle improvements is good news," says bicycle advocate Anthony Siracusa. "But bicycle riders in Memphis wonder what kind of improvements are slated for these Memphis roads: not all bike facilities are equal, and what Memphis needs are bike facilities that enable Mom and her two kids to feel comfortable using a bicycle in the roadway."
Siracusa hopes the City Council will pass a resolution that would require all new road projects funded with 80 percent federal money to include bicycle facilities.
"This is how Oregon made so much progress over the years, and it is the only way to ensure that quality bike facilities are developed with minimal municipal expense," Siracusa says.
Bicycle advocates are urging citizens to meet at 12:30 p.m. at the City Hall plaza Friday, July 16th, on bikes, skateboards, roller blades, or running shoes to show their support.
Comments (16)
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Good news. It's kind of nice having a mayor who isn't corrupt and who gets things done.
Drew: I'm afraid it may still be soon to draw your conclusion. What I don't understand is how the city posted the Recovery Act requests for paving dollars all over its sites (and some city councilpeople's) that included requests for money to do bike lanes, but when the applications were actually submitted, there was no such request. Was there some fraud here, maybe?
This smacks of the kind of shenanigans that characterized the infamous garage at the FedEx forum. Heads never rolled about that either.
Where is TV to explain in his most diplomatic manner why this is stupid, we're all polesmokers, and it's emblematic of Memphians' socialite ignorance? (Even though hundreds of other cities have already done this).
I am glad we are getting bike lanes but I will not hold my breath that this will make drivers more bike friendly. I see this as having the potential to make it even harder to commute by bike. I do not want to be honked and yelled at when I am on a road that has no bike lanes and I do not like the idea of being confined to a small section of roadway. I have been a bike commuter for over two years and the odds that the city will create these lanes on the roads I use are fairly slim. Educating the public to my right to be there could go a long way. Drivers yell at me to get off the road, come dangerously close at high speeds, pass when it is not safe. All of this must be addressed. Local law enforcement must be educated and drivers who put me in harms way because they cannot wait a few seconds in order for me to be safe should be receiving tickets.
Does the money include putting in cycle friendly storm drain grates? Nothing quite like flipping over the handlebars when your bike tire gets stuck in a storm drain.
This is a good step and could ease some tensions between drivers and riders. Drivers complain about bikers in traffic. With bike lanes, drivers have their space and bike riders have theirs. Now we need more bike lanes and better education, which can be a focus of the new bike/pedestrian coordinator with the city.
mtnbikingchik: you are EXACTLY right about bike lanes. They're a good news/bad news thing. The good news is they acknowledge cyclists' existence and raise motorists' consciousness of them and of their right to the road; the bad news is they give cyclists a false sense of security and motorists a false sense of superiority.
In many instances, bike lanes are, indeed, unsafe (i.e., road debris, parked cars, etc.), and also, by relegating cyclists to a small part of the road, they consign them to second class citizenship when, in fact, they have the same rights to the road as any other "vehicle."
But, just as with progress in many other areas, sometimes you have to take what you can get rather than hold out for what you want, so let's think of bike lanes as a small step on the road to progress in the motorist/cyclist relationship, especially in this bike-unfriendly town.
Here is a map:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa…
If that doesn't work, there's a link on the Cooper Young Community Association's website: www.cooperyoung.org
Check out an article detailing the action and videos from the event at City Hall at www.communitypoweredcycling.com.
When A.C. came out for the press conference he asked me what I thought and I told him about riding my bike downtown from Scenic Hills to ask the then mayor why we didn't take advantage of available federal highway funds for bike lanes IN 1990. AC said, "Scott, that was twenty years ago." I said I'm still waiting and he assured me it would only be a few more days. ;-) Bravo and kudos to Anthony and all the others bikers that made it happen!
Wow, Scott; he asked for YOUR opinion, AND you're on a first name basis with Hizzoner? Cool. I played golf with him, once, at Overton Park. Does that count?
A bit off topic, but how 'bout asking him whether (and when) he's going to endorse Steve Cohen. His silence has been deafening. What's he waiting for?
You don't suppose he's planning on sitting this one out, do you (I think we can eliminate the possibility he'll endorse Herenton)? That would be a big mistake, IMHO. Steve's more likely to work with AC, and be able to bring the bacon home to Memphis, than Herenton would be, don't you think?
Why on god's green earth would YOU want to give ME a hard time, Marty? I mean, REALLY? Just kiddin', love ya bro. Politician's are pragmatists and WE allow A.C. the luxury of sittin' on the fence . . .
Moses came riding up on a guitar
His spurs were a-jingling, the door was ajar
His buckle was silver, his manner was bold
I asked him to come on in out of the cold
His brain was boiling, his reason was spent
He said if nothing was borrowed then nothing was lent
I asked him for mercy, he gave me a gun
Said Now n'again these things just got to be done
Abraham and Isaac
sitting on a fence
You'd get right to work
if you had any sense
Y'know the one thing we need
is a left-hand monkey wrench
Gideon come in with his eyes on the floor
Says: Y'ain't got a hinge, you can't close the door
Moses stood up a full six foot ten
Says: You can't close the door when the wall's caved in
I asked him for water, he poured me some wine
We finished the bottle then broke into mine
You get what you come for, you're ready to go
It's one in ten thousand just come for the show
Abraham and Isaac
Digging on a well
Mama come quick
with the water witch spell
Cool clear water
where you can't never tell
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