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Tuesday, May 21, 2013
More bike lanes coming to downtown
by Carlos Eliason, published on August 31, 2012 at 1:33 PM
Storyline: City of Sacramento
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To improve bicycle transportation downtown, the Department of Public Works is adding bike lanes to eight well connected streets. For the first time, bicyclists will have the opportunity to have designated roadway space to travel on the streets in designated lanes just as do motor vehicles.
Streets targeted for bike lanes are:
- G Street between 8th and 16th streets
- H Street between 6th and 16th streets
- I Street between 5th and 13th streets
- J Street between 4th and 13th streets
- Capitol Mall between 5th and 9th streets
- 5th Street between I Street and Broadway
- 9th Street between I Street and Broadway
- 10th Street between H Street and Broadway
Work is expected to take place on weekends to reduce any construction related delays to traffic. Work is scheduled to take place the second and third weekends in September.
The project will underscore the City’s commitment to being bicycle friendly, and encourage sustainable, non-polluting, energy efficient and health conscious transportation. The City has risen in recent years from a bronze to silver status as a Bicycle Friendly Community from the American League of Bicyclists.
“These new bike lanes will help fill the need for better connectivity to the neighborhoods south of Broadway, connections to downtown destinations such as the State Capitol, nearby State offices, the Downtown Plaza, the Central Library and City and County office buildings. New east-west bike lanes on G and H Streets will provide the missing links between Midtown/East Sacramento and key downtown destinations, including the future railyards development,” said Jerry Way director of public works. “We heard from bicyclists about the need and we are proud to be able now to address it.”
The bike lanes are made possible either by placing the street on a “road diet,” meaning reduce the one-way street from three lanes to two, or by narrowing the travel lanes to accommodate bike lanes. Traffic studies indicate neither approach is expected to add to traffic congestion downtown.
For a complete schedule of City streets being resurfaced this year and to register to receive an email alert about Traffic Alert messages from the City, go here.
Disclosure:
Carlos Eliason is a designer and photographer working for the City of Sacramento.
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The gap of 3 blocks between 13th and 16th street on I St. seems fairly illogical. I realize that the intersections with the north/south arterials at 15th and 16th would require significantly more re-design, but that makes the east/west connection between Midtown and Downtown rather weak still.
13th is however an exceptionally bike friendly street, likely why the I/J bike lanes will terminate there.
Carlos, can you help us understand the reasoning behind this 3 block gap?
Chopping off a bike lane is lame, a sick trick and not very productive. I understand we have to accept compromise when we do not have the clout but perhaps taking a lane all the way is better than switching up and confusing the motorist behind you. All in all we have to acknowledge what we have been alotted and start again for the next phase of complete streets for everyone. thanks to all those hard working public servants who rarely get the props they deserve.
Also bike boulevards: 13th Street, R Street, and O Street for a start. These are already pretty good routes, but could be excellent for beginner riders with some extra attention.
The project going in this month is not the last of the bike lanes to be installed downtown, it is really the beginning of the process. It would be interesting to hear what streets people think the city should be focused on, even if they are not downtown streets. Soon there will be an update to the bikeway master plan, so it would be great to hear what we should be planning to do in the future.
Meanwhile, let's enjoy that for the first time in Sacramento history we will have two new northbound routes (5th and 10th Streets) one southbound route (9th Street) that will traverse the downtown grid. Add to this new eastbound routes on J and H Streets and two west bound routes on I and G Streets. At a total of 7 miles, this is no small accomplishment!
--Ed Cox, City Bike and Pedestrian Coordinator