Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The city is adding bike lanes along Ninth Street where construction is taking place this week. The city commission decided July 7 to add a bike lane on the north side of Ninth Street for three blocks between Tennessee and Indiana streets, and on the south side for two blocks between Ohio and Indiana streets.
Eric Struckhoff, a member of the Lawrence Bicycle Advisory Committee, said the bike lanes on Ninth Street would be an important link between downtown and campus, West campus and other areas of Lawrence.
The benefits of the bike lanes go beyond safety for bicyclists on the street, Struckhoff said. They also lead to fewer cars creating traffic and more open parking spaces for motorists because more people will feel safe riding their bikes instead of driving, he said. Bike lanes also result in less polluion from car engines and less damage to roads, leading to less construction, Struckhoff said.
“It benefits everyone,” Struckhoff said.
David Neidinger, vice-president of the KU Cycling Club, said the bike lanes would make students feel safer riding their bikes between campus and downtown.
“Ninth Street is one of the easiest ways downtown,” Neidinger, Saint Joseph, Mo., junior, said. “It would definitely be beneficial to have bike lanes there. That would be awesome.”
Michael Almon, local bicycle advocate, said Ninth Street had the highest accident rate between bicycles and automobiles. He said the city had taken a long time to make progress in adding bike lanes to streets where there was heavy bike traffic.
“Lawrence is very auto-centric. The only progress made is when people push and push and push,” Almon said.
The city engineers found difficulty making room for bike lanes because streets in the center of Lawrence were too narrow or had parking on each side, Almon said.
“It’s an uphill battle,” Almon said. “But it’s got to happen.”
He said the addition of bike lanes to the repaved portion of Ninth Street gave bicyclists some relief from the car traffic.
Shoeb Uddin, city engineer, said the new bike lanes would take the place of 10 parking spots on the south side of the street and four spots on the north side.
“Lawrence, as a community, favors bikes and multi-mobility,” Uddin said.
Mark Desetti, a member of the Lawrence Bicycle Advisory Committee, said the city commission adopted a plan to add bike lanes to streets throughout Lawrence as the streets were repaved.
“I think the city is going forward with its commitment to make our streets safer for bikers,” Desetti said. “Even at three blocks at a time, we’re doing it.”
Desetti said adding bike lanes to the small section of the street was a step towards greater “east-west connectivity,” which was a problem in Lawrence transportation.
“It’s only three blocks, but we like to think in terms of connectivity,” Struckhoff said. “So, although there’s no connectivity yet, there’s an indication here of connectivity.”
Struckhoff said there was no longer room downtown for more parking spaces, so the city was trying to fit bike lanes to give people greater access to the area. He said the city engineers struggled to find room for bike lanes and sometimes resorted to making narrowed car lanes in repaved streets.
“You have to be creative sometimes,” Struckhoff said.
— — Edited by Dylan Sands
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