[OMS_MANAGERS] Bike Lanes

[historicwillamette at gmail.com]

We are going through a streetscape with the city and arguing over bike
lanes.  We know they are required, but the city is forcing us to have 6.5'
bike lane on each side of the road in our Main Street. All the standards I
can fine both state and national are anywhere from 5' to 6.5' as the
"recommended" widths, but nothing "requiring" 6.5'.  Most standards say 5'
is the minimum and that larger ones are recommended for passing (which we
don't need as we are not on a hill and have a 20mph shopping district).
We are in a small suburb with only 3 bike trips a day recorded so no one
will be using these bike lanes. Our topography is such that you have to be a
serious cyclist or have an e-bike to traverse most of the town. We feel this
is a lot of real estate to devote to bike lanes that no one will use and
having a large bike lane will just encourage high speed cyclists in our
area.  We feel the if the lanes were smaller, we could expand outdoor patio
seating on the sidewalks which is more important to our main street
district. These are protected "cycle tracks" as well so a dedicated lane for
the cyclists which to me tells me they don't need to be as large when they
are not mixing with cars.  There is angled parking, a 3 foot planter strip,
then the bike lane.  Bikes are 10 feet from cars and next to the sidewalk.
We don't think they need that large of a lane.  

 

Anyone else have experience with bike lane width/standards in your city?
Looking for other cities who have done smaller bike lanes to justify that
the lanes don't need to be this big in our town of non-commuters.   I'm
being told this is the standard but have no proof to substantiate this. If
other cities have done smaller lanes, maybe I can prove the smaller lanes
are done to council and the size needs to be revisited.

 

Thanks

Shannen

President

Historic Willamette Main Street

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