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Charlotte trying to be more bike friendly


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I feel like every time I turn around the NCGA is doing something to undermine any glimmer of hope for a better future.  I think their next step may be to outlaw ice cream.

 

Why should people be forced to endure the constant badgering to purchase something that only is viable 6 months of the year, and has an outrageous mark-up in it, which is akin to a tax. Can't people just enjoy milk, without the undue burden that ice cream purveyors cost the economy.

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Not a ton of substance behind this link but a study done in Montreal found that proximity to bikeshare stations increases residential property values. Not a big surprise but its useful to see actual data reflecting what we already know.

http://www.noodls.com/view/5A8C8CB931FF0FDA94B9CFFB91809B2F852BCCDB?8872xxx1434751361#sthash.zJHprhpL.uxfs&st_refDomain=t.co&st_refQuery=/7CYVN9U73v

Perhaps we should be TIFFing bcycle expansion?

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  • 1 month later...

Not really sure where else to put this, but here is a good article on the most dangerous intersections in Charlotte in today's Charlotte Agenda.  I run/bike daily in and around Uptown, and I completely agree these are some of the most dangerous intersections in the city.  I generally change my routes by a few blocks to avoid them.

http://www.charlotteagenda.com/15912/the-83-most-dangerous-intersections-in-charlotte/

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Charlotte is hosting this year's NC Bike Summit Oct 15-17th.  Keynote speaker ( courtesy of the Knight Foundation ) will be Gil Penalosa, a former Park Commissioner of Bogata, Columbia who's group initiated the first Ciclovia in 1974 and is now a world-wide phenomena. He also founded 8 80 Cities, a non profit focusing on encouraging cities to transform themselves for folks 8 to 80 years of age.  https://vimeo.com/118453984

Also scheduled is new Secretary of Transportation Nick Tennyson, as well as a strong panel of NC General Assembly members to discuss effective ways of getting voices heard.    Info on registering here..   .https://www.facebook.com/events/465778710258350/   

Edited by Bikeguy
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Charlotte is hosting this year's NC Bike Summit Oct 15-17th.  Keynote speaker ( courtesy of the Knight Foundation ) will be Gil Penalosa, a former Park Commissioner of Bogata, Columbia who's group initiated the first Ciclovia in 1974 and is now a world-wide phenomena. He also founded 8 80 Cities, a non profit focusing on encouraging cities to transform themselves for folks 8 to 80 years of age.  https://vimeo.com/118453984

Also scheduled is new Secretary of Transportation Nick Tennyson, as well as a strong panel of NC General Assembly members to discuss effective ways of getting voices heard.    Info on registering here..   .https://www.facebook.com/events/465778710258350/   

Wow, I love everything about this.  That 8 80 video is exciting and also depressing at the same time, haha.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not really sure where else to put this, but here is a good article on the most dangerous intersections in Charlotte in today's Charlotte Agenda.  I run/bike daily in and around Uptown, and I completely agree these are some of the most dangerous intersections in the city.  I generally change my routes by a few blocks to avoid them.

http://www.charlotteagenda.com/15912/the-83-most-dangerous-intersections-in-charlotte/

My most frustrating intersection in uptown is on Caldwell/South Blvd at the I-277 interchange.  Heading South from uptown, the bicycle/pedestrian lane will have the walk signal, but the southbound drivers either can't see that signal, or they ignore it, so they fly right into acceleration mode to get on 277.  Sometimes a kind soul will pause and wave me across, but if a cyclist or pedestrian followed the pedestrian light and ignored the traffic rushing onto 277, that person wouldn't make it out of uptown. I suppose it doesn't make the list because most people are smart enough to wait for the traffic to clear out before attempting to cross.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Has anyone ever heard of sidewalks being widened on both sides of a road to anywhere from 10-14 ft in lieu of bike lanes? On major arterials where they insist on 2 gp lanes per direction, but they only have room for painted bike lanes, it seems to me it would be the best choice for all: a wide tree-lined path for pedestrians and cyclists, wide enough that cars would pay attention and peds/cyclists would have more space to notice cars turning. It's the only way for a protected bike path when the arterial has no room for a segregated, protected cycle track.

I posed this question to someone at the NECI meetings, and they said they "are doing that with the Parkwood Streetscape path [as part of the Blue Line's rail trail] but only because there are no driveways on that stretch." Which doesn't make sense to me, because if you have a painted bike lane between a car lane, and a driveway, the car still has to cut through the bike lane AND pedestrians on the sidewalk. So what is the difference?

Edited by SgtCampsalot
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I think it typically has to do with visibility. From a driveway it can be much more difficult to see a quick biker coming down a sidewalk (with a tighter view angle) than a biker in the street. When a driver has no visibility, they may have to pull out quite a bit before being able to tell if there's an oncoming car/bike/ped.

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Has anyone ever heard of sidewalks being widened on both sides of a road to anywhere from 10-14 ft in lieu of bike lanes?

The Indianapolis Cultural Trail kinda fits this description. Its a great trail and works well for both peds and bikes. But it is mostly in areas with calmer traffic than you would find on Parkwood. It is also very urban so there are fewer issues with driveways and visibility.

 

Glick-Peace-Walk-large-group-use.jpg

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Here's one for you: The Plaza (the main residential stretch, in between Central and Parkwood), I feel like it would be simple to turn each outside lane into a buffered, protected bike lane. Then the tricky part would be reconfiguring a few spots at medians for modest turning lanes and/or pedestrian refuges.

Of course the Central/Parkwood intersections would need to be adjusted to match, but I feel like there's no reason this part of The Plaza has to be 4 GP lanes. Parkwood/Plaza extension are the heavy traffic flows, but this stretch is 100% residential.

 

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Has anyone ever heard of sidewalks being widened on both sides of a road to anywhere from 10-14 ft in lieu of bike lanes? On major arterials where they insist on 2 gp lanes per direction, but they only have room for painted bike lanes, it seems to me it would be the best choice for all: a wide tree-lined path for pedestrians and cyclists, wide enough that cars would pay attention and peds/cyclists would have more space to notice cars turning. It's the only way for a protected bike path when the arterial has no room for a segregated, protected cycle track.

I posed this question to someone at the NECI meetings, and they said they "are doing that with the Parkwood Streetscape path [as part of the Blue Line's rail trail] but only because there are no driveways on that stretch." Which doesn't make sense to me, because if you have a painted bike lane between a car lane, and a driveway, the car still has to cut through the bike lane AND pedestrians on the sidewalk. So what is the difference?

I did a project in downtown Pineville where the sidewalks were 15 or more feet wide.  I was told that they require the width for bikes.

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