Charlotte trying to be more bike friendly

[tozmervo]

It also has some odd gaps, such as having only half of the South Blvd /Belk interchange, but not the other half. This is definitely a good start, but hopefully both the CDOT and Google will update their maps to be more logical now that they are so readily accessible by the public.

According to the LatLong blog, you can report issues on the bike maps the same way with any other issues: the Report a Problem button in the bottom right corner. I've already submitted some missing items and recommended South Blvd and WT Harris be removed from the recommended routing.

[uptownliving]

Very very cool plan to make a Bicycle Route around Lake Norman. It would be a 100+ mile loop around the lake. Combination of trails, neighborhood streets and bicycle lanes on existing roads.

More details here:

http://www.charmeck.org/NR/rdonlyres/efgrqine3ouh5llozzopwa24cjozfwvot4l5adowaafpsrdosyakoil6iirtewx5kft4pbf5kmoefd67vcv65twaabb/March161026a.pdf

[tozmervo]

As promised, S Tryon has been restriped. The striping does strike me as temporary (there are a number of ways I would improve it for bikes), but the outer lanes of the bridge are now closed to traffic. Nice!

[tozmervo]

Church St and College St, I'm looking at you.

I've been enjoying the new signed bike routes. As I've worked my way through the network, the "holes" in the system have become more apparent. Particularly, and not surprisingly, in Southeastern Charlotte where there is so little neighborhood connection that one is forced onto dangerous arterials. I suppose its no accident that the signed routes end where they do.

[InitialD]

I would really love to see bike lanes added to the wide stretch of North Davidson from Parkwood past Mathison to somewhere around Brevard (where cars start parking on the street. This stretch of road is plenty wide enough to get bike lanes, and there are a TON of cyclists in the NoDa area. This would help connect NoDa to the Sugar Creek greenway.

[tozmervo]

So I've now knocked out routes 2, 8 and 9 along with good chunks of 1 and 7.

I'm pretty impressed with the thought that went into the routing, in terms of what they connect and how they avoid some pretty difficult (ie, dangerous) situations. They usually maneuver so that a biker can go straight across busy arterials instead of having to jog over to get across. I wouldn't mind some route tweaks to avoid some pretty steep hills, though. One in Grier Heights (route 9) nearly forced me into a walk of shame to get to the top.

I've become a lot more cognisant of the gaps in the bike network, too, since trying out the routes. For example, when you get to the end of Route 1 on Colony Rd, you're pretty much SOL for the next mile or so before you get to safer streets/bike lanes. And at the NE end of the Upper McAlpine Creek Greenway, it spits you out onto WT Harris with pretty much no where to go.

I look forward to seeing growth in the signed network, especially in radial routes that could connect the ends of the spoke routes. It would also be great to see CDOT/NCDOT start prioritizing bike improvements to remove those obnoxious "gaps" that are otherwise preventing the network from really coming to life.

[tozmervo]

There are a number of roads contracted for resurfacing this year that are designated to receive striped bike lanes in the bike master plan.

Among these are Mint Street (previously mentioned) from West to Morehead.

East Blvd road diet.

Selwyn Ave - the whole thing. Selwyn should be interesting. Besides REALLY needing resurfaced, the stretch from Queens Rd W to Colony Rd was proposed to get a road diet/ road conversion. It's not clear from CDOT's website if this will actually occur. It would mean bike lanes and left turn lanes along that stretch, which would be really nice.

Wildcards:

Kenilworth from Morehead to Charlottetowne - I don't know if they could pull of lanes here, but it sure would be nice, especially with LSC Greenway opening up and the fact that it's a pretty heavily trafficked, dangerous stretch.

Elizabeth from Kings to McDowell. This stretch is NOT designated for bike lanes, but they put in lanes from Kings to Charlottetown, so it wouldn't surprise me.

Old Concord from N Tryon to Newell Hickory Grove & Tom Hunter - the whole thing. Both of these roads are designated as future Farm-to-Market projects, but to my knowledge there are no plans for that conversion anytime soon. Its fair to say both projects would greatly contribute to the future BLE and to improving the really terrible biking network in that area.

Woodlawn - discussed earlier, not likely to get bike lanes.

[tozmervo]

The 10th annual Bike! Charlotte is taking place from May 1-16 this year.

Some highlights:

May 1: Dilworth Criterium around Latta Park

May 7: Mayor's Ride

Sun May 2-Sat May 8: Rack your bike and ride for free on CATS rail and busses

May 14: Bike to Work Day

May 15: Cycle Charlotte festival in South End

There are many other organized rides, bike maintenance clinics, etc occuring over the two week period - see the website for a full list. The Charlotte Cycling Guide will also get its full and final release by CDOT, which CABA says will include an actual honest-to-goodness online PDF.

Also, CABA is offering half-off membership for a limited time.

Also also, CABA is offering bike valet parking at Quail Hollow. Apparently they handled 250 bikes last year, which is pretty cool.

Edited April 26, 2010 by tozmervo

[sharkdawg]

New Belgium Brewery Urban Assault Ride : Charlotte

http://www.urbanassaultride.com/charlotte

This looks great. Charlotte should feel honored to be among a list of other cool cities be hosting this event.

[tozmervo]

Selwyn Ave - the whole thing. Selwyn should be interesting. Besides REALLY needing resurfaced, the stretch from Queens Rd W to Colony Rd was proposed to get a road diet/ road conversion. It's not clear from CDOT's website if this will actually occur. It would mean bike lanes and left turn lanes along that stretch, which would be really nice.

Mary Newsom is reporting that the Selwyn road diet is a go for this summer, and resurfacing should start some time in June. They want to be done and cleaned up before 24 Hours of Booty.

[nonillogical]

Sunday is the New Belgium Brewing Urban Assault Ride, so look out for numbered riders on all types of bikes scattered throughout the inner neighborhoods. The race involves a number of checkpoints (as far apart as Smelly Cat in Noda and Bike Source at the Park Rd. Shopping Center), and teams of 2 planning their own route and order between them. Each checkpoint involves a physical challenge to complete before going back to the starting point, which is Marshall Park in 2nd ward.

This is the first time the race has come to the East Coast, and in fact it's still the only eastern stop this year. It will be interesting to see how it stacks up to the more bike-conscious cities its established in like Portland, Austin, Berkley.

http://urbanassaultride.com/

I'll be doing it even though the heat is going to be brutal...anybody else??

[tozmervo]

A friend and I thought about it, but I think we're going to just "watch" and see how it goes. (And by "watch," I of course mean go drink fat tire in Marshall Park.) Hopefully they'll come back next year - would def. be up for it

[nonillogical]

wow, pretty great turnout for the Urban Assault Ride. it was awesome to see Marshall Park being utilized to the fullest! there were roughly 180 teams of 2 and lots of supportive friends and family members.

our route was close to 25 miles, and i don't think we could have planned it much better. we did very well to come in 22 but the winning team did it in barely over an hour and a half!! anyway hope this comes back next year, it was a GREAT event.

[Bikeguy]

Worked the Human Bowling Ball checkpoint at the Smelly Cat, and can say that this was a tremendous biking event, even given the 90+ temps. Families, Dads & sons; spouses; & buds of all cycling levels were having a blast. Marshall Park was indeed well used, but holly molly, that place needs some shade...

Organizers were hoping for 300 participants, they got 320. With as much fun everyone had, 500+ next year would be well within reach..

[nonillogical]

our faaavorite person weighs in on cycling in charlotte:

http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/the_cycling_epidemic/Content?oid=996069

[Spartan]

There are a number of roads contracted for resurfacing this year that are designated to receive striped bike lanes in the bike master plan.

Among these are Mint Street (previously mentioned) from West to Morehead.

East Blvd road diet.

Selwyn Ave - the whole thing. Selwyn should be interesting. Besides REALLY needing resurfaced, the stretch from Queens Rd W to Colony Rd was proposed to get a road diet/ road conversion. It's not clear from CDOT's website if this will actually occur. It would mean bike lanes and left turn lanes along that stretch, which would be really nice.

Wildcards:

Kenilworth from Morehead to Charlottetowne - I don't know if they could pull of lanes here, but it sure would be nice, especially with LSC Greenway opening up and the fact that it's a pretty heavily trafficked, dangerous stretch.

Elizabeth from Kings to McDowell. This stretch is NOT designated for bike lanes, but they put in lanes from Kings to Charlottetown, so it wouldn't surprise me.

Old Concord from N Tryon to Newell Hickory Grove & Tom Hunter - the whole thing. Both of these roads are designated as future Farm-to-Market projects, but to my knowledge there are no plans for that conversion anytime soon. Its fair to say both projects would greatly contribute to the future BLE and to improving the really terrible biking network in that area.

Woodlawn - discussed earlier, not likely to get bike lanes.

• 
  
  
• Woodlawn was restriped with a wide outside lane to make it better for cyclists. That said, only experienced cyclists are going to use Woodlawn.
  
• Elizabeth will get bike lanes with the Streetcar since they will have to rebuild a lot of the street.
  
• Kenilworth, IMO doesn't need to be a priority. You will eventually have LSC Greenway, and Route 1 through Dilworth, so there will be options to get to Uptown or MIdtown.
  
• Old Concord is going to get interesting because of the double tracking of the railroad that runs next to it. Don't expect anything anytime soon.
  

[southslider]

^Actually, streetcar should NOT be a complete rebuild of Trade Street, as was done on Elizabeth Avenue. From CTC to Kings Drive, streetcar is planned to travel the two inside or middle travel lanes. As such, construction should involve a simple trench cut into the middle of the street for a shallow track bed, retaining existing pavement on outside lanes and existing curbs. This is similar to how streetcar has been built in Portland and Seattle, where construction was also minimized to basically the track bed within a single travel lane, not the whole street.

[tozmervo]

This survey is starting to make the rounds. NCDOT is collecting information on bike and pedestrian safety needs. It's a pretty short survey, but hopefully it'll help NCDOT with it's bike and pedestrian priorities.

http://www.itre.ncsu.edu/Public/Bike-Ped-NCDOT-Survey.html

[tozmervo]

Some time ago I remember seeing a helmet cam video that a bike messenger shot as he cut across Uptown. I'm having trouble finding it now - does anyone know where that video might be?

[tozmervo]

The 2nd edition of the Charlotte Cycling Guide/Map has been posted at the CDOT Website. Not much has changed from the first edition, but it has been updated with new greenway/bike lane stretches and has received some minor graphical changes for clarity.

Also, this year's Bike! Charlotte kicked off last Friday with the Mayor's Ride. There are two weeks of rides and activities as part of the event, including Cycle Charlotte on May 14.

Edited May 2, 2011 by tozmervo

[tozmervo]

Anyone else riding in this Sunday's Urban Assault Ride? Tis my first one, really looking forward to it. Definitely spent a lot of time traversing neighborhoods in this city, hopefully my experience will serve me well!

(especially if i can solve the damn clue for the first mystery checkpoint)

[nonillogical]

Anyone else riding in this Sunday's Urban Assault Ride? Tis my first one, really looking forward to it. Definitely spent a lot of time traversing neighborhoods in this city, hopefully my experience will serve me well!

(especially if i can solve the damn clue for the first mystery checkpoint)

I did the last 2 years and had a great time. Unfortunately my sister was to be my teammate but had a nasty wreck, so we're both sitting this one out. Good luck, and remember go to the mystery checkpoint first!

[tozmervo]

Heh, I finally solved the mystery checkpoint, but unfortunately going there first will make the overall route incredibly inefficient. Definitely keeping it as close to the front as possible. And pushing Ray's Splash Planet toward the end. I'll be damned if I'm riding all over this city sopping wet

Doyche Bags, ride!

[nonillogical]

Heh, I finally solved the mystery checkpoint, but unfortunately going there first will make the overall route incredibly inefficient. Definitely keeping it as close to the front as possible. And pushing Ray's Splash Planet toward the end. I'll be damned if I'm riding all over this city sopping wet

Doyche Bags, ride!

Oh you'd be surprised how fast you dry out

The thing about going to the mystery checkpoint 1st is that when you figure out the 2nd, it doesn't have the potential to mess up your route so much. FWIW though, looking at this year's checkpoints, I would bet on the mystery checkpoint being in Uptown or Southend (last 2 years were Bechtler and The Green).

[Bikeguy]

Need some help from this board... CycleCharlotte www.cyclecharlotte.org is scheduled for Saturday May 12th and we're tweaking it a bit this year to be a family "Bingo" ride instead of a 30-45 mile spandex ride. Starting from the Ice House on S. Blvd we will visit 11 destinations along an 18 mile route. Each destination will have 3-4 bingo numbers posted from which the riders will note on their cards. The "destinations" are: the 2 Common Markets, NASCAR Hall of Fame ( with Chiquita bananas); the 7th Street Marketplace ( Grand Opening); McGill Rose Garden( Mother's Day weekend & roses will be at peak); Trips for Kids Re-cyclery ( free REI tire levers); Smelly Cat ( free ice cream cones); Plaza Midwood Bike Fest; along the entire newly opened Little Sugar Creek Greenway; The Children's Nature Museum; Winghaven (future free pass); and the Davidson Chocolate Co. on East Blvd.(free chocolate samples) and ending at the Ice House with music & free food.. It's an effort to show how Charlotte can be really enjoyed on a bike.

So here's my question... how many apartments are in the following complexes..? They are certainly

convenient to the route and it would make sense to alert them to the ride..

Ashton

Circle

Mosaic

Camden Southend

Spectrum

Metro 808

Elizabeth Square

Edited April 19, 2012 by Bikeguy