Charlotte Bike Lanes

[JBGB]

Actually Charlotte is one of the few cities that allows bicycles on the side walks. I'll try to find it in print for you.

[tozmervo]

Actually Charlotte is one of the few cities that allows bicycles on the side walks. I'll try to find it in print for you.

[nonillogical]

Charlotte Talks did a bike show back in June. On their board, someone posted this:

City Code Section 14 subsection 251:

Sec. 14-251. Riding on sidewalks. It shall be unlawful to operate a bicycle upon the public sidewalks located within the congested business district as defined in section 6-431. However, police officers acting in the discharge of their official duties are permitted to operate bicycles upon all of the public sidewalks in the city, including those sidewalks located within the congested business district.

[tozmervo]

municode.com is a good resource for finding codes like this.

Sec. 6-431. Definitions.

[...]

Congested business district is hereby declared, designated and defined to be the following streets of the city:

(1) Chipley Avenue.

(2) Church Street, between Fifth and Second Streets.

(3) Coliseum Drive.

(4) College Street, between Seventh and Stonewall Streets.

(5) Independence Boulevard, between Morehead Street and the city limits.

(6) Television Place.

(7) Trade Street, between Alexander and Cedar Streets.

(8) Tryon Street, between Eighth and Stonewall Streets.

(9) Second Street, between College and Church Streets.

(10) Third Street, between College and Church Streets.

(11) Fourth Street, between College and Mint Streets.

(12) Fifth Street between Church and College Streets.

(13) Sixth Street, between Church and College Streets.

(14) Seventh Street, between Church and College Streets.

[DjStedali]

I've been looking to start riding my bike to and from work, I live on the corner of Harris & Sugar Creek and work on the corner of W. Morehead and Cedar. Now the only route I can see being the best is Sugar Creek down to Tryon and into Uptown or Sugar Creek down to Graham and over to Cedar. Is either route safe to take whether it be cause of neighborhood or traffic or is one much better than the other? Maybe someone knows a completely better route. I took the Tryon to Sugar Creek route home today and it didnt seem too bad. A couple people at work said its not a good idea, but I tend to notice they over react on things sometimes. What are people's opinions here?

[InitialD]

This is interesting stuff. Sometimes I ride on the sidewalk going or coming from uptown on Graham St. (around I-85, Craighead). Uptown there's not much reason to worry about being run down because you're usually doing the same as traffic or faster. Watch out for those car doors. Cabs always have the right of way, apparently.

[InitialD]

I've been looking to start riding my bike to and from work, I live on the corner of Harris & Sugar Creek and work on the corner of W. Morehead and Cedar. Now the only route I can see being the best is Sugar Creek down to Tryon and into Uptown or Sugar Creek down to Graham and over to Cedar. Is either route safe to take whether it be cause of neighborhood or traffic or is one much better than the other? Maybe someone knows a completely better route. I took the Tryon to Sugar Creek route home today and it didnt seem too bad. A couple people at work said its not a good idea, but I tend to notice they over react on things sometimes. What are people's opinions here?

[nonillogical]

thanks tozmervo

what's hilarious is that i've been riding a loop around almost that exact perimeter, and wouldn't have one infraction on that list yet. pretty reasonable.

[New Name]

We rode all over town tonight. Did errands, shopping, hit up the new dog park, rode greenways and streets. Two things that really got to me tonight was how much broken glass is in the bike lanes all over the city (especailly in Op Park, and surprisingly around Midtown), and I knew it, but it's SO TRUE: once nightfalls, you take your life into your own hands - there are NO streetlights worth a damn in this city, and there is no good way to get back to Noda from uptown without crossing major traffic patterns. At night, it's just not worth it.

[uptownliving]

and I knew it, but it's SO TRUE: once nightfalls, you take your life into your own hands - there are NO streetlights worth a damn in this city, and there is no good way to get back to Noda from uptown without crossing major traffic patterns. At night, it's just not worth it.

[Spartan]

Yeah buy an LED headlight. Those things are great. You should also try to wear bright, reflective materials at night to make yourself more visible. Common sense goes a long way with bicycling, especially at night. Also, in my experience its much easier to ride on the street in Uptown, but if you ride on the sidewalks you won't get stopped. The police do it all the time...

Form Uptown I would take Davidson north and then cut over through Optimist Park and go up Brevard like uptownliving said. That street is pretty much devoid of traffic. The other option is to throw your bikes on to the bus that goes up Davidson.

[InitialD]

The Charlotte city-wide Bike Plan is before the council tonight at 7PM. Unfortunately I work 2nd shift and can't make it, but I did write to the council members:

Dear City Council and fellow citizens,

I urge the Council to unanimously approve the Charlotte Bicycle Plan.As gas prices have risen this summer, I've started making an effort to use public transportation and bicycle three days a week. While the current bike lanes and greenways are great, they are few and far between. I still feel uncomfortable bicycling on many busy streets where there are no other options for me to travel. I believe a comprehensive bicycle plan is very important in relation to the excellent transit plan. This will give people more options in combining modes of transportation and in a single trip they can walk, bicycle, and ride transit. Becoming a more bicycle friendly city will not only help the national and international view of Charlotte, but will help the citizens become less car dependent, exercise more, use less fossil fuels, and help keep pollution out of our air.

As architect Arrol Gellner recently wrote,

[New Name]

I'm not complaining, but...

(okay I am complaining a little).

All of this happened within in 30 mins on different sections of Parkwood/Plaza between Op Park, Belmont, and NoDa.

-For the third time in as many weeks, a man BARKED at us from a moving car and threw things out the window at us.

-A car cut us off and stopped us in Belmont and threatened us by tell us "not to go down his street," despite the fact that our friends actually live and own a house on "his" street.

-Two ghetto thugs with gold teef tried to stop us and force us off our bikes, and almost succeeded in getting my wife's bike. We kept riding.

-A car rolled through the right turn of Plaza - Plaza - Parkwood and almost ran one of us over.

We are getting smarter as riders, but come on...we can't be THAT naive. This can't be all our fault.

[uptownliving]

Yeah that is not the best part of town...which seems to be the source of much of your troubles over there in Belmont. I havn't riden much in Belmont except for 10th St which is on the edge...but when I have gone through Belmont...when you get on some of those side roads back there it can get really rough really quic. It really feels like a

Third World Country back there.

[Spartan]

^Yeah I make it a point not to go through Belmont on my bike. I stick to Brevard St though I recognize that since your destination was IN Belmont you didn't have a choice there. FWIW, the one time I rode through Belmont, the guys who were hanging out there were very friendly. I've had similar experiences around Double Oaks/Atando Junction. Ironically my biggest run-ins with dumbass drivers have been in SouthEnd and Uptown (granted that I spend most of my time in Uptown).

[JBGB]

I'm not complaining, but...

(okay I am complaining a little).

All of this happened within in 30 mins on different sections of Parkwood/Plaza between Op Park, Belmont, and NoDa.

-For the third time in as many weeks, a man BARKED at us from a moving car and threw things out the window at us.

-A car cut us off and stopped us in Belmont and threatened us by tell us "not to go down his street," despite the fact that our friends actually live and own a house on "his" street.

-Two ghetto thugs with gold teef tried to stop us and force us off our bikes, and almost succeeded in getting my wife's bike. We kept riding.

-A car rolled through the right turn of Plaza - Plaza - Parkwood and almost ran one of us over.

We are getting smarter as riders, but come on...we can't be THAT naive. This can't be all our fault.

[InitialD]

Keep on riding cause if you stop they win. I'll come join you one of these days.

[InitialD]

This Saturday the 11th there is an Alleycat in Charlotte. Meet at 6:00PM at Freedom Park. No entry fee but there will be a prize. Collect three tokens around the city then finish at Salvador Deli in NoDa. If possible, put your name on the list at ncfixed.com

[ngp]

I'm not complaining, but...

(okay I am complaining a little).

All of this happened within in 30 mins on different sections of Parkwood/Plaza between Op Park, Belmont, and NoDa.

-For the third time in as many weeks, a man BARKED at us from a moving car and threw things out the window at us.

-A car cut us off and stopped us in Belmont and threatened us by tell us "not to go down his street," despite the fact that our friends actually live and own a house on "his" street.

-Two ghetto thugs with gold teef tried to stop us and force us off our bikes, and almost succeeded in getting my wife's bike. We kept riding.

-A car rolled through the right turn of Plaza - Plaza - Parkwood and almost ran one of us over.

We are getting smarter as riders, but come on...we can't be THAT naive. This can't be all our fault.

[Spartan]

The adoption of the Bicycle Plan is great news for Charlotte... now on to its implementation!

[Bikeguy]

A good idea for a route for the next Critical Mass.

Thanks to advocacy from Anthony Foxx and Susan Burgess the Council voted 7-4 in favor of the bicycle plan, with yes votes from Foxx, Carter, Barnes, Dulin, Mitchell, Turner, and Burgess.

[Spartan]

There is a huge difference in the implications of the USDG on the private sector when compared to the Bicycle Plan, I assume as a Republican he took that into consideration.

[ontap]

Last Saturday evening I had two interesting interactions with bicyclists.

First, I was sitting at a traffic signal in Southend when a biker coming at me head-on deciding to ignore the traffic signal and weave in and out of the traffic moving thru the intersection. Luckily he made it unscathed.

Then about a half hour later I was uptown driving on a one way road when another biker was riding the wrong direction down the road.

Should bikers be held accountable to obeying traffic rules? I'm all in for sharing the road, but with that comes responsibility. OK, maybe this is just complaining on my part, but safety is essential. Bicyclists need to remember that they are difficult to see, especially at night without any lights or refelective clothing. Bikers please be careful and obey the traffic laws.

[Neo]

Should bikers be held accountable to obeying traffic rules? I'm all in for sharing the road, but with that comes responsibility. OK, maybe this is just complaining on my part, but safety is essential. Bicyclists need to remember that they are difficult to see, especially at night without any lights or refelective clothing. Bikers please be careful and obey the traffic laws.

Absolutely. My wife and I were taking a stroll down College Street a couple of weekends ago and were almost hit by someone riding extremely fast on the sidewalk. It is my understanding that while this is legal in the suburbs of Charlotte, it is not ok to do so in the downtown district. You typically hear of cyclists being in danger, but in reality it goes both ways.

[Spartan]

If you try cycling in downtown where there are one way streets, there are many times where you can't avoid going up on the sidewalk or occasionally going the wrong way on the one way street- particularly if your origin or destination is in the middle of the block of a one way street. Bicyclists will go from door to door, not parking lot to parking lot, which is a key distinction between them and cars. I personally would not ride opposite of traffic without a counterflow bicycle lane (many other cities have these). Riding on the sidewalk in uptown is technically not allowed, but its not enforced just like all of the other bicycle-related laws in this city.