Little Rock's bicycle and pedestrian coordinator wants to add a protected bike lane to a section of South Louisiana Street downtown when the street is resurfaced later this month.
Jeremy Lewno said protected bicycle lanes, sometimes referred to as buffered lanes, are becoming "the norm" across the country. Instead of having a bicycle lane between parked vehicles and traffic lanes, protected bicycle lanes are on the outside of the parked row of cars next to the sidewalk.
"It's much safer for everyone. Cars aren't backing in through the bike lane to go park in their designated spot, and then those parked cars actually do create a buffer for the rider on the bike," Lewno said.
Adding the protected lane along South Louisiana wouldn't cost the city any additional money because the street was already scheduled to be resurfaced using revenue from the 2011 voter-approved sales-tax increase. Street crews would just change where the stripes are painted on the street, Lewno said.
But, adding a bicycle lane would narrow the one-way street from two lanes to one. Lewno is proposing that the new bicycle lane be added from Markham Street all the way to Interstate 630.
The city's Traffic Engineering Division is looking into the feasibility of the protected bicycle lane but hasn't signed off on anything yet.
"It's something we are working on, trying to figure out if it can be done and how best to do it," Assistant Public Works Director Ronny Loe said Friday.
There are some protected lanes in Memphis and many in Austin, Texas, Lewno said.
Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola said it's too early in the process for him to say whether buffered bicycle lanes are a good fit for Little Rock, adding that it would depend on the width and conditions of a particular road. Since Louisiana is a one-way street, it would be easier to do there, he said.
"Engineers have to figure out whether the design is appropriate for the location. There is quite a bit of bicycle transportation downtown," Stodola said.
"So I think it's probably a discussion point to anticipate the fact that those neighborhoods around downtown will be increasingly looking at other modes of transportation other than vehicles to get to some of the entertainment and cultural activities that are downtown."
Lewno wants Louisiana Street to become a model to showcase how well buffered bicycle lanes can work in the city, he said.
If it goes well, he'll propose adding such lanes in other locations that are on the city's list to resurface this year and on the city's Bike Master Plan to receive some kind of bicycle-accommodating infrastructure in the future.
Loe didn't know when a decision would be made on adding a protected bicycle lane to Louisiana Street. Since temporary stripes go down after the resurfacing and permanent stripes aren't added until a few weeks later, he said the city has time to decide.
Adding the lane to Louisiana Street wouldn't eliminate parking, and the road has low daily traffic count, Loe said.
Metro on 09/15/2014