Public divided over Little Rock bike bid

Parking-spot loss met with concern

Proposals to remove on-street parking along Seventh Street in downtown Little Rock and replace it with bike lanes were met with mixed reviews from area business owners and commuters Thursday.

The city presented a few options for adding bike lanes from Chester Street to Broadway. Two proposals would have bike lanes on both sides of the street but with different widths of barriers between bike lanes and motor vehicle lanes. The third option would keep on-street parking on one side of the street and remove it on the other side to add a bike lane.

"Removing parking and adding bike lanes will do more for the corridor than provide safe bike access," said John Landosky, the city's bicycle/pedestrian coordinator. "It will allow drivers turning onto Seventh Street better lines of sight to avoid collisions. It will allow Rock Region Metro buses better access to their stops and first responder vehicles better control over the roadway in emergency situations.

"It also has the potential to be the first step in revitalizing the corridor," he said. "We took a 'complete streets' approach to the [South Main] neighborhood, for example, and it is now a destination where people go and spend money rather than just try to get through."

Some people who use bicycles to commute and routinely bike down Seventh Street said they were in favor of adding the bicycle accommodations on the roadway. Others who attended Thursday night's public input meeting preferred the convenience of parking spots outside of their businesses.

There are currently 240 public parking spaces -- either free or metered, including on-street parking and one open lot -- in the area around the five blocks being considered for the project. Removing parking along Seventh Street on those blocks would reduce the available parking to 174 spots.

But the parking spots in the area are only being used at about 25 percent of capacity, Landosky said. He showed results of about 15 studies of how many vehicles were parked on the corridor at various times of the day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The studies show additional parking isn't a huge need, he said.

One business owner in the audience pointed out that none of the studies was done at noon, when many people flood the area for lunch or to run errands.

The city's long-term Master Street Plan already shows Seventh Street with bike lanes all the way from Woodrow Street to Main Street. The city is only proposing the five-block section at first to save costs, because the section was recently resurfaced and has to be re-striped anyway.

The first bike lane option being considered would keep two 12-foot-wide driving lanes -- one in each direction -- and remove on-street parking to add two 6-foot-wide bike lanes on each side of the roadway, separated by a 4-inch white line.

The second option also adds 6-foot-wide bike lanes on either side of the street, but reduces each travel lane to 10 feet wide to add a 2-foot striped buffer between bikers and cars.

The third option has 11-foot-wide vehicle lanes, a 6-foot bike lane on one side separated from vehicles by a white line, and an 8-foot-wide area for parking on the other, also separated from the driving lanes by a white line.

There also are two alternatives for the proposed options. One is to not have a designated bike lane at the intersection of Seventh and Chester streets and instead put markings showing bikes should use the turn lane in that section. The other is to use option one or two and add parking on one side of the street, but only along certain sections of the corridor that are wide enough.

Officials are taking public comments on the proposals for the next 15 days. Comments may be sent to Landosky at jlandosky@littlerock.org.

Landosky said he talked with business owners along the corridor before Thursday's meeting and knew what type of concerns he would be met with.

On-street parking "is by no means a trivial concern for businesses whose livelihood depends on customers being able to easily access their location," he said, but added that removing parking on Seventh Street still left close-by parking options for businesses.

Phillip McColey with Southern Reprographics, Inc. at Seventh and Izard streets said he will be supportive of whatever the city decides, but prefers parking not to be eliminated. His customers have easy access to his business right now.

"I'll tell you, people like convenience," he said Thursday.

Some audience members expressed concern about adding bikers to what they called a sometimes busy and dangerous roadway during morning and evening commute hours. But a bicyclist responded that bike riders are already there, commuting along with cars -- just not in optimal conditions.

Public Works Director Jon Honeywell urged people to submit input on the proposals, adding that the city wants to try to work with property owners and people who work, live or commute in the corridor.

Landosky also explained that Seventh Street is one of only three east-west streets between the Arkansas River and Interstate 630 that cross the Union Pacific railroad tracks.

"The other two streets -- LaHarpe Boulevard and Third Street -- have mass transit and pedestrian options, but are not bike friendly and will not likely be bike friendly in the near future. In short, Seventh Street is a critical corridor to connect downtown to Capitol View, Stifft Station, UAMS and beyond for people commuting by bike," he said.

"Little Rock has committed to making our street network friendly to all modes of transportation, including walking, biking, driving and mass transit. A modern, multimodal transportation network will allow greater self-sufficiency for people too young or old to drive and for people who don't own a car," Landosky said. "Cities across the country have embraced the health, economic, and safety benefits of complete streets. Little Rock doesn't want to be left behind in the marketplace for young talent craving a vibrant, healthy community in which to settle."

Metro on 05/27/2016

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