BBC Proposal and Call for Support
17TH STREET BIKE LANE PROJECT
by Dave Allured
Updated July 30, 2004
INTRODUCTION
17th Street near downtown Boulder was identified in the 1996 Transportation
Master Plan as desirable for the addition of on-street bicycle lanes.
17th Street is now shown on city maps as a designated bike route. It
is a significant north-south bicycle connection between the Mapleton
and Goss-Grove neighborhoods, the east side of the downtown business
district, Boulder High School, the University of Colorado, and the Boulder
Creek Path.
The street is now a rather narrow neighborhood street with on-street
parking lanes on one or both sides. The street is currently useable and
used for on-street cycling. However, the parked cars and lack of painted
bike lanes make it somewhat undesirable for the average non-aggressive
cyclist. This has resulted in some increased bicycling on the sidewalks,
to the displeasure of pedestrians.
17th Street between Athens and Pine streets has come up for a resurfacing
project in the city's maintenance schedule. So the city has decided that
the timing is good to consider the proposed bike lanes, as well as some
traffic mitigation strategies.
Boulder Bicycle Commuters supports the addition of the 17th Street bike
lanes. We also support certain traffic calming methods to improve the
street for both cyclists and pedestrians. Please see our complete
position statement below. It is rather long, but we felt it was
necessary to address some neighborhood concerns and some common design
mistakes.
UPDATE -- JULY 2004
BBC has on several occasions amended our original 17th street policies.
Please see the list
of amendments following our main position statement, below.
In response to neighborhood concerns and our own desires to preserve
the pleasant environment of this neighborhood street, BBC took a stand
against proposals to widen the street for the purpose of squeezing in
bike lanes.
As a result, the city's latest plans announced in July 2004 are preserving
almost all existing curb lines and trees. To accomplish this, bike lanes
would be squeezed to a substandard width of five feet including gutter,
in the vicinity of Canyon and Arapahoe. Left turn vehicle lanes would
still be preserved at these intersections.
The current plans would construct bike lanes only as far north as Walnut
Street, omitting the final three blocks in the business area from Walnut
to Pine.
A total of 44 on-street automobile parking spaces would be removed under
the city's current plan. We expect that this will result in considerable
opposition, which needs to be balanced by testimony in favor of bike
lanes and promoting more bicycle use instead of motor vehicles.
The plans also call for several pedestrian crossing improvements which
would also serve to slow down traffic.
For more details of the city's current proposal and history of public
meetings, see these websites:
UPCOMING PUBLIC HEARINGS
Please attend and testify in favor of bike lanes on 17th Street between
Athens and Pine streets. If you wish to support any of the details found
in our position statement, that would be even better.
| What: |
Public hearing for Downtown Management Commission. |
| When: |
Monday, August 2, 2004, meeting starts at 5:30 pm.
(BBC meets in the lobby at 5:30, before the hearing.) |
| Where: |
Boulder City Hall, second floor, southwest corner of Canyon and
Broadway. |
|
| What: |
Public hearing for Transportation Advisory Board. |
| When: |
Monday, August 30, 2004, meeting starts at 6:00 pm. |
| Where: |
Boulder City Hall, second floor, southwest corner of Canyon and
Broadway. |
To get reminders for these meetings, sign up for the BBC
Announcement E-mail List .
Or keep watch on the Upcoming
Transportation Advisory Board Agenda .
Contacts for more information:
COMPLETE BBC POSITION STATEMENT
Boulder Bicycle Commuters supports the 17th Street
bike lane project between Athens and Pine streets. This statement was
adopted unanimously at our March 3, 2003 meeting.
We urge the city of Boulder to proceed with this
project, with the following provisions:
ON-STREET BIKE LANES
- Install on-street bike lanes on both sides of
17th Street from Athens to Pine streets.
- Extend the southbound bike lane south past Athens,
to connect with the uphill bike lane going up to University Ave.
- Given existing space constraints, we support the
following configuration for 17th Street:
- Two regular auto travel lanes, one each
direction.
- Two on-street bike lanes, one each direction.
- Automobile parking lane, one side only,
only when space allows.
- Buffer strip between parking lane and bike
lane, to protect cyclists from suddenly opened car doors.
- Existing detached sidewalks.
- Existing verges, trees, and landscaping.
- Remove existing on-street auto parking on 17th
Street, as needed, to obtain the space needed for the bike lanes.
- Do not widen 17th Street anywhere for the purpose
of keeping parking while adding bike lanes.
- Make the bike lanes straight, direct, and unobstructed.
- Do not make any curves in bike lanes, as has been
suggested.
- Use a curb design that eliminates the seam between
the bike lane and gutter pan. Also eliminate special breaks in the
side slope of the bike lane that could present irregular surfaces
to cyclists.
- Please pave the curb-side bike lanes to full width
with seamless asphalt, not concrete, all the way to the curb face.
- Do not expand 17th Street at intersections. Eliminate
automobile turn lanes as needed to provide space to install the bike
lanes.
- Paint stripes on both sides of the parking lane
buffer strip.
- The buffer strip will also provide some room for
snow plow drifts while maintaining an open bike lane next to parking.
LANE WIDTHS
There are a variety of existing curb-to-curb widths
on this section of 17th Street, between 36 and 50 feet. When bike lanes
are installed, our preferred lane widths and configurations are as
follows. In order to make clear a complex request, we present this
as a set of formulas:
- Bike lane next to curb: 6 feet with NO gutter
seam. (Standard is 5 feet plus 1-1/2 foot gutter pan.)
- Bike lane next to parking lane: 5 feet (standard).
- Auto travel lanes: 11 feet (standard).
- Parking lane: 8 feet (standard).
- Buffer strip: 3 feet.
- Total width needed between curb faces: 44 feet.
For available width from 44 to 42 feet, please reduce
these dimensions as follows:
- Reduce the curb-side bike lane and buffer strip
widths by equal amounts as needed, down to 5 feet and 2 feet respectively.
For available width from 42 to 40 feet feet, in addition
to above:
- Reduce the buffer strip alone as needed, from
2 feet to none.
Below 40 feet, we urge that parking lanes on both
sides of the street be eliminated.
In addition, please consider reducing auto travel
lane width to 10 or 10-1/2 feet where necessary to fit the desired
bike lanes plus one parking lane.
TRAFFIC MITIGATION
- Provide traffic mitigation measures as needed
over time, to deal with automobile speeding problems. We support
and recommend these measures for 17th Street:
- Complete striping of crosswalks across 17th
Street, both sides of the intersection, at every side street.
- Official regulatory signs and centerline
bollards, "Stop For Pedestrians In Crosswalk".
- Automatic speed sensor warning signs.
- Raised crosswalks, if necessary.
- Remove extra automobile turn lanes to decrease
pedestrian crossing distance and discourage excess automobile
travel.
- Please do NOT install traffic mitigation neckdowns
that protrude into bike lanes. They are not appropriate for this
project and would be hazardous to cyclists.
- Request Boulder Valley School District, the University,
and local businesses and agencies to step up their programs to ask
people to find alternatives to driving, and seek jobs or homes close
to each other to reduce the need for automobiles.
REASONS TO SUPPORT 17TH STREET BIKE LANES
- Provide a high-quality north-south bicycle connection
that is presently lacking in this area.
- Provide good bike access from central and north
Boulder to:
- Boulder High School
- University
- Boulder Creek Path
- Uni Hill commercial area
- This project has been in the Transportation Master
Plan since at least 1996.
- Improve pedestrian environment and safety. Bike
lanes will get more cyclists, especially faster ones, off the sidewalks.
- Improve safety for cyclists. Current conditions
mix cyclists with auto traffic, exposing them to opening car doors
due to on-street parking.
- This project will encourage MORE people to use
bikes and leave their autos behind.
- Bike lanes will help reduce the need for the displaced
parking spaces.
BBC AMENDMENTS TO OUR POSITION STATEMENT
- It would be acceptable to BBC for the bike lanes
to terminate at Spruce Street rather than Pine Street at this time,
if necessary, due to much lower traffic volume in this northernmost
residential block. (May 5, 2003)
- We urge the city to NOT remove from the Transportation
Master Plan, any section of bike lanes that will not be included
in the current project. Removal was proposed last summer by city
staff. (September 2, 2003)
- If the city finds it impossible to remove vehicle
left turn lanes on 17th at Canyon and Arapahoe, then we request
that the preservation of existing curb lines and landscaping have
the highest priority, and that bike lanes be discontinued on approach.
Cyclists should merge and share the automobile lanes through the
intersections, as is now the case. (January 5, 2004)
- We recommend maintaining the 5 foot standard width
for bike lanes in general. But a substandard width down to 4 feet
may be acceptable where speed limits are 25 mph or less, such as
17th street, in order to complete bike lanes in constrained areas.
(January 5, 2004)
