On Tuesday May 28th, WTS Sacramento celebrated "May is Bike Month" by hosting our first ever bike tour to experience and learn about the new bicycle facilities in Downtown Sacramento. We were fortunate to have Jennifer Donlon-Wyant, Megan Carter, and Megan Johnson from the City of Sacramento, winners of our Chapter’s 2018 Innovative Transportation Solutions Award for Sacramento’s innovative bikeways, lead the tour.
Fifteen participants brought out their bikes or used an electric assist JUMP bike, donated by JUMP, for the tour. For some participants, it was their first time riding a JUMP bike.
We began the tour riding down Q Street and P Street on parking protected bikeways, a type of a Class IV bikeway. These were the first Class IV facilities to be implemented in Sacramento. The City used the guidance of Design Information Bulletin 89 when designing these facilities.
When we got to the corner of P and 10th Streets, we used a 2-stage bike box at the signal to make a turn from the protected bikeway onto 10th Street. These bike boxes make it easier to get in and out of the protected bikeway. Currently, this type of design can only be used at a signalized intersection.
Then we headed up 10th street on a buffered bikeway leading up to the west side of the StateCapitol. A few months after this bikeway was put in, construction of a new office building began on 10th and O Streets, and the construction zone encroached onto the new bike lane, cutting off this newly improved route. Rather than making bikers navigate around the construction and mix with traffic, the city worked to put in a temporary bike lane as to not cut off this route while the construction is going on.
As we biked passed the State Capitol we also learned of the challenges and solutions to the design due to the number of large busses of visitors and event trucks needing to park there intermittently.
As we continued north on 10th Street the buffered bike lane turned into another parking protected facility as we crossed L, K and J Streets. We made a right on H Street and rode on a comfortable Class II bikeway making our way to J Street, where another parking protected bikeway spans from 19th Street to 29th Street. The J Street bike improvements were part of a larger safety project on the corridor to improve safety for all road users.
The City was able to complete these projects with bicycle improvements rather quickly and at a low cost by combining them with maintenance projects that were already scheduled. In addition to the bikeways that exist today, the City has plans to complete 45 more blocks with bike improvements within the next eighteen months.
It’s safe to say that this team of women are transforming the City of Sacramento streets to improve mobility options for all ages and abilities. WTS Sacramento thanks Megan J., Megan C., and Jennifer for an amazing tour. We hope everyone is encouraged to hop on a bike and take a ride!
Comentários