So far on Carbon Trace I’ve taken a look at the current system of bicycle lanes and bicycle parking downtown as a way to survey what kind of a cycling city Springfield, Missouri is and what it might become. I’ll be looking at other issues, too. But for the moment, check out the interesting discussion of bicycle infrastructure taking place here and here. I want to begin the discussion about what’s possible by taking a look at something positive.
Missouri State University has a bikeway system that is separate from traffic. This system creates a safe and effective funnel into downtown. Here’s a picture I took this morning at 7:45 a.m. It was cold and damp. On a sunny, warm day this scene would be packed with walkers and you’d see several more cyclists.
The pink, brick-lined part is the cycling trail. The white concrete is the sidewalk. The road to the left is actually a 1-way alley dedicated to the MSU shuttle buses that serve the entire campus and downtown. Along this stretch walkers, cyclists, and traffic (note cross traffic in the distance) have separate facilities.
Much of the MSU bikeway, however, is merely an extension of the sidewalk. The rules state that cyclists may not use the sidewalks. I assume walkers are supposed to stay off the bikeway, but I can’t find a rule for that. Walkers walk all over the bikeway and cyclists ride on the sidewalks. It’s chaos because no one is enforcing any rules (except that you will get a ticket if you park a bicycle to any object other than a bicycle rack on campus). And don’t even bother trying to remind people where they belong. I gave that up a long time ago. Now I just ding my bell and hope I don’t run into anyone.
One other problem: This is a separate-but-unequal system. Cars still have the right of way at most places where the trail crosses a road. There are, however, a few exceptions. You can see one of them in the photo above. Where the sidewalk and the bikeway cross a road at the same point, drivers, such as the guy in the black pick-up, are instructed to yield.
There are many things to like about the MSU bikeway. Two things stand out for me: 1. The campus system acts as a crossroads for the center of town, and 2. It is a showcase (imperfect to be sure) of what’s possible if we have the political will. (Noted: MSU can more easily implement such a system on its own property than Springfield can working with limited space and private property owners.)
Right now the push from the bicycle advocacy committee is to create connections among the cycling and walking infrastructures that already exist, including sidewalks, the MSU bikeway, the Ozarks Greenways system, and the Springfield Bicycle Route (including lanes) system.
Can the United States ever have dedicated bicycle infrastructure such as they have in the Netherlands? I’ve pessimistically said “no.” But that’s neither accurate nor helpful. We should study what the Europeans do. They have solved many problems of encouraging cycling and making it subjectively safe. We cannot simply adopt a European system. We have to translate it for an American context.
Here are two possible ways (among many) to do that:
1. As the author of Shek’s Footprint has pointed out in the comments on Carbon Trace, a bicycle system makes sense in the American context if it is integrated with effective public transportation. So advocates for bicycle commuting should also be public transportation advocates. We cannot simply move all the people from the suburbs and exurbs into urban centers. These places must become sustainable centers connected to other centers by attractive and efficient public transportation.
2. Think local. For Springfield: Take a map of the city, and put the point of a compass on the downtown square. Draw a circle with a 2-mile radius. We should concentrate our efforts within that circle. We need more intelligent painting, i.e. sharrows. We need to correct the mistakes of the bicycle lane system. We need to create connections among the active transportation systems. We need more bicycle parking. And we need an education and public relations push to encourage everyone living in that circle to replace one car trip per week inside the circle with a cycling or walking trip.
We need a name for what that circle is or contains — something catchy and encouraging. Any ideas?
Comments 8
‘Cycle To Life’?
by the way, maybe you should ask for an express flight to Boston…or at least see if anything will be published from that.
Posted 12 Nov 2008 at 5:44 pm ¶If I could post a differing opinion, I’m OK with the idea of focusing efforts on an area w/in a two mile radious of downtown, but in addition to that, we shouldn’t overlook the need for a better feeder system to get folks from the outskirts into that area. While we’ve got the city designated bike routes, there are a couple of areas that need to be rethought or given more visible signage. For example, the Holland Street route crosses Sunshine at a point where there is no light to give a safe passage. When I need to go that direction, I go off-route to cross at Kimbrough. Another example is the South Fremont route between Trafficway and Monroe Street. If there are signs at some of those turns, I’ve never been able to find them. That’s another place where I usually go off-route to make it simpler.
There are three of us out in my neighborhood who live within a mile or so of each other. Our options for getting across Highway 65 are pretty limited, and once you get north of Catalpa Street, there are no low-volume streets that can be used. If you look at a map of those designated bike routes, there are huge gaps where no designated route is close.
http://www.ci.springfield.mo.us/egov/publicworks/traffic/pdf/BIKE_ROUTE.pdf
As I see it, it would be hard for the city to make any significant improvements if it wanted to. Given the city’s budget woes, if they’re going to do anything significant (othe than slapping down some paint and posting a few signs), they’re either going to need to find funding from outside the community, or legislate requirements to make it happen, as has occurred to get so many new bike racks downtown. We all know that a tax hike for cycling infrastucture would be soundly defeated in this city!
The good news is that it’s getting a lot easier to spot cycle commuters going about town than it was just a few years ago. As more of us get on the bandwagon, it will be easier to get the attention that an initiative such as this will need!
Posted 12 Nov 2008 at 7:44 pm ¶nice!!!!!
Posted 13 Nov 2008 at 12:49 am ¶Tracy… Yes. There are many things that need to be done. There are sympathetic ears in city government. And also yes, a tax hike for cycling infrastructure would go nowhere.
Right now I’m trying to generate ideas that will get non-cyclists to try cycling for one trip per week. That’s why it makes sense to me to focus on downtown.
You should attend the advocacy committee meetings. We need more commuter voices. Check the SpringBike web site. I’ll also give you a holler.
Amster… Good first try on a name
And, unfortunately, too late for me to attend. Maybe the next one
Posted 13 Nov 2008 at 8:08 am ¶To add to Tracey’s sentiment, I would suggest that the majority of downtown areas are very easy to cycle due to low speeds and grids of low-volume streets (lots of choices). Because of the very complexity created by all those street choices, it is very difficult to create separated infrastructure in such an environment without compromises in safety and/or efficiency of travel. In other words, what you’d create would be illusion, not solution.
I would focus my efforts on cyclist education, public awareness, social marketing encouragement and sharrows within that core circle and turn infrastructure attention toward the corridors which bring people into that core. The corridors into town are where the higher-speed, more intimidating roads are. It, too is very challenging to solve with infrastructure, but it deserves priority and it needs solutions.
Andy, I just want to say that I really appreciate the way you are thinking through the issues and working the problems. The end is worthy!
Posted 14 Nov 2008 at 10:46 am ¶Keri… Yes. I am thinking along these same lines. We’re not going to be able to build separate facilities in the downtown area. So I’m hoping for sharrows and education first, i.e. encourage people in that circle to make one trip per week by foot or bicycle. I also think money needs to be spent to fix the existing lanes, which means eliminating the dangerous areas that were created.
You’re right about grids and low speeds. Downtown Springfield is a very easy place to ride a bicycle in traffic. And the drivers are respectful. I think that may be because so many college students from MSU and Drury ride downtown. So we also have the safety-in-numbers thing going for us.
Posted 14 Nov 2008 at 2:45 pm ¶I think it’s even more fundamental than the numbers of cyclists. Orlando doesn’t have an urban University or large numbers of cyclists, but my experience with drivers in downtown is the same. I think it’s an expectation of speed—or lack-thereof that drives the patience/impatience factor.
We have a state university out on the east side of the sprawl zone. Motorists there are intolerant jerks. All the roads are high-volume arteries that move them to their exurban lairs. By the time they get out there, they’re frustrated, exhausted and just want to get home. They take it out one everyone, with little consciousness of how their choices have degraded their quality of life… oh, but that’s another rant
Good luck with getting the bad lanes fixed. And if you get them to implement sharros on the road with on-street parking, watch them like a hawk. The MUTCD recommendation for sharrow placement is too close to the cars. It needs to be at least 2 feet farther left. I think it’s best to center it in the travel lane.
Here’s a PDF that might be of use.
Posted 14 Nov 2008 at 8:52 pm ¶Keri… Thanks for that information!
Posted 15 Nov 2008 at 9:34 am ¶