The battle over bike lanes
BICYCLING
BY KIERSTIN KLOECKNER
It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.
– Ansel Adams
We live in a very divided time. The “us vs. them” attitude has sadly infiltrated almost every part of our lives. You would think in an age when climate change is teetering on a “crisis” level, everyone would be on board for improving mass transportation, as well as bike and pedestrian infrastructure. This, however, is not the case. As a culture, we seem to feel the necessity to attack and criticize those different than us and even go so far as to put them in harm’s way.
For the past 16 years, I have been working on improving the bike/pedestrian infrastructure where I live. Not only for me but for the children who want to get to school safely and for the elderly who want freedom without having to drive automobiles. I have always been one to fight for those who might not be able to fight for themselves – and when I routinely witnessed parents showing fear out of their kids biking 1 mile to school or older folks feeling trapped inside their homes, a fire was lit. I began being acutely aware of how many gaps my community had and how many businesses, politicians and drivers of cars didn’t want those gaps filled. The common cry of “we need more parking spaces otherwise we’ll lose business” or “taking away a driving lane to add a bike lane will slow drivers too much” was chanted throughout almost every Midwestern city, including ones who were considered to be platinum bike cities.
Outside of the blatant ugly truth that soon we won’t have a choice since oil will run out, we need to look at the hard facts bike/pedestrian/mass transit-friendly communities and business districts actually improve business. Every time a business cries wolf and bike lanes, paths or sidewalks get approved and go in, there is a small adjustment period and then things go on a giant upswing. All of a sudden, people feel safe spending time in the area, they feel safe bringing their kids and they linger longer since less car traffic or slower-moving car traffic has a calming effect.
An article from Strong Towns gave staggering study results. It showed by eliminating street parking on Broadway Ave. in Salt Lake City by 30 percent to include bike lanes, sales rose 8 percent.
Another study done in New York City, stated by eliminating street parking on two major streets and putting in protected bike lanes, improved sales receipts by 50 percent. There are examples like this all over the country, so why are so many communities afraid to take the leap?
Two examples here in Madison – one being positive and one being negative – are Sherman Ave. and Wilson Ave.
Several years ago when Sherman was repaved, the plan was to take away on-street parking and add a bike lane. One business owner, in particular, made such a stink about this, he almost got the project shut down. This road, mind you, is a major commuter route and traffic often moves at much higher speeds than posted. Unless you were in a car, you didn’t want to be caught there. Finally, after endless meetings, as well as threats by bike-lane opposers, the bike lane went in. Now, you will not only see cyclists of all abilities on this road but also bike racks full outside of businesses. Business has actually increased along this corridor since the change was made.
West Wilson is notoriously known to be a nightmare for auto drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, even though it’s one of the only roads one can take to get across the isthmus through downtown. Meetings went on about what the new road should include after construction for years. In the end, safe and forward-thinking infrastructure did not win out and parking spaces did. Anyone who rides or walks this area on a regular basis felt like they received a punch in the gut from the area’s alderman and city planners, as well as the business owners along this section. Madison may be known as being bike-friendly across the country, but decisions like this show we still have a long way to go.
In my community of Middleton, I fought long and hard to get a bike lane along High Point Road, which is a main thoroughfare from Middleton to Madison. One business (Capital Brewery) in particular, a business who claims to be bike-friendly, was completely against it.
The bike lane removed about 15 parking spaces (spaces only used for special events) and increased walking time to the brewery by roughly one minute since new parking was being added close by. I was outraged that a) a business that supports alcohol consumption would actually want it easier to drive off after a few beers and b) a so-called bike-friendly business would try to quietly shut down a bike lane – especially since a good chunk of their business is made up of cyclists who lead enormous group rides (75-150 riders) twice weekly from it. This proved we as a whole, still put the automobile first and do not see the benefit of making roads bike/family/age-friendly.
Over the years, study after study has proven by designing cities with bikes and pedestrians in mind, profound positive effects are had by everyone. An article recently published in Outside Magazine highlighting several studies done regarding protected bike lanes, and how they make urban areas safer for everyone, mentioned safety goes beyond just cyclists and reaches all the way to benefiting drivers as well, since streets with protected bike lanes often times lower the traveling speed.
Studies also prove property value increases on the average of 8-11 percent when a protected bike lane or path goes next to the property.
With all of these articles and studies flooding the media, why do we still continue to grasp for our old destructive ways? How many injured or killed cyclists will it take to change our way of thinking? How polluted does our air need to become before we realize we need to make changes? We are animals with enormous brains. Brains that have amazing potential to adapt, invent and make new neural pathways.
We can embrace this positive way of life – it just takes courage by community leaders and residents to demand it. We have the ability to make this world better for ourselves and future generations.
I encourage all of you to attend your local city meetings and ask for more bike lanes to be added – especially when roads are being reconstructed or built.
If you have a transportation committee, see if you can be on it or at least attend their meetings. Your voice does make a difference. My fight for bike lanes to be added to High Point Road was a long, hard fight, but in the end, they were put in, proving every drop of water in the bucket counts.
To quote Stephen Hawking, “Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill.”