Spokane7
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June 9, 2010 in City
2nd Avenue repaving on track; lines may take time
City considering bike lane design
Second Avenue downtown will be repaved this summer as planned, but the final design may remove one of three vehicle lanes in favor of one for bicycles, city officials say.
Councilmen Richard Rush and Jon Snyder had pushed for a complete revamping of the street’s design, a process that could have delayed the project a year or more.
Instead, City Engineer Mike Taylor said, paving will move ahead, but the final striping of lanes is in flux while engineers decide how to best add a bike lane without increasing car congestion or limiting street parking.
Snyder said he’s halted only temporarily his push for a Second Avenue design that would improve the aesthetics of the streetscape as well as improve pedestrian and bicycle use.
“I was encouraged that we had a really good discussion of it and there was some movement,” Snyder said. “We’d be foolish not to continue to look at that street to see how infrastructure improvements could help us maximize our economic development.”
But Councilman Bob Apple criticized the effort to change the design and called the addition of the bike lane “absolutely ridiculous.”
“There is too much congestion,” Apple said. “It will only mean accidents.”
Taylor said he believes the addition of the bike lane will enhance safety, and construction costs wouldn’t increase much, if at all, because the change only affects striping.
The debate over Second Avenue is part of a growing debate in Spokane over “complete streets.” Earlier this year, the City Council approved a nonbinding resolution expressing support for road projects that better serve pedestrians and bicyclists and that include amenities such as street trees and sidewalks separated from curbs.
The Second Avenue project is expected to cost $2.1 million and will be paid for with a property tax for streets approved by voters in 2004.
Second Avenue is labeled a bike route in the city’s bicycle plan, but the city’s engineering department originally said there wasn’t capacity on the one-way thoroughfare to add a bike lane without increasing traffic backups.
Taylor said a new examination of Second indicated that removing one lane of traffic through much of the downtown in favor of a bike lane won’t lead to extra congestion as long as lanes aren’t removed at the busiest intersections: Division, Browne, Stevens, Washington, Lincoln, Monroe, Maple and Ash streets.
The street design isn’t finalized, he said. Under one concept, the bike lane would become a shared lane with motorists near those intersections, Taylor said.
“There is adequate lane capacity” to add a bike lane, Taylor said. “It’s the intersections that are the congested areas.”
The decision to add a bike lane will add a second major upgrade this summer for bicyclists downtown.
Later this summer, the city will create a downtown bike lane loop, using money from a $619,000 state grant. Besides lanes, several bike racks will be installed along the route, which includes a bike lane on Howard Street from Buckeye Avenue south through Riverfront Park.
“The visibility of a downtown bicycle loop advances our efforts in making Spokane a more bicycle friendly community,” said Dr. Bob Lutz, chairman of the city’s Bicycle Advisory Board.
Administrators said it was too late to push for a nontraditional redesign of the avenue like one in New York City that Rush suggested.
“The concept was raised too late in the bid process,” said Mayor Mary Verner. “We certainly want to move our city towards a ‘complete streets’ model. It needs to be done thoughtfully and through a deliberate process of identifying where the best place is to make those investments.”
Lutz praised the city for reconsidering a bike lane. If the final design includes shared lanes at major intersections, the advisory board and city must work to educate drivers and cyclists about the route before it opens, he said.
He noted that only a small green sign currently indicates that the street is a bike route.
“Right now, it’s kind of ‘Good luck’ as a cyclist on Second,” Lutz said.
A bike lane on Second will create a link between the Ben Burr Trail through Spokane’s East Central neighborhood and the Fish Lake Trail west of town, he said.
“If you provide the opportunities, cyclists will take advantage of the facilities,” he said.
MAC faces angry crowd 
ChefGus/ John Olsen on June 09 at 7:26 a.m.
Seond Avenue is a very busy route through town… If I were to choose a route to ride that corridor it would be safer for me to go up to 4th avenue on the South Side of the Freeway which could easily be marked for bicycles… going both directions… two blocks difference in a route could save my life. There are North South routes with very wide streets that parallel Wall Street that could be used for bicycles with much more safety and less fumes from cars. John
lewis8457 on June 09 at 8:00 a.m.
3 lanes down to 2 means more traffic idling at lights, more pollution more expense to the car owner for gasoline. Let the bikes ride along the curb how much room do they need. Since we are making lanes for them will they be paying for a drivers license, insurance, plates, tabs, that is what I have to have to drive on the roads, what is the difference?
Great 2nd gets repaved what about the hundreds of other streets like Monroe from Garland south, this is a busy road that now has no smooth lanes. Light winter but so far I have seen NO pothole repair crews. My chiropractor said he has had a couple cases where people got whiplash by hitting a pothole. It is not only my car that gets to be bashed to bits now it is also my body.
Thank you Spokane for my high property taxes.
Justin_Galloway on June 09 at 10:52 a.m.
Obviously Lewis, congestion is a concern, but I will trust the traffic engineers on this. As for how much room a bike needs, its more than you would expect. If there is on street parking, you need to have a door width length out from the parking. I’m glad the city is looking into this. I infrequently bike to Riverpoint, but am in no way “hard core” and safety is a great concern of mine. I can say that fear for my safety has actually put me back in my car from time to time.
madscientist on June 09 at 1:16 p.m.
619,000 dollars for some paint lines!!!! who is doing this work? that is absolutely insane.
Teseract on June 09 at 2:31 p.m.
Anyone who would consider taking out a full lane of traffic on a street as busy as 2nd for the 2-3 bikes an hour tops that would use it vs. the hundreds of cars that would otherwise use it in the same time period (Especially during rush hour and special events like Bloomsday) must have their head stuck in a location that would be impolite to go into detail on in mixed company.
I can see the Spokesman Review article now when someone trapped in bumper to bumper traffic finally loses it and rips down the dedicated bike lane at 60mph taking out the single bicyclist actually using it at the time.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on June 09 at 2:34 p.m.
There is no reason that streets without the heavy traffic cannot be designated Bike Lanes.. from years of experience in Seattle.. mixing Bikes and Cars on dense corridor’s does not work Westlake is an example… john Oh I’d love to have the contract for the painting of the lines….