A Real Bicycle Plan

There’s been a lot of talk lately about making Carrboro (and Chapel Hill) a more bicycle friendly place, but I want to let you know what the Board of Aldermen and I have been working on:

Short term:
In the last two years, Carrboro has opened a new bike path from near the bypass and South Greensboro to downtown. And we have built a number of new sidewalks around town, including along North Greensboro Street and Eugene Street.

Recent cooperation between Carrboro, Chapel Hill and NCDOT have lead to funding commitments for bicycle accommodations on Estes Drive Extension from Seawell School Road to Estes Park Apartments. Opposite Estes Park we are planning a non-motor vehicle path from Estes to Williams Street along Wilson Park. This path will allow bicyclists to get between Greensboro Street in Carrboro and MLK Blvd in Chapel Hill with a reasonable degree of safety. NCDOT is proceeding toward bidding out the construction of the bike accommodations on Estes.

Mid term:
Carrboro is also planning a greenway that will extend from the Bolin Creek Greenway in Chapel Hill all the way to Homestead Road and from there to Elementary School #10 on Eubanks Road in Carrboro (much of that greenway will be built by private developers such as Winmore or by UNC as part of the Carolina North Development). This greenway will also have spur connections to Seawell School Road and Carolina North itself.

I believe the adopted Chapel Hill greenway plan calls for the eventual connection of these greenways by passing underneath Estes Drive Extension so that cyclists and pedestrians would not necessarily have to compete with cross traffic on Estes. The entire plan would connect from Elementary School #10 in Carrboro to the Chapel Hill Community Center across from University Mall. And I think Chapel Hill is looking at how to connect from there to still other bike/ped corridors regionally.

Carrboro is also working on a Morgan Creek Greenway that will run along the various neighborhoods along the bypass (the greenway will be on the other side of these neighborhoods, away from the highway). The Carrboro Morgan Creek Greenway will connect with the Chapel Hill Morgan Creek Greenway which has already been approved and funded (as I understand it). That greenway will run from Smith Level Road to 15-501 and may allow for some interconnection with existing trails in Southern Village. Both Morgan Creek Greenways will certainly tie in nicely with new bicycle and pedestrian accommodations on Smith Level Road.

Long term:

I have been serving as one of Carrboro’s delegates to the regional committee on spending federal transportation money (called the MPO). On the MPO, I have advocated for reserving all bike and pedestrian eligible money to be spent exclusively on bike and ped projects. That is, there is a pot of money called STPDA funds that can be spent on any transportation project that the MPO thinks is worthy and I have been advocating to get the MPO to commit to spending those STPDA funds EXCLUSIVELY on bike and ped projects.

Also, I helped bridge some major gaps between Durham and Orange Counties earlier this year by pointing out to representatives of both counties on the MPO that we don’t have to fight over bike/ped transportation dollars if we focus on inter-jurisdictional bike/ped projects which benefit both counties. That is, we should not only be spending money to make it easier for bikers to get around within Durham or Chapel Hill or Carrboro, but also among Durham, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro. And Pittsboro and Hillsborough for that matter. And Raleigh and Cary.

The Really Big Picture
The vision I am trying to lay out here is a regional system of bicycle and pedestrian trails that interconnect the entire Triangle community, providing safe opportunities for both recreation and regional commuting. That is a mighty big vision, but all it really takes is the commitment of the elected officials in the different county and municipal governments in the Triangle. And that commitment has to start right here at home.

A system of bike/ped trails that spans the Triangle is really not as far off as it might seem. Nor is the time when we will desperately need such a system. After all, the question is not whether gasoline will cost $5 a gallon, but when.

This entry was written by Mark on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 and is filed under Mark's notes. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.