July 10, 2002
Bicyclists laud addition of lane on city streets
Designated five-foot wide lane given trial run in Traverse City
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
With the application of a little paint, downtown Traverse City became more bike friendly.
The recent addition of a bike lane on Front, Pine and part of State streets prompted praise for the city from many area cyclists.
"The bike lane adds a distinct margin of safety to my downtown travel," said Tom Slater of Lake Ann. "Cars have to respect you, they have to give bicyclists way."
Slater is a year-round bicyclist who does not own a car and occasionally commutes into town along the bike path on North Long Lake Road. Once in town, he uses his bike to get around the majority of the time. He even recently constructed a bike trailer for his kayak to bring it into town.
"It is nice to have a grand experiment like the bike lanes - I hope they get lots of use and that we have more of them around town," he noted.
The bike lanes are five-foot wide and include a symbol of a bike and an arrow painted periodically. The Front Street bike lanes necessitated moving the centerline to make room. When the city completes the streetscape for the south side of State Street east of Union, the bike lane will be extended to Boardman.
Gordon Zoulek, street superintendent for Traverse City, said the program is a pilot one and open to comment from the public. He said at this point there is no time limit for the trial or for public comment.
"I've only had one comment so far, but he was representing a group of bicyclists and he was very enthused about it," Zoulek said. "The city commission approved this as a test program and I'm sure unless we get some negative impact it will probably stay."
Zoulek noted that the bike lanes idea was suggested by Russ Soyring, the planning director for the city, who brought it up at a traffic meeting. After looking into the project's feasibility on already-crowded downtown streets, the city decided to try them out.
"Bikes are banned from the sidewalk for obvious reasons," said Zoulek. "This gives the bicyclist a place to maneuver when downtown, a direction about where they should be."
Traverse City resident Stephen Nance commutes to work daily from his downtown home. He is also a year-round cyclist who works to minimize his car use, even grocery shopping with the help of baskets on his bike or a bike trailer.
Nance is very pleased with the bike lanes and said it helps both drivers and bicyclists in Traverse City. He noted that he and his family have lived on both coasts, where even small or moderate-sized cities tended to have bike lanes and be bike friendly.
"This is something that Traverse City is basically in need of; basically a cue that drivers know that bikes are here and that they are part of the driving environment," he said. "It is helpful both to the bicyclists who have a dedicated little space and to the motorists to have the bikes in one place."
Laura Otwell hopes that these lanes are just the beginning of a city-wide grid of bike lanes.
"I think it would be wonderful to make sure there is a good grid around the city to provide access for cyclists," said Otwell, a downtown resident who chooses her bicycle for transportation as often as possible.
"I see a lot of bike traffic on sidewalks and that is so dangerous," she noted. "The bike lanes give the bicyclists a definite space and makes them feel a part of the traffic mix."