Staff Blog
Center City’s sorely needed east-west bike lanes coming this summer to a Spruce and Pine near you. UPDATE
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| Courtesy Bicycle Coalition |
According to the Bicycle Coalition's blog, Pine Street and Spruce Street will be converted from streets with two lanes of automobile traffic and one lane for parking to lanes with one lane for auto traffic, one lane for parking and one lane for bicycle traffic only.
Thanks to the pro-bicycle Nutter Administration, the City of Philadelphia has adopted this vision and is planning to make it a reality. Not sometime in the future, but this summer!
Our understanding is that a one way buffered bike lane will be installed in both Spruce and Pine Streets along most of their lengths, made possible by the dropping of a travel lane. Clearly, when implemented, it will be the most significant bicycle friendly improvement in busy Center City since the opening of Schuylkill River Park Trail and street level crossings in 2003. It will also be the City's first (but we hope for additional ones north of Market St.) "river to river and east-west connector" set of bicycle friendly streets.
This could be a huge boon for Center City bikeability as Isaiah Thompson pointed out in his June Biketopia cover story.
Nutter's new directive to the Planning Commission is to deliver on that down payment, and tackle the not-so-easy streets. In theory, the city's new plan will be the comprehensive, high-minded vision for a bikeable Philadelphia that never quite materialized when previous efforts to build a bicycle network were made.
Among the smaller ideas being floated are things like better signage and more bike parking. Council recently passed legislation requiring new large construction projects to include racks or other amenities for stowing bikes.
The bigger, more intriguing idea is to create some kind of bike-friendly east-west and north-south connectors running through the heart of Center City.
Broad Street, Chestnut and Walnut will be closed completely to all cars.
No, just kidding. In fact, none of the largest streets seem likely to be targeted, even for a humble bike lane. (And not without reason. A few years ago, an experiment that turned half of Chestnut into a bike- and bus-only lane went awry: Drivers, unable to make a legal right turn off Chestnut, were furious; businesses on the street complained bitterly; even bicyclists weren't crazy about getting stuck behind buses.)
"The goal is not to try to put a bike lane on every street," explains Doty. "I would rather have a street where you really make an effort than have a bunch of mediocre bike facilities."
Right now, the focus is on a couple of smaller, one-way streets between South and Walnut — probably Pine and Spruce. They are two-lane, one-way streets going in opposite directions. One possibility: Remove a lane of traffic from each, widen the other lane, and put in a nice big bike lane.
Of course, this is a plan that's been kicking around for some time and would definitely be a start to a more bike-friendly Center City.
Then again, the two comments on the post give me immediate pause:
Dan said...
The weekend morning runners will love these bike lanes. Soon we will have runners traveling in both directions on both Pine and Spruce St.
But THEY ARE BIKE LANES!
Anonymous said...
I suppose this is a good thing. I mean, people will still park in the right-most lane... Is it preferable that they're blocking a bike-only lane versus a traffic lane?
No, IT IS NOT PREFERABLE!
UPDATE:
Just spoke with Andrew Stober, Director of Strategic Initiatives in the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities, who gave some specifics on the Spruce/Pine bike lane situation.
According to Stober, this will be a pilot program which will convert the two 9-foot traffic lanes that currently run on Spruce and Pine into one 7-foot bike lane and one 11 foot traffic lane. The parking lane will remain unchanged.
"This will be river to river," Stober stresses, "A cross town connection. We willl be conducting a study and see it how it works."
What that means is that after the new lanes are striped — that's expected to happen at the end of this August — the department will study the impact on bicycle and motor vehicle traffic. "We need to make sure it doesn’t snarl traffic," says Stober. "We don’t think it will, we need to study that." The department is also looking for "major increases in cycling along that corridor."
Those streets are both slotted to be repaved next spring and, pending the outcome of the study, those lanes will either be made permanent or scrapped.
Stober also mentioned that another meeting with the Society Hill Civic Association is still pending with the intent of addressing any further community concerns.
There are a couple bike lane photo websites, also:
http://philly.mybikelane.com/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/philabikelaneparking/
Good job on the photos from the previous post. Not surprised by the cops as some of the offenders, no wonder nothing will change. Can someone take as many photos of bicyclists on sidewalks to further emphasize the need for bike lanes? While walking around Center City yesterday, I enjoyed almost being hit by four separate bicyclists on the sidewalks and these near-misses were along streets with unblocked bike lanes – I love Philadelphia!
I love how you can report the license plates on philly.mybikelane.com. over on the ny page there are pages of multiple offenders.
YES! I ride across town daily and can’t wait to use the new striped bike lanes! If the city is looking for increased cycle traffic on the new Spruce/Pine lanes they are going to see it.
Now cue the drivers who have never ONCE ridden a bike in the city whining about how they only have dozens of other streets to drive their beloved cars east-west.
There is are bike lanes North and South on 11th between Washington and Bainbridge. It could be extended north to Spuce and Pine by removing parking on one side (11th narrows to a one way street at Bainbridge).
I live on Spruce.. Bike Lanes are a GOOD thing. We need MORE AND MORE AND MORE. Make it safier, and easier.
You work in CC, or goto school at Temple/Jeff/Penn/Drexel.. its a NO BRAINER, biking is FASTER and CHEAPER than commuting. Dig it.
If I see any joggers in those lanes I’m going to hit them over the head with something heavy and blunt. The only thing worse than some ass jogging in a bike lane is the even bigger ass jogging against traffic in the bike lane.
That dude ‘Ray’ is the worst! too bad none of the “4 bicyclists that almost hit you on the sidewalk of streets with clear bike lanes [ass]” didn’t LAY YOU THE FUCK OUT! tell me where you walk daily and when so I can come slam my tire into your fat whiny ass.
hahaha motherfucker. 2 more lanes for us!!
Finally some bike love! As a native Bostonian who is used to bike accommodation to the fullest it is nice to see some action happen in the right direction. Even just a couple streets will be great. That way the bikers know where to go to ride right and drivers know what streets to avoid.
This is absolutely excellent. I never dreamed it could happen this quickly. Everybody who bikes in or around CC should make a point of using these lanes to demonstrate the high volume & make sure the city doesn’t scrap them.
Great idea Niel! how about a critical mass or similar mass-bike event to kick off these 2 new lanes?
When will arrogant bicyclists start obeying traffic laws, like stopping at red light and stop signs, and yielding to pedestrians?
You’re not special. Traffic laws apply to bicyclists too, and there needs to be much stricter enforcement.
Here’s the deal BV. As a bicyclist, my tires stop as much as any car at stops signs. As far as stop lights, as I’m not licensed because my vehicle will not kill anyone when it hits them, I act like a pedestrian at stop lights. If it’s clear I go, if it’s not I stop.
Last night, while in the bike lane on Snyder, I get clipped by a police car when it doesn’t check if it is clear on its right side as it angles in to park at a 7-Eleven. The officers don’t even bother to get out of the car as I pulled myself off the ground.
I have yet to figure out why drivers and pedestrians are so afraid of bicyclists. The bikers are in more danger than anyone.
Hey hiki:
I almost got hit by a cyclist crossing Market Street because he refused to stop on a red light. Trust me, it wasn’t the first time, and I’ve had a ton of close calls.
Bicycles may not have licenses, but they still are subject to traffic law, just like everyone else. I ride my skateboard in the street, I still have to obey the law like everyone else.
Bicycles… bikes are REALLY hard to hear. They’re silent, can reach really fast speeds, and while they can’t kill someone, they can do some REALLY bad damage.
The main reason cyclists get a bad rep in Philadelphia is incredibly easy: They don’t seem to obey the laws we all agree to. There are cyclists on crowded sidewalks who don’t seem to pay attention, cyclists on the street who just whiz by red lights and almost hit other people… Really, bike carriers and messengers give the honest cyclists a bad name.
But I do agree, pedestrians and motorists DO need to follow the wall as well. :)
City Paper needs to clamp down on such moronic posts by FU and others. I have always wondered why visitors from out of town characterize Philly as an angry town. No wonder when people like FU write at a second grade level over a legitimate observation which has been seconded by others. Nothing here will change as long as the cops are indifferent. In response to Tom Dreisbach’s question in “City takes a shot at sidewalk bicyclists, but it’s mostly legal sorry, no it’s not”: I saw two bike cops last week riding on the sidewalk at 15th & Walnut, and asked them if the new $50 fine for sidewalk riding is being enforced? Their response: they didn’t know of the new fine and they don’t enforce the law against riding on sidewalks anyway! Go to NYC and see how it’s done. The cops are on this because they are everywhere on foot and not just in cars. The website for their equivalent of our Bike Coalition takes a hard line against this behavior. Even the NYC rules on bikes are much clearer about do’s and dont’s. HIKI: you need to file a complaint, call the commander of the district. Don’t accept that behavior, you pay their salary.
They hardly do “really bad damage.” Have you been hit by one? I smacked a pedestrian, who wasn’t paying attention and was crossing against the light, pretty hard. I took more damage when I hit the ground than he did from my hit. You forget a biker is three to four feet of the ground and does everything possible to prevent themselves from hitting it, as it hurts.
I’m sorry you were frightened by the bicycles but it’s no comparison to actual physical harm which was caused by a motorist not obeying the law, a police car in this case.
Motorist obeying traffic law? That’s a laugh. Residential speed limit, yeilding at yellow lights, signaling turns or lane changes, coming to a full stop at stop signs,….
The arrogance is from motorists who believe, because they have the bigger vehicle, they are in the right.
Drivers and bicyclists alike need to chill the fck out and stop acting like weiners. Drivers: stop parking in bike lanes, use your goddamn turn signals, stop running stop signs (South Philly: talkin’ to youse!), LOOK IN YOUR SIDE MIRROR BEFORE OPENING YOUR DRIVER SIDE DOOR, etc etc.
Bicyclists: Messingers (and wannabe messengers, and dumbasses who just got your brakeless fixie and can’t really ride it) please relax. We all know how hardcore you are. Would it really knock that many cool points off your bike cred to stop once in a while, or not weave stupidly through traffic, or give a pedestrian an occasional break? You are contributing to the bad image bicyclist have in the eyes of drivers; sometimes justified, mostly retarded whining.
Stop riding on the sidewalks! Jeez. Stop riding the wrong way down the street! What is wrong with you people?
HIKI: No one cares what you consider yourself; the state vehicle code considers you vehicle and therefore you are REQUIRED to follow ALL traffic laws. That means you MUST stop at red lights and stop signs. Period.
You don’t get to pick and choose and do what you want. You obey and respect the law.
It’s obvious bicyclists all over Philadelphia follow their own law: Red lights are stop signs and stop signs are yield signs. It is going on everywhere and the worst offenders are the ones with the track bikes, these bikes don’t have brakes or gears so their operators always have to keep moving, which means running through intersections. The ones that do actually have to stop act like retards and balance themselves in the pedestrian crosswalk. I blame the bike shop owners for this, these bikes belong only in a velodrome and they do not educate their customers on where not to ride the bike.
Why are you so upset about bicyclists breaking the laws and why do you think their law-breaking is worse than motor vehicles? They exhibit the exact same behavior with no consequence.
hiki,
In three years working/living in center city, I have had 1 near miss with a car that was breaking the law, and about 1 per month with bikers. Yes, a higher percentage of bikers in Center City breaks the law than the percentage of drivers who do likewise. Maybe, just maybe, in an effort to spread goodwill and get even more bike lanes (which I support) the bikers in this city should try to give a damn about the people around them for a change. Just because others break the law, doesn’t mean you can/should.
I doubt anyone here can say they haven’t broken a law when they saw fit. Speeding? Jaywalking? Running stop signs?
If all were fair in the world everyone would follow the rules. It’s not going to happen. But understanding that a bicyclist who blows through a stop (something I do not encourage) is someone who has a much higher profile and line of sight than someone sitting in a car whose vision is obscured by metal and glass, is someone taking his life into his own hands and is going to do it whether you like it or not. You can comfort yourself with the thought that one day they’ll be a smear on the pavement and you will be happier that they do not exist.
I’ll stop stalking this page after I say this. While I don’t wish for any bicyclist to be a smear on the pavement, I also don’t wish to be part of a heaping mass of pained flesh and metal on the pavement with said bicyclist. It’s not about the biker, on his/her perch in a higher than me seat, its about me, nearly getting run the hell over by said biker when he runs the stop light making sure no CARS are in the way, but making no effort to look for PEDESTRIANS crossing the street. All I’m saying is there might be even MORE public support for bike lanes if bikers took walkers into account too, which is most easily done by following the laws that cars are SUPPOSED TO.
Hiki:
Everyone so far has been pretty nice about what your saying, and we’ve conceded that, yeah, pedestrians and motorists need to do more to follow the law, too.
But that doesn’t mean cyclists can just follow whatever laws they want and cry fowl themselves on everyone else.
Most Center City cyclists break the law. Constantly. Today alone, I’ve seen at least 5 cyclists on the sidewalk, 2 going the wrong way down a street, and 3 ignore traffic signals. I haven’t seen a lot of cars run red lights or not look before making a turn. My 2 cents there.
In the end, all we’re asking for is the same stuff you want: respect.
Hiki: Your logic is flawed and unfortunatley it is shared by too many bicyclists, both newbies and oldtimers. You admitted earlier you think of yourself as a pedestrian while riding and therefore will go through red lights if it is clear. That is the problem. I can’t do that in my car and you are governed by the same laws I am. Bikers feel they can do what they want, when they want, and this City has permitted it. The Bicycle Coalition cannot enforce but they are afraid to offend by taking a hard line and call people out for this behavior. Their website has a flicker link where it shows two Bike Coalition staffers counting parked bikes along the 1300 block of Chestnut Street. Towards the end of the video there is a bicyclist coming straight at them on the sidewalk. The audio is full of comments yet the staffers say nothing to the idiot on the bike and they keep on counting. It seems that when compared to five years ago there are at least twice as many bicyclists riding around because the price of gas has gone up. The problem will keep getting worse.
I have total respect for pedestrians as I am one when I’m not on a bike. I don’t ride on the sidewalk nor do I ride down the wrong way on streets, nor do I ignore traffic lights. I give as much grief fas I can to anyone doing any of those things, whether on bike or on foot.
Ray, I’ve seen cars run red lights. It happens just because you don’t do it doesn’t mean it doesn’t. Just like I’ll admit there are a lot of inconsiderate bikers out there. In the future I’ll dismount my bike and walk through there light. How’s that?
Yoo cannot wait to drive his Isuzu in the bicycle lanes. He prefers the feel of bicyclass under his tires 2 assphalt.
Thanks HIKI: You seem to be in the minority of bicyclists. But we are talking about bikers not cars. When cars do it, it’s just as illegal and when bikers do it and the moving violation fines are expensive which cause my insurance rates to go up. Why do your fellow bikers always rationalize their illegal behavior by pointing out that cars also do it? Cars don’t jump on sidewalks when traffic is backed up, as most bikers do. Cars don’t go the wrong way down a one-way street because they are too lazy to go to the next block, as most bikers do. Glad that you aren’t among them. And didn’t you admit in your second post on this thread that you DO ingnore traffic lights when the coast is clear?
The Freakonomics blog on the NY Times site had a post today called Reducing Traffic by Closing Roads. The post linked to this article about a recent study and this article about a bridge in Vancouver which recently closed a lane to car traffic to create a bike lane. Both pieces have interesting things to say about what could happen to traffic patterns once Pine Street and Spruce Street are converted.
And yes, I realize that the bridge in Vancouver didn’t close its own lane of traffic to cars, and I realize that the bridge didn’t create a bike lane, either. I just don’t feel like going back and editing myself.
Listen, I ride my bike all the time in the city. I don’t weave in and out of traffic, I don’t ride on the sidewalk, and I always go the right way down a one way street. The one thing that I will do is go if the coast is clear at a red light. I don’t do it to because I want to break the law, but rather because I don’t want the car behind me to clip me or run me into the back of a parked car when the light turns green. There are far too many people who gun it when the light turns green. It’s best for everyone if I’m several yards ahead of cars when they start their mini drag races.
Ray = Smitty = some fat old loser thread stalker who posts his frustration at not being able to commute in any way other than waddling his fat, cheesesteak-laden ass down the street, sweaty fists clenched in frustration at every bicyclist he sees… just waiting to get home and post on citypaper!
it’s amusing!! waaah, wahh I’m a little baby! I hate bikes! cops should enforce sidewalk riding instead of investing drugs and murders! boo hoo!
hahah.
So I don’t weave in and out of traffic on my bike, but that’s b/c I’m clumsy and will hit something. So I sit in traffic. But if I’m in front, you’d best believe I’m running that red light if the coast is clear. Like Jsl said, I want a head start and it’s just plain easier to keep rolling. As for stop signs – if I can I roll through those too, anticipating the movements of cars and pedestrians.
It’s just a lot easier for a car to come to a complete stop and start than it is for bikers. No matter whether I sit in traffic or pull ahead, some angry driver is going to scream his head off at me for just being there. One time a car saw me from another land and didn’t rush to cut me off and then slam on his breaks at the red light. I was so shocked and thankful I almost cried.
Seriously when I riding my bike isn’t a battle against cars, if my ride is smooth and I have unobstructed lanes, and all you ask of me is to stop at a red light, I will.
and by “another land” i meant another lane. even though I like how ‘another land’ sounds.
All of you numbskulls cpmplaining about how bicyclists ride in this city should get off your asses and try to ride a bike, without being blocked, without being run off the road, without illeagally parked cars blocking your way, or cars not using turn signals…
Bicyclists go out of their way to avoid being hit – because in nearly all cases the bicyclists will get more damage in any collision, including peedstrians.
There are more drivers performing illegalities with their cars than bicyclists at any point in the day yet the cyclists are getting the bad rap.
Do some research, also, on the Idaho Stop law regarding rolling stops and how a state allowing them has no seen any increase in accidents.
to sm:
“It’s just a lot easier for a car to come to a complete stop and start than it is for bikers.”
What are you talking about?
It’s too hard on your puny legs to stop and start, so drivers should stop and start for you?
Build up your strength by biking more. Or add brakes to your ride, if you don’t have the pedal power to stop.
Drivers aren’t going to stop and start for us, the bikers, so your promise to eventually stop at red lights when the perfect world exists is ridiculous.
Yoo likes bicyclers wasting there time infighting. Theyre easier to waterboard.
oh jesse, I know it’s ridiculous to wait for that perfect world.
I have breaks and not so puny legs – I’m just saying if a car stops and lets me go through the stop sign it’s a nice bonus and it makes my ride faster and easier.
gah whatever.