RochesterSubway.com : Protected Bike Lanes for the Full Length of Main St.

Protected Bike Lanes for the Full Length of Main St.

March 4th, 2015

The following is a guest post submitted by Harvey Botzman.
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Protected bike lanes for the full length of Main Street. This was the request from local cycling advocate Harvey Botzman in an email late last week to City officials and other cycling advocates. The east end of Main Street in downtown Rochester is about to undergo a complete reconstruction, but bike lanes aren’t part of the plan. Additionally, the City is working on a plan to improve pedestrian connections and enhance the stretch of East Main Street between the Public Market and Neighborhood Of The Arts.

So with Main Street under the microscope, now is the time for all of us to demand, not ask, for a healthier mix of transportation options and amenities for Main Street. Harvey is leaving no gray area. He’s calling for “protected bike lanes for the full length of Main St. from Winton Rd. to Mt. Read Blvd.” and here’s why…

Look at the plans being announced in Boston, Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Houston, Denver, Seattle… Protected bike lanes! It is wholly appropriate that Rochester do this with Main St. and it’s time we make it happen.

Here’s a great video sent to me just today. The person is from the Netherlands (Holland) and analyzes bicycling infrastructure in the USA and offers practical, pragmatic, & cost effective solutions.

All the research which has been done in large, medium, & small sized cities clearly shows that if protected bike lanes are installed along major streets the amount of retail trade increases. Bicyclists stop & buy things; motor vehicle drivers can see the store fronts/windows easier and go to parking garages or side street parking and then wander around as pedestrians going into stores to purchase things.

This is no longer rocket science but proper city planning for increasing the number and diversity of retail establishments on Rochester’s downtown retail desert.

The more excellent bicycling infrastructure Rochester has, the higher our “Bicycle Friendly Cities” designation will be. AND more visitors from outside of Rochester will come here to partake of our attributes (low commercial rents; low housing costs for employees; easy access to outdoor activities; our park system; our abundant water supply; easy access to farms & farm foods; and perhaps even being enticed to establish or move businesses here.

This is a easy inexpensive way to encourage economic development. PROTECTED BIKE LANES ALONG THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF MAIN ST. from Winton Rd. to Mt. Read Blvd.

Workers, commuters, visitors, business people, business owners, planners, recreational bicyclists will shout hurrah, when they use & see this 21st century infrastructure accoutrement!

Yours,
Harvey

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You Can Help:

Contact City Hall today and tell them you want to see protected bike lanes in Rochester. And attend this Public Open House on the East Main Arts and Market District Plan…
Tuesday, March 10
5pm – 8pm
School of the Arts, 45 Prince St.

• • •

About Harvey Botzman:

Harvey is a member of New York State Travel Industry Association (NYSTIA) and has published several bicycle tour guide books for the Great Lakes region including: “Erie Canal Bicyclist & Hiker Tour Guide,” “Finger Lakes (NYS) Bicyclist’s Tour Guide” and “‘Round Lake Michigan: A Bicyclist’s Tour Guide.” He is also director at New York Bicycling Coalition, Canal NY Marketing & Business Alliance, and Rochester Cycling Alliance.

• • •

Tags: bike, bike lanes, cycling, East Main Street, Harvey Botzman, infrastructure, Main Street, protected bike lanes, Rochester, Rochester NY, transportation, urban planning

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 4th, 2015 at 9:17 pm and is filed under Opinion, Reader Submitted Stories, Transit + Infrastructure, Urban Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

9 Responses to “Protected Bike Lanes for the Full Length of Main St.”

Jimmy says:

March 5, 2015 at 12:06 pm

I disagree with this proposal. One reason this would be difficult is because of parades. Another is that this steals space from pedestrians and street parking. Street parking is a valuable thing. It provides a buffer between moving cars and pedestrians. Pedestrians feel safer with street parking. Another reason I am against this is the proven fact that businesses on Main St. and Downtown once thrived without bike lanes. It is because people rode buses. Another reason is Rochester’s Climate. 5 months of the year, these bike lanes would be grossly under utilized, and where do you put the snow? An easier solution to making downtown more bike friendly would be to lower the speed limit to 25 or 20, paint bike indicators on the road to caution drivers. Another thing that will solve this issue is traffic. The more traffic, the slower cars drive, which means people on cyclists can basically pretend they are operating a motorized vehicle and ride in the middle of a lane, without disrupting traffic flow. Traffic will also provide a greater incentive for more people to ride bikes. The more cyclists, the more drivers will yield to them. I can tell you right now Boston is seriously rethinking their bike lane plans because of the snow and cold weather issue.
kmannkoopa says:

March 5, 2015 at 2:27 pm

I think Jimmy is right about the climate issues.

Are bikes an “if we build it, they will come” in regards to bike lanes/boulevards?

If we are serious about finding out that answer, are we counting traffic on bicycle lanes on Monroe and South Avenues? They are about as bike friendly as you can get without adding pavement to the roads. If the city doesn’t do it, then the Rochester bicycle advocates should be.
daggar says:

March 5, 2015 at 4:26 pm

I’ve been commuting on bike all winter, even if it does require me to walk my bike through the snow-clogged 490 underpass on South (which is the house responsible for shoveling that sidewalk, exactly?) A bike lane on Main would be a huge help because it provides and east-west connection that the city’s bike lanes otherwise lack. We’ve got a bike lane on Exchange, one on South, the river walk… and no way for a bicycle to get between them that doesn’t involve dodging cars. I’m trying to get from the South Wedge to west main every day, and I find the best way to do it is Broad Street. (It would have been nice if the extra space on Broad went to bike lanes instead of a median, but that’s water under the bridge.)

Jimmy, regarding street parking: street parking is, in fact, an decent way to protect a bike lane. You put the street parking between the traffic and the bike lane, and you’ve got a mostly protected bike lane.
John says:

March 5, 2015 at 6:02 pm

Many people bike year round in Rochester, and I’m sure many more would if the facilities were better. The cold and snow is easy to beat, its the idiots in the cars that scare people away.
Derek says:

March 6, 2015 at 12:05 pm

Main street doesn’t need to be two lanes as it is. I feel that with the bus terminal, that should basically change up how the steer should look and there should be plenty of room for protected bicycle lanes which could be plowed easily with a city vehicle.
Vinny says:

March 6, 2015 at 1:21 pm

There’s no need for on street parking, 5-10 years from now cars are going to be self driving anyways they will park themselves.

Outside of rush hour main street is pretty much unused, which begs the question do we even need 4 lanes of traffic on main street.
Jimmy says:

March 10, 2015 at 12:53 pm

street parking to a degree would still be beneficial with self driving cars and trucks. Cars can pull to the side of moving traffic to pick people up, trucks will need to stop in front of stores to import and export goods, and some people will still own cars, so if they are making a quick shopping trip, they would likely prefer their car to stay put and not drive around, park far away, which burns gas and time. Even if you are renting a self driving car for a day, there will be a fee for the distance traveled by that car. These reasons will make street parking very valuable in the future and the preferred parking option.
David says:

March 12, 2015 at 11:49 am

I biked all winter for the third time this year. This winter was tough but the weather was manageable. The worst part is poor drivers. I take my lane but many are afraid to do this. Look at Minneapolis, if you provide bike facilities people WILL bike year round. Street parking can be incorporated into protected bike lanes.

The bike lanes on south and Monroe are a poor example of bike infrastructure. You are likely to hit a opening car door if you ride in them and cars park in them all winter.
Chris Stone says:

March 16, 2015 at 10:53 pm

It’s really only four months a year, if that, where there is consistent snow on the ground. And if cities like Minneapolis and Montreal and figure out how to build and maintain year round great bike infrastructure, so can Rochester. We just need leaders who make this a priority: city, county, towns, U of R, MCC, Wegmans, etc. Many of these entities talk a good talk about sustainability, but still put an awful lot of resources into accommodating the automobile.

The bike lanes on South Avenue are not “as friendly as it gets.” They’re actually fairly minimal. Protected bike lanes (such as those pictured) are are whole different thing and have the ability to attract casual or “timid” riders who do not feel comfortable in mixed traffic or unprotected bike lanes.