State Roads 2008 vs. 2015: Keep those bike lanes coming!

I recently realized that showing examples of road diets on state roads in the Daytona Beach area was much better using Google Maps street view than in Google Earth where the resolution of the older satellite imagery is poor.

This made me realize how much as changed since 2008, two years after I started traveling everywhere by bicycle in the area.  These roads are gradually getting friendlier, but mostly in patches, here and there, that lack interconnectivity.  These really aren't true road diets, the number of travel lanes for cars isn't changing, the lanes are just getting narrower in most cases.  Along with moving paint, curbs and sidewalks are often improved as well. (Screen shots from NYC DOT Street Design Manual).  

Animated GIFs from Google Street View

Above is Clyde Morris Blvd near the ERAU campus (2008 vs. 2015).  Back in 2008 this road had no sidewalk despite connecting a college campus to apartments and a major grocery store less than 1.5 miles away. In 2015 there's a shared use path on the west side between campus and the grocery store and short sections of marked bike lanes like this one.

I recall the first night I saw crews repainting US 92/ISB in front of Mainland high school.  How cool!  Improvements still needed: The shoulder isn't marked as a bike lane west of here and the bike lane vanishes at major intersections (ISB @ Clyde Morris and ISB @ US1).  Can't wait to see the paint moved again when the 7-foot buffered lanes eventually come in.   I see the majority of people on bikes on the sidewalk.  I reason that the car traffic is just too fast for comfort for most people even when they have your own lane.

Here's Nova Rd (SR 5A) just south of Beville Rd (SR 400).  This lane narrowing treatment a few years ago put bike lanes all the way south to Dunlawton Ave and parts south.  This road is very fast and the narrow bike lane doesn't provide much comfort, but very welcome.  Car speeds on ISB can be as high, but ISB is generally more congested so not as fast as Nova Rd.   North Rd north of Beville is awful all the way in Ormond Beach.  Seek alternative parallel routes for now!  N. Nova road needs a road diet!

State Route 40 (Granada) in Ormond Beach is so hit and miss.  Bike lanes come and go on this busy roads with "Share the Road signs" taking there place.  Not too comfortable.   Here's a good patch looking east at the Orchard St light.  FDOT and Ormond Beach need to prioritize vulnerable road user safety over parking and connect a continuous bike lane from west of I-95 to the beach.

Ridgewood Ave (US1/SR 5) just south of Beville got a makeover in 2011, with bike lanes and sidewalk improvements south of ISB through to Port Orange.  The speed limit on Ridgewood is slower than Nova or ISB, making this lane feel more comfortable.    The bike lane vanishes in a few spots, most critically when crossing ISB.  Bike lanes at major intersections is something FDOT and the City need to work on.

ERAU invests further in bicycle parking.

Three-three new inverted-U racks at Embry-Riddle's College of Arts and Sciences Building.  Sixty-six more reasons to bike to ERAU!  Thanks to ERAU facilities for installing these much needed bike racks.  With the new ERAU student union under construction, many bike racks were removed.  These nice racks provide more stable and secure parking for students, faculty and staff.   Now, we just need to get them covered from the rain and sun!

Votran carries both people and their bicycles!

Votran bikes on the bus allows people to take their bicycles with them when they travel on the bus! Thanks to Heather Blank at Vortran, students at Saturday's first Cycling Savvy course in Daytona Beach got to practice loading their bikes on the bus.  In the video above, River-to-Sea Bike/Ped Coordinator Stephan Harris loads his bike on the bus.  Thanks also to Courtney Reynolds from ReThink Your Commute for making this possible.

Summer of Bicycle Friendly Community Visits

Had the pleasure of visiting a few Bicycle Friendly Communities this summer.  The first was Salt Lake City with a silver rating from the League of American Bicyclists.  Got to ride in protected bike lanes and follow the easy to read bike map.

Protected bike lane on 300 S in downtown Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City protected bike lane with bike share station

Buffered bike lane in downtown Salt Lake City

Travel lane, parking, buffer, bike lane, curb, sidewalk.  Note the regular bike racks. 

New protected lanes under construction downtown. 

Downtown Salt Lake City

Biking along 800 S in Salt Lake City, a designated bike route.

Bike lanes continue across intersections with sharrows marking the the way.  Note the left turn box on the right.

When the bike lane passed in front of a driveway it is painted green.

Currently no alternative route for bicyclists on US92/ISB during construction, must take full lane.

Wonderful 10-foot sidewalks are coming to both sides of US92/ISB between Williamson Blvd and the Volusia Mall.   In the mean time the sidewalk is closed and large sections of the road have the right lane and shoulder blocked off.  FDOT is supposed to provide alternative routes for people who bicycle and walk.  Hasn't happened yet.

Here's what they do in Portland:

Improvements needed on ISB just west of Clyde Morris Blvd

Got out my GOPRO camera today to get some shots of what people who bicycle face on ISB west of Clyde Morris Blvd.    Complete Streets planning is coming to ISB, we need to make sure transitions like this one are improved.  My guess is that no one wants to merge with 45 mph traffic on ISB if they don't have to.  It would be good to paint these lanes bright green near intersections to make people who drive more aware of people who bicycle.

A Summary of the National Bike Summit 2015 with links!

Back in early March I attended the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. for the first time.  It was a great experience!  Today I gave a presentation on my experience at NBS15 to the River-to-sea Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee.   I talked about my favorite sessions and my experience lobbying on Capitol Hill for bicycle/pedestrian safety and funding.  Here's a PDF filled with links!