[ad_1]
SAN DIEGO –
San Diego’s efforts to improve bicycle safety are stepping up with a new mayor prioritizing the issue, a record number of new bike lanes, and a new model to quickly navigate dangerous areas like Pershing Drive in Balboa Park.
Cycling advocates say the timing is ideal for such a shift because more people have cycled since the pandemic began and because San Diego officials are under pressure to increase cycling to meet the goals of the city’s climate change plan.
But community leaders in many parts of San Diego remain skeptical. They often complain that cycle paths, which typically take away parking spaces and lanes, are seldom used.
Bicycle advocates say that the lanes will be used more if the city creates a full network of protected paths that encourage more people to cycle by making it safer.
San Diego city officials announced this week that the city designed nearly 120 miles of bike lanes in the fiscal year ended July 1. That is a record and more than double in every second financial year since at least 2013.
Recent urban cycle path projects include Montezuma Road, Reynard Way, West Point Loma Boulevard, Pacific Highway, Market Street near Euclid Avenue and Pershing Drive.
Last month, the city quickly set up bollards on Pershing Drive after two cyclists were killed in various incidents. Many see this project as a model for cutting red tape in order to immediately improve a dangerous situation.
“Maybe it took a tragedy to make that happen there, but it shows what is really possible with paint and bollards,” Councilor Joe LaCava told the council’s infrastructure committee on Wednesday. “We need these quick build projects now.”
The paint job and bollards on Pershing are a temporary measure until the district’s regional planning agency, the San Diego Association of Governments, begins construction of permanently protected bike lanes there.
Mayor Todd Gloria’s staff said this week that Pershing’s quick fix emulates the mayor’s more aggressive approach to bicycle safety.
Gloria is planning a new strategic mobility plan that will change the city’s 2013 bicycle master plan, which many critics have considered obsolete.
Gloria is also spending $ 1.1 million to form a new team of 12 dedicated to designing and building bike paths through the city.
Other efforts include the purchase of the city’s first small electric street sweeper in San Diego, designed for new bike lanes separated from traffic by rows of parked cars.
There’s also a new city program that any business can use online to request that bike racks be installed on nearby sidewalks.
In addition, the city has completed 4.5 of the 14 km long cycle paths included in the 2016 inner city mobility plan. Cycle lanes are special spaces for cyclists who normally only ride in one direction.
San Diego has created 450 miles of bike paths since 2013. While proponents praise this number, some critics point out that 410 of those miles are the less safe, painted bike lanes, rather than unprotected trails, separated by medians or physical buffers.
Laura Keenan, whose husband was killed while biking in Mission Valley last month, told the infrastructure committee that San Diego must give priority to protected lanes on main roads to avoid future tragedies.
“He was defenseless against a car traveling at 55 mph on a narrow, painted bike path,” Keenan said of her husband Matt, who was killed on the Camino del Rio South. “It is unrealistic to expect that the number of road deaths will decrease or even remain the same without quickly improving the safety and connectivity of our bicycle network.”
Environmental groups are also campaigning for the city to expand its cycling network, noting that San Diego’s Climate Change Plan requires 18 percent of urban commuters to be cyclists by 2035.
“We are in a climate emergency and we need to get people out of their fossil fuel cars as soon as possible,” said Noah Harris of the Climate Action Campaign. “Transport emits far more greenhouse gases than any other sector (of the economy).”
City officials said there were reasons for optimism, including soaring sales of e-bikes and recently released county statistics showing weekday bicyclists increased 35 percent and weekend cyclists increased 53 percent from 2019 to 2020.
Councilor Sean Elo-Rivera said the county’s 14 cyclist deaths this year should remind everyone of the importance of safety efforts.
“Cycle paths are not a favorite project; They are for public safety, ”he said.
[ad_2]
Source link
