300 South Bike Lane (Structural Issues)

Protected bike lanes on 300 South in downtown Salt Lake City

     The introduction of the protected bike lanes that run along 300 South in downtown Salt Lake City are a great move in the right direction away from a compact automobile dependent society. In this post I am going to talk about the benefits of this new infrastructure as well as some things that are problematic with the way it functions currently. This bike lane like any protected bike lane gives bike riders peace of mind that they would not otherwise have riding among car traffic or dodging pedestrians on the sidewalk. Novice riders can choose bike riding as a mode of transportation without feeling like they have to compromise their safety to do so. Another benefit of these concrete curb protected bike lanes is that it would be very difficult for a car to block them unless a person physically drove their car into the lane. These bike lanes can also prevent an angry driver from following a biker and threatening bodily harm to the bicyclist with their vehicle.


The Salt Lake City Government Transportation website sites some other benefits that they hope to achieve with the implantation of these lanes:

Increases bicyclists' comfort and safety, attracting new riders:

• Ridership increased by 55% in Chicago, on the Kinzie Street protected bike lane
• Ridership increased by 40% in Washington D.C.
• Ridership increased by 28.5% in New York City
• 86% feel safe or very safe, compared to only 17% in traditional bike lanes
• 49% consider driver behavior to be safer around protected bike lanes

Decreases motor vehicle speeds, leading to fewer fatal/serious crashes:

• 75% of motorists exceeded the speed limit before, and only 20% after, in New York City

• Average motorist speed was 34 mph before, and only 27 mph after, in New York City

• 66% of motorists exceeded the speed limit before, only 26% after, in Washington D.C.

• Average motorist speed was 29 mph before, and only 22 mph after, in Washington D.C.

Provides safety in numbers:

• Repeated studies of crash rates in locations across the globe have concluded that the risk of injury or death from crashes with motor vehicles declines as ridership increases

• These studies have come from: Portland OR, Berkley CA, Davis CA, New York City NY, Australia, Canada and Europe.

Now here are some structural problems that I see with the planning and realities of this new system:

• Unless a novice rider's destination and starting point are on 3rd south, this bike lane may be of little use to them. Obviously this just points to a need for the city to expand the project to other streets throughout the city and even the state. 
• The curbs, parked cars, and planters between the biker and the street traps bicyclists and makes it difficult for them to change directions or turn left at intersections, as they would be trapped on the right side of directional traffic. 
• Visibility, visibility, visibility is an issue for cars and bicyclists. 
• On 300 south there are a lot of intersections and driveways. The parking in front of the bike path makes it difficult for drivers to see wether or not there is a biker in the protected lane when they are turning into a driveway or at an intersection. 
• Cars can easily accidentally turn into the bike lane (which is just wide enough for most cars) instead of the lane for automobiles, and because there is a concrete curb and parked vehicles between the bike lane and other traffic the car can be trapped in the lane till the next block. Cars that aren't quite wide enough can end up getting high-centered on the curb. 
• During bad weather such as rain storms in SLC the water near curbs and therefore in bike lanes can get up to 8 inches deep. Bikers have no escape if they are in the protected lane and come on one of these puddles. 

     

This is a picture I took in downtown SLC on 200 South after good rain. When it rains hard this can be expected on many intersection from 100 South to 400 South and 600 East to State Street (100 East).