Bike Lanes in and around DTR

This article might be interesting for everyone here: dangerous drivers and bike infrastructure quality might be the top reasons why people don’t like riding bikes -but the lower-ranked reasons could be just as important:

11 Likes

All decent reasons. Weather is definitely a good one, but I think that’s because people don’t know what to wear and slipping can be a big issue in the rain.

Darkness is another one. The paths off road are too dark and if bike facilities are limited or non-existent on the roads, then you run the risk of not being seen and being hit by a car.

2 Likes

Reminder - BPAC meets tonight at 6 in council chambers of Municipal building. Updates on the Hillsborough Street bike lane markings and the Lake Wheeler Road improvement project are on the agenda.

We welcome public comments. If interested in speaking please contact one of the city staff members listed on the below site to sign up.

https://raleighnc.gov/city-council/bicycle-pedestrian-advisory-commission-bpac

9 Likes

Link to the Hillsborough Street discussion on YouTube.
For a brief summary, it looks like they are going to be discussing improvements before repainting the bike lanes. It’s not a bad move in my opinion. I am interested to see what they come up with.

3 Likes

my first view of the






bike path along yonkers rd. a nice ride. at the terminus at new bern are there plans for lane-age along new bern to milburnie? or do you just sprint downhill on the highway itself?

21 Likes

stoic herons along crabtree blvd

11 Likes

I can only assume those two bike paths will be connected with the New Bern BRT, which (I think) adds a path along the whole route.

The bike path will not make it too Yonkers. There is a bridge over Crabtree Creek there that was. Not build with room too add anything. So it’s an expensive problem. The big multiuse sidewalk path will end right before that. Would be amazing if we could come up with a way to get the bike paths across to that and over 440 really. I see people walking across 440 all the time there.

1 Like

Here are some preliminary plans for the Lake Wheeler Road project along the frontage of Dix Park


30 Likes

Wow, pretty massive project!
Love the inclusion of the plaza/play plan and how these intersections work with it.
Looks like the inset is showing a 20’ wide, two way path on the East side of L. Wheeler instead of 10’ paths on either side?
Such an improved pedestrian experience, it’s hard to imagine.
Too bad that south of Maywood there is very little bike/ped infrastructure, but hopeful JTruman will win Dist.D and get that rolling with NCDOT. So many households south of the beltline here with terrible connection to ITB.

16 Likes

Wow that’s such an improvement for every mode of transportation! Way more than just a big bike line.

8 Likes

Some free land up for grabs? Think the city should toss it over for the dtraleighcommunity for a hq/condo/waterfeature building… + movie theater?

11 Likes

@orulz going back to the roundabout discussion in the Five Points thread - we were discussing Lake Wheeler Road at our BPAC meeting last week. Right now at Lake Wheeler & Goode/Mercury there’s a peanut roundabout with a crosswalk going through the center of the peanut (since they can’t have one at the far north end due to the driveway there. Thoughts?

We also discussed whether it would be worth asking the city to look at a roundabout at Lake Wheeler & Maywood as well (I was fine with the signal but just wanted them to eliminate some of the right turn lanes to make the crossing distance shorter)

11 Likes

Definitely agree with eliminating the right hand turn lanes. That will just create more right-on-red pedestrian conflicts.

I like the crossing in the center of the roundabout personally, but would love to see it as an elevated crosswalk so it sort of functions as a speed table as well, like at the airport dropoff zone.

5 Likes

We asked about that and city staff said a raised crosswalk would not be possible there

1 Like

What a BS excuse. Of course it’s possible. What they probably meant is not desirable for cars.

6 Likes

I posted this a LONG time ago, but there’s a roundabout in Espoo Finland that has pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure grade separated from the automobile traffic. It was amazing as I found it while walking during a visit several years ago.
Let me see if I can find it on a map. …found it.


The negative is that it’s a real space hog. Then again, there are only 5 Million people in the entire country.

6 Likes

Right? “Not possible”… give me a break!

I wonder what the exact reason was, and who/what could change their minds.

Raised crosswalks aside, though, this will probably still be the best bike infrastructure in Raleigh once it’s done, except for maybe Blue Ridge, but that area seems very disconnected.

4 Likes

Wasn’t sure where to put this, but I know we had discussed the lower speed limits downtown a lot here.

On my way home from Wilmington yesterday, I ended up driving through McDowell St. Does anyone know if the lights were already changed for the lower speed limits? I have to say that it did seem like traffic was moving slower which was great in my opinion. From a car rider’s perspective this is no longer felt like a high speed thoroughfare, but an active area of the city. I’m planning on going downtown sometime to get a different perspective from someone outside the car. It’s just my initial thoughts so far. I’m liking it.

6 Likes

I believe the light timing has changed. I also noticed the initial speed change coming south past Peace is 35 but there is a 25 right after Lane.

3 Likes