Bike Lane Please...

[Omarvelous09]

WHERE ARE THEY!!!!  the only one's I've seen are on 8th street. Anybody know the city plans to add them to Main St? I know jax isn't a bike friendly city...but just seems necessary to have them in Springfield. Not only for bike enthusiasts, but for people who use them as their main source of transportation.

[Steve]

I think Main St. will have them.

For what it's worth, every street that FDOT touches they add bike lanes to (to my chagrin in some cases).  I thought adding them to hendricks was stupid, because it came at the expense of parallel parking.

[ChriswUfGator]

I think Main St. will have them.

For what it's worth, every street that FDOT touches they add bike lanes to (to my chagrin in some cases).  I thought adding them to hendricks was stupid, because it came at the expense of parallel parking.

I thought the same thing. Not trying to offend bike riders, but it seems like on Hendricks they managed to inconvenience 10,000 people and screw all the local businesses, to add bike lanes used by few people...

[thelakelander]

Main Street will not have bike lanes.  Also, the bike lanes on Hendricks aren't the problem.  Its the center turn lane.  Eliminating that would have made room for parallel parking and bike lanes.

[David]

There's a lot of bike lanes in the city that go virtually unused, but the ones on Hendricks are probably one of the most utilized that i've seen. Especially during the afternoons.

Plus there's plenty of side streets to park on, a few scattered parking lots here and there and a few parallel spots remaining. Jack Rabbits draws 100+ people to a show at times and they usually find plenty of parking nearby.

I'm just saying it was a fair trade, in my opinion.  It defintely enhances my quality of life as a San Marcoininan... San Marcon? San Margiagon.....either way, I doubt the bike lanes have hurt businesses that much.

[Springfielder]

It's to my understanding that Main street is owned by the DOT...or something along those lines...it's not really a typical city street...which is why there won't be bikes lanes included.

Jacksonville, as a whole is not a bike friendly city...and is why behind in this....look at most other major cites, they have bike lanes.

[lindab]

Jacksonville's TPO just got rid of its Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee too. What does that say about priorities for a major metropolitan city?

[zoo]

The TPO has, and continues to be, a joke. My exp with NFTPO is they see NEFL as a donut -- Downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods lie in the big blind spot in the middle, so they don't see this part at all.

Try to have a rational conversation with DB about the importance of the core to the entire region, and you get a glassy-eyed stare. I've often wondered about the training of their "planners" and from which national and international cities they are drawing their conclusions re: best practices -- what they've implemented here seems to indicate they look inward, to long outdated planning practices, and to the lobbyists, pols and associations (e.g. NEFBA) for their proposed solutions.

What is more surprising is that there was a Bicycle Advisory Committee in the first place. The NFTPO is even more focused on roads than JTA (who would have thought that possible!?!?)

[strider]

 This subject has been discussed many times lately.  There are no bike lanes on Main because the community made the choice of parking rather than bike lanes.  In addition, to get parking on Main street, the travel lanes were reduced to the minimums.  If you look further up on main street, above Evergreen for instance, there are indeed bike lanes and no parking.  It was felt, and most would agree, that the parking was far more important to the future of a successful commercial district than the bike lanes.  This was partly because of the close proximity of the side streets and the alley system.  It was hoped, as I recently found out from one of the people directly involved with main street at the time, that the alleys behind the buildings on Main street would be used for pedestrian and bikes.  This actually adds a interesting second access to the stores and restraunts on Main, if they were to chose to utilize them.

[zoo]

...and if the alleys were maintained. SPAR has an alley task-force that has been working for a few years on development of alley improvement program. The problem, as always, is funding, as little work/upkeep can be done in the alleys without (this is why the City has abandoned maintenance of them for some time).

Also note, per Lake, that up by Evergreen Cemetery, there are not medians. So the trade-off was made.

[Deuce]

I bike, but I would gladly trade bike lanes for parking. I want the commercial interests that build on Main in the future to be able to attract folks from outside the neighborhood, we need parking for that.

[jaxlore]

the bikes lanes in the city are a joke, there is not consistency, I do ride the one on Riverside Ave to the Acosta every day, but its a small stretch and the rest of my ride is spent playing frogger.

[tufsu1]

It's to my understanding that Main street is owned by the DOT...or something along those lines...it's not really a typical city street...which is why there won't be bikes lanes included.

Jacksonville, as a whole is not a bike friendly city...and is why behind in this....look at most other major cites, they have bike lanes.

Actually FDOT is pretty much required to include bike lanes or paved shouldes on their major construction projects (like Riverside Avenue)....the City has no such policy that I am aware of.

In the case of Main Street, is the outside lane wider?  sometimes that is done for bikes but left unstriped...if not, then they must have received a variance (due to ROW constraints)

[strider]

 Main Street has become a real mixed bag.  One way downtown.  Medians, parallel parking and landscaped medians with fancy lights, cross walks and sidewalks in Springfield.  Then we have a short section that has diagonal parking, no bike lanes which goes to a section that has no medians and Parallel parking on one side only to medians, no parking, but bike lanes beginning at Evergreen and going to the river. Personally, I believe that once completed, our section of Main will look the best.

I think that if there is any funding out there in the future for things like bike lanes, the alley ways should be utilized. If one thnks about it, if the state is required in some fashion to provide bike lanes, then that money should be used for the alleys even now, as that was the trade off, or so I have been told.