7th St Bike Lanes
7th Street is a westbound one-way street that has the potential to become a vital link in the east-west bike lane network with little cost and effort.
Currently, there is an eastbound bike lane on 7th St between Division and Maple St, allowing cyclists to use the signal at Division St to cross and continue biking eastbound. While this bike lane is useful for crossing Division, it doesn’t provide a substantial link for cyclists traveling east.
Conceptual Design
However, the one-way operation provides the space on this street to create a bike lane for each direction—one westbound and one eastbound. This presents the opportunity to continue the existing bike lane from Maple to Union St along with implementing a dedicated westbound bike lane.
The conceptual design creates bike lanes for both directions while maintaining the westbound vehicle travel lane and the on-street parking on the north side of the street.
You can visualize a before and after of the design concept by dragging the slider below:
Why 7th St?
There’s space for it
Since this section of 7th St is a one-way street, there’s enough available width within the right of way to create a bike lane in each direction.
There’s already a traffic signal at Division St
A traffic signal is crucial for safe crossings across busy roads for non-motorized users.
It’s due for repaving
The existing surface of 7th St is in poor condition, rated a 2/10 on the city’s PACER Road Rating scale. With the potential for repaving in the near future, it presents an easy opportunity to create a new link in the non-motorized transportation network when work is already happening.
Low speeds and low traffic volumes
Speed and traffic volume are the most crucial variables for cyclist comfort and safety, and the low speeds and low traffic volumes on 7th St mean these bike lanes could allow for safe, comfortable trips without having to build extensive physical separation from vehicle traffic.
It can accommodate school traffic
The bike lanes could be used as a drop-off/pick-up zone during restricted hours to maintain the existing setup for school traffic.
Alternatively, the bike lanes could be routed along the sidewalk for this portion of 7th St to allow for a designated drop-off/pick-up zone.