RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Richmond residents have the opportunity to respond to a survey about the proposed designs for a new bike lane along West Franklin Street from Lombardy Street to Belvidere Street.
A spokesperson for the Department of Public Works said the project will connect to the exiting two-way bike lanes along Franklin Street from Belvidere Street to 9th Street.
Feedback from the survey will be used when finalizing and implementing the designs. Residents will be able to complete the survey until Sunday, Sept. 24.
According to the department, the proposed designs include:
- Implementing a roadway conversion within the existing roadway cross-section to improve accessibility and safety for bicyclists by incorporating a two-way ‘cycle track’ bicycle lane, which is physically separated from the vehicle travel lane with some type of vertical barrier
- Using the existing roadway width to either replace one vehicle travel lane, or reduce existing travel lane widths to accommodate the bicycle infrastructure
Brantley Tyndall, the director of Sports Backers’ program Bike Walk RVA, prefers the design which would add medians to separate cyclists from the traffic on West Franklin Street.
“One of the reasons why we really support that is it prevents drivers from parking illegally in bike lanes, which has become a real problem in downtown the past couple of years,” said Tyndall.
Tyndall believes a separated bike lane on West Franklin would encourage more people to travel on two wheels instead of four — and improve safety for everyone using the street.
“Where bike lanes are built in the city, you see improvements with safety. And it’s not just for bike riders, but for people driving and walking too,” said Tyndall. “Bike lanes curb traffic speeds,”
Anyone looking to complete the survey can do so on the Department of Public Work’s website.
