Vote in the County Council primary next week

If you were present for the vote on the County Council Complete Streets resolution in 2010, you know that it was tabled by a vote of 6 to 5. The vote against that resolution was a major set back toward to the goal of making the roads in Greenville County safe for all users, and that is exactly why the upcoming Republican Primary election on June 12^th is so important to those of us who really care about bicyclist/pedestrian safety  issues on our county roads.

Four of the twelve Greenville County Council seats will be contested in the primary that is just over a week away, so now is a great time to find out where each of the candidates stand on issues related to improving safety for cyclists and pedestrians.  Spinners Advocacy Chairperson Frank Mansbach and Pamela Wood Browne of Carolina Cycling News prepared a survey to ask each of the candidates a few questions along those lines. The four incumbents all answered the questions, as did two of the new candidates, and you can see each of their responses on the Spinners advocacy page. 

The survey responses are great information for those of us voting next week. In addition to those answers though, I think past voting history is very important to consider. Of the four incumbents running for re-election, Joe Baldwin (district 18) was the only one who was a vocal supporter of the Complete Streets resolution. Sid Cates and Bob Taylor both voted to table the resolution (effectively killing it),and based on their comments on the night of the vote, I would not expect either of them to support future efforts to make Greenville County roads safer for cyclists and pedestrians.  Jim Burns was not present to vote that evening in October of 2010. I do believe that Councilman Burns is sincere in his answers to the Spinner’s survey, but it is disappointing that he was not present that night to make it a tie. 

Regardless of who you support, I encourage you all to get out and vote on the 12^th with bicycle and pedestrian safety issues in mind. The County has a long way to go in order to catch up with the City’s efforts to safely accommodate all road users, but it will never happen without public support.  

No bike lanes on Roper Mountain Road…apparently

I wrote a post in June about the possibility of bike lanes on Pelham and Roper Mountain as part of SCDOT resurfacing projects for sections of those two roads. Many of you responded in favor of bike lanes on those streets, and the support did not just come from individual citizens. Major local companies including Fluor, Hubbell Lighting, GE, and Greenville Hospital System sent the SCDOT letters of support for the inclusion of bike lanes in these projects. Ditto for local organizations like the Greenville Spinners, The Spinners Safety Foundation, GPATS, and LiveWell Greenville. 

In response to everyone who wrote a letter, Steve Gwinn in the Greenville SCDOT office responded:

“Thank you for your e-mail (or letter) concerning the striping of bike lanes on Pelham Road and Roper Mountain Road after the upcoming resurfacing project. We have met with the City of Greenville and reviewed the roadway geometry as it exists today to determine a possible solution that would accommodate bike lanes on both roads.

The exiting roadway width on Pelham Road is 61.5 feet of usable space. Our restriping typical required a minimum of 64 feet for exclusive bike lanes. We have existing 12 foot lanes with a 13.5 foot median. The proposed typical would have travel lanes and median less than 11 feet and 12 feet respectively. This is not meeting a minimum standard for an arterial with 22,400 vehicles per day. We are currently working on a restriping plan for Roper Mountain Road that will not only try to eliminate confusion with lane placement but also try to accommodate bike lanes.

We have been working diligently in trying to modify our existing facilities to accommodate bike lanes. We understand that the City of Greenville is submitting a design exception request with detailed information for Pelham Road for reconsideration. We will take this information into account for the restriping of Pelham Road. We will also determine what we can accommodate for Roper Mountain Road once resurfacing is complete.”

Based on that response, it sounded like they had issues to overcome with Pelham Road, but that a restiping plan for Roper Mountain was in the works. In addition to the design exception for Pelham, the City of Greenville had submitted to SCDOT a rough design for a layout of Roper Mountain that included bike lanes, so I was encouraged about the chances of seeing bike lanes in the final design.

From what I had heard, the resurfacing project on Roper Mountain was to be delayed a bit, so I was quite surprised to see the old asphalt being scraped away earlier this month. On August 9^th, I sent an email to Steve Gwinn in the Greenville SCDOT office to find out what was going on:

Dear Mr. Gwinn,

I want to follow up with you on the status of the Roper Mountain and Pelham resurfacing projects (http://bikegreenville.blogspot.com/2011/06/bike-lanes-on-pelham-and-roper-mountain.html). You mentioned in your response to the letter from the Greenville Spinners that there were some issues with existing widths on Pelham, but that SCDOT was working on a restriping plan to include bike lanes on Roper Mountain. Is that still the case? It appears that resurfacing is currently underway on Roper Mountain, so I hope that bike lanes will be included when the project is complete. I know that a design exception has been submitted for Pelham Road as well, so I would like to hear about the status of that project as well. 

As you know, there has been a lot of local support for bike lanes on both of these roads. Local companies and organizations including Fluor, GE, Hubbell Lighting, GE, Greenville Hospital System, Greenville Spinners, The Spinners Safety Foundation, GPATS, and LiveWell Greenville have all publicly expressed support for the addition of bike lanes to these roads. I know that it is not easy, and that there are some hurdles to overcome to make these roads into complete streets, but doing so would be a major step toward making the eastside of Greenville bicycle friendly.

Thanks for your attention…and best regards,

James Thomas

http://bikegreenville.blogspot.com

I didn’t receive a response, but a couple days later I followed up with this message (and I copied SCDOT’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Coordinator Tom Dodds):

Mr. Gwinn,

I just want to follow up on the email I sent you a couple days ago. It appears that the surfacing and striping is nearly complete on Roper Mountain Road, and bike lanes do not appear to be included in the project. Out of the two SCDOT resurfacing projects on the east side of Greenville (Roper Mountain and Pelham), it certainly sounded like Roper Mountain was the one that was more likely to include bike lanes.

Earlier, you said, "We are currently working on a restriping plan for Roper Mountain Road that will not only try to eliminate confusion with lane placement but also try to accommodate bike lanes. " Is that something that is still in the works? Also, can you provide an update on the design exception that was presented for Pelham Road.

Thanks and best regards,

James Thomas

http://bikegreenville.blogspot.com

It’s been over a week and I still haven’t received a response to either email. I’m still hoping to get answers, so I sent this message today to the main SCDOT office in Columbia:

I have sent a couple emails to Steve Gwinn about the Roper Mountain Rd resurfacing that recently completed here in Greenville. Many local companies and organizations, including Fluor, GE, Hubbell Lighting, GE, Greenville Hospital System, Greenville Spinners, The Spinners Safety Foundation, GPATS, and LiveWell Greenville, wrote letters of support for including bike lanes as part of the project (along with another scheduled resurfacing project on Pelham Road). In his response to everyone who wrote a letter, Mr. Gwinn said:


"We are currently working on a restriping plan for Roper Mountain Road that will not only try to eliminate confusion with lane placement but also try to accommodate bike lanes."


Unfortunately, the resurfacing occurred with what appears to be no changes to the striping at all. Can someone please let me know why a request with so much community support was completely ignored? Mr. Gwinn has not responded in the past week, but maybe someone else can...Deputy Secretary for Engineering John Walsh perhaps?


The companies and individuals who supported bike lanes on Roper Mountain would like to know what happened. SCDOT pointed out that bike lanes on Pelham Road might be difficult, but it seemed like Roper Mountain was feasible and that the SCDOT engineering department was working on it. When did that change and why? I am looking forward to hearing your reply so I can share it with others.


Thanks for your time and best regards,


James Thomas

I’m a little frustrated now, but when I do get a response with some answers from someone at SCDOT, I will share it here. The resurfacing on Pelham is still on the horizon, so it is important to continue letting SCDOT know that we want to see bike lanes as part of these projects. Set-backs are discouraging, but safer streets  for all users are worth fighting for. I encourage you all to keep it up.

Bicyclists are not a burden

I hope that some of you caught the article that ran in last Friday’s Greenville News titled, Greenville bike plans proceed in low gear. The piece, by Ben Szobody, discusses the Bikeville events throughout the month, the new bicycle master plan, and future plans for bike friendly infrastructure in Greenville. Overall, it is a very positive article, but it does cover all sides of the issue by mentioning some of the public criticism for bike projects in Greenville. Regarding possible bike lanes on Stone Avenue, local civil engineer James Freeland is quoted as saying, “I can't understand the reasoning to put so many drivers at a disadvantage to serve very few bicyclers.” To me, statements like that should serve as a reminder that we need to stress the point that complete streets are for people. The idea is not to disadvantage one group, but to make streets safe for ALL users (with over 40,000 traffic fatalities in the U.S. each year, safer streets should be a priority for everyone). Detractors like to trivialize complete streets and bike lanes by labeling them as recreational amenities for “lycra clad bikers.” In reality, the idea of making roads safer for all users affects that group as well as children, the elderly, families…really everyone. Unfortunately, stories about kids and young teens being killed on bicycles are much too common in this country. It is a trend that we need to stop, and I really hope that there are not many people out there who would disagree with that.

If you read the comments left in response to the online version of the Greenville News article, you will see that the same old argument about cyclists not paying their fair share surfaces again. The majority of us know that is not the case, but for anyone with doubts, I’ll link to a couple of old posts on that subject again. I know that I probably sound like a broken record, but I just don’t understand why all of those people who are so quick to cry foul about bike projects don’t also complain about our heavily subsidized infrastructure for automobiles. If every user is to pay his or her fair share for use of the roads, why are these people not pushing to raise the gas tax to cover the road construction and maintenance money that currently comes from our property and income taxes? I think it is pretty clear that fairness is not really what they want, but the old “cyclists don’t pay for roads” argument seems to be the best they can come up with.

A few of the commenters referred to bicycle infrastructure projects as wasteful spending by the Mayor and city government. Apparently they didn’t read far enough to see that the cost of several current bike lane-striping projects in the city are “mostly covered by a 95 percent match in federal transit funding.” I shouldn’t be too surprised though…I know that members of the vocal anti-bike minority don’t want to get too bogged down in facts. They just hate the presence of cyclists on their roads, so they keep rehashing the same old flawed arguments every time bicycle related projects are discussed.

Maybe it is time for a change in the discussion though. Instead of referring to bicyclists as a burden on the tax system, we should talk about the economic benefits of bicycle infrastructure. If you don’t want to read the entire pdf file from the League of American Bicyclists study, check out a good summary of the report here. Locally, you only have to look as far as the revitalization of downtown Travelers Rest to see real economic benefits from an investment in bike/ped infrastructure. Ask the owners of any of the new businesses that have popped up near the Swamp Rabbit trail what they think about cyclists and pedestrians. I seriously doubt that any of them will refer to us as a drain on society. The Liberty Bridge in Falls Park is another great example. When it was proposed, there were people who predicted that removing the old Camperdown Bridge to build a pedestrian bridge would mess up traffic and completely wreck downtown. Those same people are probably now taking out of town guests to Falls Park to show off what has become a symbol of the city.

The fact of the matter is, bike infrastructure really is a good investment, and the ROI can be seen in cities like Portland, Palo Alto, or Austin that have committed to those projects. Like any other town that wishes to attract innovative businesses and talented, creative people, Greenville needs to make those investments at some point. I think the city is doing the right thing by realizing that now…and I hope that the Mayor and City Council’s commitment to complete streets and other bike/ped improvements will continue.