Transit Miami received this email regarding Euclid Avenue from Gabrielle Redfern, on behalf of BASIC (Bicycle Activists for a Safe, Integrated City)
Another day, another bicycle facility on the chopping block in the City of Miami Beach. Current plans call for dedicated bike lanes on this road when it gets reconstructed in the nearer future. Even with out the new curb and gutter that the avenue is programmed to get, this 70 foot behemoth of a local road could benefit today from a little TLC, in the form of a small coat of paint, say running down each side of the lanes of traffic to narrow the car roadway to slow traffic and make more room for bikes. But no. The neighbors will have none of it!
Long story short: what say you? If you cannot make it tomorrow, no worries. This is just the first skirmish in what looks like a long war, and this battle will pay out in other conference rooms, and perhaps the Commission Chambers before all is said and done. BASIC objects to all this plan revision in the City of Miami Beach that involves removal of bicycle facilities.”
The extra large lanes, with no bike lanes, currently encourage a speedway effect from the foot of the Macarthur to Lincoln Road. Few lights, very residential, no trees, it is the perfect street to use in your car when traveling north south, avoiding Alton or even the scenic park-side Meridian. (If you never knew, and I blew it for the neighbors, I am sorry.) Something needs to be done, that is certain. I spent much time riding it yesterday, and this road is ugly, unsafe and hot! And thank God plans are in the works to make it so much better. But reconstruct a roadway, with 70 feet of ROW and not add dedicated bike lanes? Bike lanes currently called for in the City’s own Master Plan? That is what the Flamingo Park Neighborhood Association plans to argue for in their streetscape sections before the committee on Wednesday. No bike lanes on Euclid Avenue.
To be fair, the neighborhood is proposing extra wide sidewalks they think will be good for sharing between pedestrians and bicycles. However, we disagree on this, the nature and manner of providing for bicycles. They see bicycles as recreation only. BASIC demands bicycles be given equal attention to cars in the transportation grid. We need a complete street that accommodates pedestrians, bicycles and cars. In that order. On that, the neighbors and I agree. How we get there, well, that is another battle brewing….
So how do we meet them halfway? (I pray daily to avoid war with folks I respect and admire). In the hope we can come to common ground, BASIC proposes a street section that includes two foot swales in front of all properties; providing for 12-foot sidewalks, clear of signs and other obstructions; a five foot street-side swale for landscaping and signage; two, one way, 15 foot travel lanes, with sharrows, separated by a two foot landscaped median. Currently all properties program right up to the sidewalk. Providing those landowners with two feet of green space running the length of their property will increase their property value. It would make for a beautiful street, in our opinion.”
MIAMI BEACH MAYORS BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE ON BIKEWAYS IN MIAMI BEACH
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 2010 2:00 p.m. (although this item may be a time certain 3:00 p.m)
MAYOR’S CONFERENCE ROOM
FOURTH FLOOR MIAMI BEACH CITY HALL
666 17TH STREET
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA 33139
14 Responses to Bicycle lanes on Miami Beach put on the chopping block?
Leave a Reply
Planetizen: The Urban Planning, Design, and Development Network- Land in Conflict: How Planners Can Better Manage an Increasingly Contentious Public Process June 19, 2013Summary: Land use disputes are increasingly taking up our time and producing unsatisfying results. A new approach to resolving conflict based on mutual gains may provide a better way to manage the most challenging situations. […]
- With Improvements, Baltimore Seeks to Steal D.C.'s Thunder...and Residents June 19, 2013The last decade has brought tremendous growth and prosperity to Washington D.C., but it's neighbor to the north hasn't been so blessed. Planned infrastructure improvements are intended to lure new residents to Baltimore's cheaper cost of living. […]
- Bloomingdale Trail Gets New Name and Final Plan June 19, 2013Final plans for what will become the longest elevated park in the world where unveiled this week in Chicago. The 2.7-mile rail-to-trail conversion has been branded as The 606, a nod to the zip code digits shared by the neighborhoods along its route. […]
- Astrodome Among National Trust's List of 11 Most Endangered Places June 19, 2013The National Trust for Historic Preservation has released its annual list of America's most endangered historic places, the preservation community's most effective tool for bringing awareness and assistance to the country's threatened resources. […]
- Architect Ego Trip or Necessity for a Modern Metropolis? Paris Debates Skyscrapers June 19, 2013Following Mayor Bertrand Delanoe's overturn of a ban on buildings over seven storeys high, Paris is planning a dozen new skyscrapers outside the city centre. Debate over the towers is destined to become an issue in next year's municipal elections. […]
- Should Cities Eliminate Free Parking for the Disabled? June 19, 2013Ongoing research from the University of California Transportation Center documents the detrimental effects that free street parking for the disabled has on city coffers and performance pricing systems. Is it time to reconsider such laws. […]
- New Downtown L.A. Park Latest Victory in Mayor's Open Space Initiative June 19, 2013At .7 acres, downtown L.A.'s Spring Street Park isn't likely to invite comparison to the world's great urban parks. But for a city, and neighborhood, starved of quality open space, the new park is a significant achievement. […]
- University Housing: Bastion of Communal Learning or Luxury Resort? June 19, 2013John Eligon examines the private student housing building boom, and asks whether we are spoiling college students with luxurious off-campus amenities to the detriment of academic and social environments. […]
- How Parking Minimums Beget Ugly Urban Environments June 19, 2013In the Pacific Northwest, and elsewhere, excessive parking requirements dictate the form and footprint of buildings, mostly to the detriment of urban environments. In a lavish photo essay, Alyse Nelson explores the damage inflicted by parking laws. […]
- Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Fees are Here to Stay, and Spreading June 19, 2013It may seem counter-intuitive to charge extra fees for the cleanest, most fuel-efficient vehicles on the road today - including those that qualify for a federal $7,500 credit. But ten states are doing just that to keep roads well-funded. […]
- Land in Conflict: How Planners Can Better Manage an Increasingly Contentious Public Process June 19, 2013
What road is she talking about? West Ave?
My bad, Euclid Avenue. West Avenue has a whole lot of issues too!
West Ave will get it’s bike lanes, ahead of the City’s CIP project, thanks to the County….the bike lanes should be striped on West sooner rather than later! Special thanks to Jeff Cohen at MDPW for making this happen!
“Two foot swales, 12-foot sidewalks, five foot street-side swale, 15 foot travel lanes with sharrows, a two foot landscaped median” – what happened to the parking lanes? The buildings on Euclid mostly don’t have on-site parking and the residents rely on the on-street parking. Besides, if you want to speed up traffic take out the parking and make the lanes 15 ft. wide!
[...] writes about a new report about the effect of compact development on greenhouse gas emissions. Transit Miami writes about the threat to some Miami Beach bike lanes. And One Speed: Go! has a philosophical [...]
The city is getting some confusing and conflicting requests from cyclists. After a month and a half of talking about how bike lanes are bad, are we back on “bike lanes: good?”
Steve,
Who’s saying bike lanes are bad?
I just want to say it is utopia when trees cover sidewalks and bikeway (and cars for that matter. Big shade trees get people out of cars and thus reduce traffic congestion.
Euclid doesn’t need bike lanes. It is a slow neighborhood street with frequent stop signs. Bikes can easily share the lane. Adding bike lanes would only give drivers a false sense of security to drive faster, and severely reduce the width of the sidewalk.
Anon,
As Euclid is currently designed it is not a slow moving street. I believe the lanes are much wider than 15 feet and this encourages speeding.
I don’t see the need to increase sidewalks to twelve feet. There is not enough density/mixed uses to warrant 12 ft sidewalks; 6-8 foot sidewalks are propably sufficient. Keep the on street parking and reduce the travel lanes to 11-12 ft. I think this would be a good street for bike lanes. Sharrows could work too, but 15 ft travel lanes are too wide and encourage speeding.
Shade trees are essential. Bicycles should not share the sidewalk.
Standard highway lanes are 12 feet. There is no reason why this street can’t be 11feet
The travel lanes can be 10 feet…. so in plan, with a five-foot bike lane, the travel lane would be at 15 feet, which is four feet less than the 34 foot travel lanes there now……..it’s the 20 feet of parking that is the problem…although the demographics say that zip code 33139 has the second most households with out a car in this country outside New York, Flamingoes hold on to the on street parking, at the exclusion of a bike lane. Parking only begets more cars, and the last time I checked, parking was not a transportation modality, and therefore should not have a higher priority for limited ROW than a mode that provides additional transit capacity. The Florida Green Book states “It can generally be stated that on-street parking decreases through capacity impedes traffic flow, and increases crash potential.” Bike lanes add capacity to the road with out adding cars, and we slow traffic through the calming device of narrowing the travel lanes. Making Euclid more pedestrian, bicycle friendly, in that order.
I like 10 ft travel lanes even more. Perhaps a 2 ft soft buffer between the parked cars and the bike lane could be added to protect bicyclists from getting doored. Removing parking entirely is a fight I’m not sure is worth fighting at this stage in the game. 20 ft of parking sounds like a bit too much. We can probably get away with 16-18 feet of parking.
[...] Blue Ribbon Committee on Bikeways,” arguing for bicycle facilities on Euclid (in the plan but still on the chopping block), DecoBike (are we inviting 900 people who maybe can’t ride a bicycle and are unfamiliar with [...]