Madison Street, shown in April 2021, is on the city’s list of potential “bike boulevards” but no longer being pursued. Three others are.
The idea of “bike boulevards” keeps coming up at monthly meetings of Albany’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission even though the first proposal of this kind last year, on Madison Street, died for lack of neighborhood interest.
The members of this volunteer advisory board to the city council talked about bike boulevards in December and January, and they plan to put it on the agenda again when they meet on Feb. 22.
I caught up with last Tuesday’s session by listening to the audio recording available on the city’s website (cityofalbany.net). The members (find them listed on the website too) didn’t take a vote, but they agreed to come up with a plan to get the public interested in this topic with stories in social media, the paper, and here.
Then they hope to organize public group rides along three potential bike boulevards that the commission would like to pursue. These are First and Second avenues between Main and Geary streets, and especially a South Albany route along 38th and 39th avenues from Marion Street to near South Albany High School.
The goal would be to see if there’s neighborhood buy-in for any of the three potential corridors. If so, the commission might ask the council to authorize a boulevard project or two.
These projects would be eligible for 100 percent funding from street system development fees on new construction. For the 38th Avenue project, the street plan lists SDC funding of $106,000. The other two are eligible for $43,000 each, in 2010 dollars.
Bike boulevards are secondary streets where special traffic-calming features — signs, curb bulb-outs, painted pavement markings or speed humps, that sort of thing — serve to keep motor traffic light in order to give cyclists confidence that riding there is safe.
Albany’s transportation system plan, adopted in 2010, lists 12 potential bike boulevards. None has been designated. The city staff has been waiting to see if anyone along those streets wants the boulevard treatment to be applied, and nobody has.
Last year owners on Madison Street from Pacific Boulevard north were sent letters asking if they were interested in adding bike boulevard features to a scheduled ODOT grant-funded safety project. The city’s Ron Irish, who contacted people by mail, said he got almost no response.
The thing is, as I wrote in a commentary Dec. 28, it’s hard to see the need for bike boulevards on streets that cyclists already like because they are relatively quiet and pose few risks from heavy motor traffic or high speeds. (hh)
Enough with all the “bicycle” spending! Fix the surface of the streets!
Just one example, driving most streets have so much crack seal on them that when the sun reflects off it you can’t see the lines on the streets.
The monies to fix the streets come from a different fund. These are 2010 funds that the city council just can’t get around to spending because??? By the time they get around to building the infrastructure, the 2010 dollars won’t be enough to pave a driveway. Albany is a very difficult town to bike through. Some changes are desperately needed. Fixing is not a priority, it only comes up because the council has monies to spend and the council is bothered because they have not spent them yet. Give them a brake, it’s only been a decade.
“These projects would be eligible for 100 percent funding from street system development fees on new construction.”
The transportation System Development Charge (SDC) is imposed on new development when a permit is issued so the city can keep up with the growth-related cost of expanding its transportation system.
You know, stuff like adding and improving city roads, intersections, and signals.
And these political appointees (yes, anyone can volunteer, but only a select few actually get appointed by the mayor & councilors) think “bike boulevards” are a high priority?
Did the people of Albany ordain a “bike boulevard” project on the city’s Transportation System Plan?
If no, what is the project’s priority relative to the hundreds of other projects in the plan?
If yes, why is this commission wasting “the people’s” time & money on “bike boulevard” nonsense?
Wait…what? Hasso, are you telling us that the City of Albany is so flush with cash that we can afford a “Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission.” You have besmirched the Urban Elites, the Homeless and several other constituencies over the years when discussing taxpayer funding to eliminate problems associated with those groups. Yet now, with Albany’s thoroughfares crumbling, we are supposed to take seriously the idea of a Bicycle/Pedestrian Commission. I’m sorry, but that sounds Orwellian and misguided.
You, yourself said: “…it’s hard to see the need for bike boulevards on streets that … are relatively quiet and pose few risks. Are we to understand that you have flipped on Bicycle Elitists and are no longer willing to coddle to this Commission’s diktat? We can only hope so.
There’s a real underlying reason why the neighbors in the Madison Street corridor demonstrated Near Zero interest in the topic of bike boulevards…the subject is too far down the list of what citizens actually need. Thank you for turning on these absurd ideas. Given your years of steady influence on the thinking of Albanians, perhaps we can finally get past this topic.
I already feel safe on 1st and 2nd between Main and Geary. Don’t think speed bumps and curb push outs are necessary there.
If I read the article correctly, the main goal is to manipulate the community into favoring the committee’s view while ignoring the lack of interest expressed by the “test area”. Perhaps the same degree of safety could come by repairing pot holes.
I attended a couple of their meetings several years ago. Their main focus was to keep cyclists from riding on the sidewalk.
When I asked them about various safety issues such as garbage cans continuously residing in the streets, they just rolled their eyes and admitted they can’t do a thing about such things.
They may help for such things as bicycle training for children, but otherwise have pie in the sky ideas such as this. Have they actually counted the numbers of bikes that daily traverse Madison? IF they actually rode that street, they’d see a bit of slurry seal would be far more useful than a layer of GREEN PAINT. How long do they think green paint will hold up to studded tires? Look at the bike lane stripe on Waverly just South of Fred Meyer by the “jog” at the theater. It make a lot more sense to restripe that and add a couple of those small “rumble” reflectors to train drivers to stay in their lane.
Just to be clear, Madison was but is not now under consideration for bike boulevard treatment. I thought the story made that clear, but apparently not.
“Bike Boulevard”? Just look at the condition of the pavement. That IS a section I ride at <half speed, trying to avoid the worst divots. GREEN PAINT on top of that? To make drivers aware of what? Can you imagine what that truck driver would be thinking?
Just look at the surface of the street in Hasso’s picture. This is typical of streets in Albany. When is the council going to do something about that? Are we going to have to wait a decade for that to be addressed?
And you wonder why there was “no interest” from residents about bike boulevards?
Fix the streets first!
I completely agree with the last paragraph of your commentary! There are certainly streets that could benefit cyclists with bike boulevards, but the ones mentioned so far are not among them and would be a waste of public money.