New Bike Lane Day is Around the Corner

May is less than a month away, which means RVA Bike Month is approaching quickly. We are working hard on our grassroots calendar of more than a month’s worth of community-grown bike events – so stay tuned! In the meantime, construction of the Franklin Street two-way protected bike lanes is underway, adding to our growing network of on-street bike lanes in Richmond. Pending any unforeseen delays in construction, we hope to be cutting a ribbon with Mayor Stoney on that project for this year’s Bike To Work Day on May 18.

In fact, we were so excited about the construction starting that we hosted a pop-up bike lane party on Franklin Street last month to help build momentum and get people excited about what the future Franklin Street will look like. Check out the video:

So what will Franklin Street look like when it’s done? The biggest change will be where to bike and where to park. The two-way protected bike lane will be placed on the north side of the street against the curb. During the morning rush hour (7:00a.m. to 9:00a.m.), parking will be prohibited on both sides of the street, opening up car traffic to three lanes of travel. But all other times of the day – when traffic is light – on-street parking will be allowed, reducing the number of travel lanes for cars. The parking on the north side of the street will be against the bike lane, creating an additional barrier from car traffic. Here are a couple of images that help illustrate the new configuration.

Today, people on bikes are asked to ride in a mixed traffic sharrow lane and to share that lane with cars, trucks, and buses. So these are some pretty significant changes to what is currently there. When finished and linked with the Floyd Avenue Bike/Walk Street via Monroe Park, a person riding a bike will be able to start in Carytown (say at Ellwood Thompson’s) and ride a 3.2-mile long contiguous low-speed, low-volume, and/or protected bikeway all the way to Capitol Square – and even that route is being extended further east to Main Street Station and the Virginia Capital Trail. This is what a growing network looks like!