A new bicycle lane on Oberlin Road could be the first of its kind in Raleigh
The city wants to reconfigure a stretch of Oberlin Road near Cameron Village to provide on-street parking and better accommodate pedestrians and cyclists.
The Oberlin Road Streetscape Plan calls for reducing the number of travel lanes for cars from five to three, one of which will be a center turn lane, from Clark Avenue to Bedford Street. The space freed up by having fewer lanes would be used to provide on-street parking for three-tenths of a mile on the west side of Oberlin and bicycle lanes on both sides of the street.
And for the first time in Raleigh, the bicycle lane on the west side of Oberlin would be between the parked cars and the curb, to further protect cyclists from traffic and cars getting in and out of parking spaces.
“It’s a safety issue for the cyclists,” said Richard Dickie, a city engineer involved in the project. “As well, it gives the motorists a better feel because they don’t have to worry about cyclists sharing the lane.”
The city presented preliminary plans at a public meeting last week and will be accepting feedback from the public through Sunday, Aug. 19. More information about the project, including a link to an online comment form, can be found at nando.com/oberlinroad. The city expects to develop more refined plans in December and not begin construction until late 2019.
Placing a bicycle lane between parked cars and the curb has been done in other cities such as Portland, Oregon, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Washington, D.C. Dan Boehl of the cycling advocacy group Oaks & Spokes says they’re safer for cyclists and make would-be riders more comfortable on busy roads.
“This just adds a ton of protection for people riding on bikes,” Boehl said. “We’re excited to have a protected bike lane there.”
Boehl also noted that Oberlin Road is an important north-south corridor for cyclists, connecting Cameron Village, Hillsborough Street and the N.C. State University campus with the neighborhoods north of Wade Avenue.
Parking-protected bike lanes have not always been an easy sell. Cycling advocates in Durham urged the city to create one on Broad Street this summer, but city officials declined, saying they thought cyclists would be safer and more visible in a traditional bike lane next to traffic.
Dickie, the Raleigh city engineer, said this stretch of Oberlin Road seems like a good place to try the new kind of bike lane, before the city uses them elsewhere.
“This would be something you would tend to use only in locales that have a high cycling population,” he said. “We’re kind of doing this as a demonstration. I don’t think it’s going to be a one-off, but let’s try it and see how it goes.”
This story was originally published August 17, 2018 at 3:16 PM.