Friday, July 15, 2011

New Buffered Bike Lanes to Debut Monday

The Streets Department Paint Crew has been busy this week, laying down South Philly's first sharrows on 11th St southbound to striping for the new buffered bike lanes on 10th and 13th Street.




















Sharrow on 11th St-note the large beer truck blocking the northbound bike lane.

The sharrows are part of a reconfiguration of parking that occured on 11th last year. The previously Bike lanes (poorly marked) were removed and back in angle parking was introduced aster the street was resurfaced. The northbound bike lane was restored in May but there was not enough space for a southbound bike lane.

Before rush hour this morning 10th St was striped for buffered bike lanes from Market to Lombard and 13th as well from Market to Hamilton St just south of Spring Garden. The signs, hashmarks and bike stencils should be in for the Monday morning commute. Perhaps the most perturbed group of motorists affected are the courtroom personnel who were permitted to park in the right lane on N 13th St between Market and Arch St. Handwritten notes were placed on their windshields warning them to park elsewhere beginning on Monday.

Effective Monday 7-18-11 You Will Be Ticketed

13th Street will be the only contiguous northbound bike lane to go completely through Center City, The 5th St bike lane begins at Chestnut and the 22nd St Bike Lane terminates at Race St.


2 comments:

Beroea said...

Well, new bike lanes are always welcome BUT some existing bike lanes should be maintained too. For example bike lanes on Spruce in West Philadelphia are literally bike traps. There are debris everywhere, the paint has chipped away and the asphalt is full of bumps. I had 2 punctures in July while riding on Spruce because I couldn't avoid all those broken glasses and small metal stuff.

Therefore I now ride on Chestnut (honestly I don't care the lack of bike lanes on Chestnut between 63rd and 34th) where the asphalt is perfect and my tires don't have to cope with shrapnels on the bombarded asphalt of Spruce.

Katie VanVliet said...

10th st isn't striped yet, so expect a fight if you're biking through chinatown! I did!