Oh, By The Way, 13th Street Bike Lane Will Be Permanent

An excerpt from a report issued from the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities (MOTU) concerning the 13th Street bike lane:

Based on the findings, which indicated that the pilot bike lane on 13th Street was not resulting in substantial impacts to motor vehicle traffic and was successfully attracting bicyclists, the Streets Department and the Mayor’s Office of Transportation have decided to make the bike lane on 13th Street permanent.

The full report is available for reading here. MOTU found that average vehicle speeds, vehicle volume, and vehicle delay at lights on 13th street were not significantly changed by the pilot bike lane. City cameras found that the majority of delay in vehicle queuing to make turns is caused by vehicle-pedestrian interactions, not the bike lane.

The report also supports our own (kind of obvious, but you know how some folks are) findings that adding a bike lane significantly increases bike traffic on that street:

above graph taken from MOTU report also linked above

Interestingly, a quick search found only CBS Philly and Philebrity covering this news. Of course, the more controversial 10th Street bike lane will probably draw more attention. But we have come a long way when MOTU can announce the permanent implementation of a Center City bike lane, and it causes so little ruckus.