Friday, November 13, 2009
Allowing Bicycles on Portions of K Street
Next week the City Council going to remove restrictions of bicycle riding on portions of the K Street Pedestrian Mall in an effort to make a better connection for bicycles between Old Sacramento and the K Street Mall. I think this will be a good thing because this poor stretch of road needs to increase activity in an effort to bring more people back onto the street. Bicycles still would not be allowed on the sidewalk areas but only the areas between the yellow detectable warning strips.
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7 comments:
It's about time. That ordinance is just silly.
It probably won't help connections between the K Street Mall and Old Sacramento, because I don't think that Westfield will allow cyclist to ride their bikes through the enclosed mall.
wburg, it's opening up 6 more blocks that lead to and from Old Sacramento... I count that as an effort to connect the two.
Why would you count it as an effort to connect the two? An effort to connect bikeable Midtown to K Street, maybe. But Old Sac? One is still left with four blocks of no-bike zone (between I-5 and 7th) on K Street, or taking J or L which aren't very bikeable due to high traffic, no bike lanes and lots of driveways into parking structures. It's kind of like building half a bridge--technically it's an effort, but utterly useless for its intended purpose. Easier to use Capitol--still no bike lanes, but a lot less cross traffic.
Between the yellow "truncated cone" warning strips...so, then, only in the Light Rail right-of-way? Hm.
Ahh, okay wburg. I guess you think it would have been better to leave K Street as it is now? That would have taken NO effort. Do you understand now what I'm saying?
No...I think bringing bikes back to K Street is a great idea, and have said so before. It will help connect Midtown and downtown, and enliven the street scene on K Street. But it won't help make a better connection for bicycles between Old Sac and the K Street Mall.
It looks like the change to the rules will also include allowing bikes between 2nd and 4th Street, which will make a better connection between Old Sac and the rest of downtown, but it still doesn't remove the three-block "no bicycles here" zone between 4th and 7th where the mall is located.
So, yes, overall I think it's a fine idea for many reasons, but a better connection between the K Street Mall and Old Sac isn't one of them.
Do you understand now what I'm saying?
Great, so we agree.
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