New bicycle lanes have been laid on Chippewa St. between Morganford Rd. and Grand Blvd. in South City. Below are a few photos, descriptions, and opinions of this latest addition to St. Louis bicycle infrastructure.
Westbound Chippewa at Grand. Car travel lanes have been reduced from four to two with a center turn lane, and bicycle lanes have been added in both directions.
Manchester Avenue has been repaved and restriped from Vandeventer to the City Limits past McCausland, and there are significant new bike lanes along this stretch. The project is not quite done – bike arrows were missing, for instance – but the bulk of the layout is in place. Detailed plans can be found here.
We rode the new lanes on Manchester a few times on a Sunday afternoon, and share photos and a few thoughts below. The section in The Grove district seems well done, even though there are few dedicated bike lanes on this busy and narrow stretch. The bike lanes between Kingshighway and McCausland, on the other hand, are inconsistent and confusing, and most worryingly are altogether absent from a significant stretch in the eastbound direction. Incorporating bicycle facilities into this major east-west corridor is a welcome gesture, but the ill considered design does not serve cyclists well and represents a lost opportunity to significantly improve St. Louis bicycle infrastructure.
(Note that unlike much of the new and upcoming Bike St. Louis Phase III bike facilities, which will be on city streets, Manchster is a state route and this was a MoDOT project.)
Manchester westbound near Tower Grove Ave, with Kingshighway intersection visible in distance. This layout is fairly representative of the configuration in the Grove district from Kingshighway to Vandeventer. Parking is interspersed with turn lanes, and the single lane carries shared car and bicycle traffic. A half-block of eastbound bike lanes near Kingshighway is visible, but the westbound bike lanes described in the public plan have not been striped (thanks to @GatewayStreets for the observation).
See latest updates below.
The new bike lanes on Arsenal west of Grand were painted this week. We rode and drove the stretch a few times — below are some thoughts and photos.
A view of the new bike lanes along Arsenal looking east. The stretch of road between Roger and Grand has been restriped to provide a 7′ parking lane, a 3′ buffer, a 5′ bike lane, and a 10′ travel lane.
Tower Grove Avenue next to the Botanical Gardens is a jewel of a road, with wide right lanes and no intersections. Cars usually drive in the left lane and cyclists on the right, with plenty of clearance from parked cars. Its relative safety and convenience are a big reason Tower Grove Ave is the busiest cycling route in St. Louis.
Cars take the left lane and cyclists take the right on Tower Grove Ave next to the Botanical Gardens. This safe and enjoyable arrangement helps make this road a key St. Louis bicycle corridor.
Straying a bit beyond Tower Grove Avenue which is the main focus of SafeTGA.org, I investigated the new bike infrastructure being laid out on newly resurfaced Arsenal Street.
The section of Arsenal from Roger to Grand (0.6 mi) has been restriped and a buffered bike lane is being laid out. The new layout has an 8′ parking lane, a 2′ “buffer”, a 5′ bike lane, and a 10′ travel lane. Photo below.
New lane layout on Arsenal between Roger and Grand is currently marked in spray paint. There is a parking lane, a narrow “buffer strip”, a bike lane, and a travel lane.
The concrete construction barriers on Tower Grove Avenue which sparked the SafeTGA project are gone. Yet real hazards for cyclists remain, and upcoming streets projects threaten the very character of this route. Here are some thoughts about current problems and future concerns, as well as a few ideas about what might help.
Tower Grove Avenue from Magnolia to Shaw is a tree-lined, half-mile stretch of two-lane road bordering the Missouri Botanical Gardens. With light traffic, sporadic parking, and no intersections, this section is in many ways the heart of this bicycle corridor. With concrete construction barriers blocking one of its lanes now removed, it is time to ask: what is next for this busiest bike route in St. Louis?
Tower Grove Avenue, Magnolia to Shaw. The road is 50′ wide on this 0.5 mi segment, and cars travel mostly in the left lane. The wider right lane is used for parking, cycling, and occasional car travel. With cars parked, safest cycling is out of the door zone, as shown. Occasional Botanical Gardens events increase traffic and parking demands significantly.
Cyclist Hazards. Pull-in diagonal parking places cyclists in blind spot as drivers pull out (above left). In heavy traffic cars sometimes drive in right lane (above right). This intimidates many riders into riding further right than is safe, and greatly exacerbates hazards near parked cars.
Our most recent tour of St. Louis bicycle infrastructure, following bike maps and signage, took us to western and southern St. Louis.
Street scene along South Broadway Avenue, a designated bicycle route.
Riding bicycle lanes along Holly Hills Boulevard adjacent to Carondelet Park.
Starting in The Grove, we rode west on Manchester road. This road is currently being repaved and will soon feature bicycle lanes and sharrows, a welcome addition to this two-lane road which has relatively low volume but high speed traffic. In Maplewood, we followed the bike route marked by sharrows and signs down Sutton and Greenwood; the route was poorly marked here and easy to lose.
Last weekend, visiting family in Atlanta, I had the opportunity to ride some of the new bicycle facilities which recently sprang up in the city. Atlanta’s BeltLine is a 22-mile path being built on old railroad rights-of-way which connects the city’s parks and neighborhoods with a dedicated bicycle/pedestrian route. It also links to a new cycle track, one of several planned, which offers cyclists a two-way, separated bike lane along a busy road. These facilities made for an enjoyable 12-mile ride, and it was clear we weren’t the only ones enjoying the beautiful day. The BeltLine is a major draw for the citizens of Atlanta as well as visitors, and in the nine months since this section opened the number of cyclists has increased significantly and there are clear signs of economic redevelopment in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Map of our ride. Starting in Kirkwood, we rode surface roads (some with sharrows, some without) to the Freedom Park Trail, the BeltLine, and finally to the cycle tracks along 10th Street.
The BeltLine will be a 22-mile network of parks and multi-use trails on historic railroad corridors which circles downtown Atlanta. This section opened in October 2012.
We’re happy to observe that sections of Tower Grove Avenue got bike lanes repainted this week. There are also bright shiny new sharrows from Vandeventer north to Clayton. Best of all, a short stretch of bike lane was painted on southbound TGA at Vandeventer, between the right-turn and straight-ahead lanes, to allow riders to advance to the front of the intersection. Well placed sharrows guide riders to the entrance of this 100′ section, and the bike lane starts across the intersection.
Shaw to Vandeventer got a new coat of paint.
Venturing beyond Tower Grove Avenue, we are exploring the state of St. Louis bicycle infrastructure. Using only the Bike St. Louis map and on-road signage as a guide, we’re seeing what its like to elsewhere ride in St. Louis and what the bike lanes, paths, and shared markings are like. Today (8/4/13) we rode to North St. Louis, following miles of new and old designated Bike St. Louis routes from The Grove neighborhood to St. Louis North and back. Joining us were Debbie, Stacy, Vanity, Brett, and Matt.
