{"id":1063,"date":"2018-06-14T13:56:33","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T18:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/safetga.org\/?p=1063"},"modified":"2018-06-15T10:59:43","modified_gmt":"2018-06-15T15:59:43","slug":"why-were-tower-grove-ave-bike-lanes-removed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/safetga.org\/?p=1063","title":{"rendered":"Why were Tower Grove Ave bike lanes removed?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The recent removal of bike lanes from Tower Grove Avenue has caused a lot of concern in the cycling community (see previous story<\/a>). Why did the City abandon bicycle infrastructure on the City’s busiest cycling route?\u00a0 Read below for the latest.<\/p>\n

Intersection photos<\/h2>\n
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Lane configuration before (left) and after removal of the “bike slot” on southbound Tower Grove Avenue at Vandeventer<\/a>. The left lane changed from straight-only to left-only, while the right lane changed from right-only to straight and right.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Intersection of Tower Grove Ave (north\/south) and Vandeventer (NE \/ SW), with Central Industrial Drive going east.\u00a0 Left turn lane on southbound Tower Grove Ave was apparently added to allow for more truck traffic into Central Industrial.<\/p><\/div>\n

What we know<\/h2>\n

The reason for the bike lane removal is unclear. In a recent KMOV News interview<\/a>, Commissioner of Traffic Deanna Venker<\/a> says,<\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed to make it a little easier to help the progression through that intersection for the trucks using that intersection so we added a dedicated left turn single for these truckers,\u201d said Deanna Venker, the Traffic Commissioner for the city.<\/p>\n

Venker said the trucks going to Central Industrial couldn\u2019t turn with the current layout so they had to widen the turn lane and that meant getting rid of the designated bike lane.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We reached out to Commissioner Venker with a request for additional details but have not heard back.<\/p>\n

We also heard from Alderman Joe Roddy<\/a>, who first wrote,<\/p>\n

I spoke again with the Traffic Commissioner yesterday afternoon. She explained that $12,000 was expended to create the new turn lane and that happened only after they spent an extensive amount of time studying the intersection and concluded that the risks of car accidents were greater.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Asked for additional details, Alderman Roddy backtracked:<\/p>\n

To be clear, I was relaying information from my conversation with Deanna. When I wrote \u201cthey spent an extensive amount of time studying the intersection\u201d in the original email, it was my impression that a staff person made an on site visit to watch the movement in the intersection and I presumed reviewed traffic counts etc before deciding to reconfigure the interesection. I didn\u2019t have the impression that a formal report was prepared, but I might be wrong.<\/p>\n

Sorry if the \u201cphasing\u201d of my response misled you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Was there a study?<\/h2>\n

Did the City perform a study before removing the bike lanes?\u00a0 We don’t know, and so far they’re not saying.<\/p>\n

If a study was performed before the intersection was reconfigured, we would like to see it. As a member of a community negatively impacted by this change, having an understanding of how and why bike lanes were removed is important. We are particularly interested in knowing,<\/p>\n