Panel: more bicycling, less parking
Bike lanes approved for four busy Sonoma streets won’t cost the city any money, but will come at the expense of 254 parking places.
A plan approved by the Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Commission calls for restriping segments of Fifth Street West, West MacAthur Street, Napa Road and West Spain Street.
Parking would be eliminated on one side of the road, and bike lanes created in each direction.
The plan next goes before the city council on Jan. 19. City Planner Wendy Atkins estimated the cost of the Spain St. segment at $70,000, but said she’s confident the total cost will be covered by available grants.
“The city does not have to contribute,” she said.
The Spain Street segment has generated the most controversy. Banning all parking on the north side of the street between Second St. West and Highway 12 would eliminate 91 parking spaces.
That would leave 72 percent of existing parking, Atkins said. “Our parking survey determined there still will be adequate parking.”
Pamala Garant, a resident of the 200 block of W. Spain, opposed the project and is circulating a petition against it. Residents on the south side of the street “would never be able to park at or near our houses,” she said.
Eliminating parking, particularly near the Plaza, would be bad for business and snarl traffic, Garant said. “Parking is overburdened now, especially on heavy tourist days.”
“This really affects merchants on the Square,” she said. “It’s more far-reaching than accommodating a few bicyclists.
The two new bike lanes on West Spain, one in each direction, would run parallel to the city’s off-street bike path that lies less than 75 yards to the north.
Atkins said that path, often busy with pedestrians and dogs, is not an efficient lane for bicycling.
The new on-street lanes would appeal to non-recreational riders, particularly kids going to school, according to SVCA Commissioner Will Pier. “They’re not using the bike path,” Pier said. “They use streets as shortcuts.”
Creating the bike lanes is part of a master plan to make the city as bike-friendly as possible. “As more bike lanes hook up together, they will be used more,” Pier said.
“This is a weird form of motivation,” said a Spain St. resident worried about losing his parking spot. “I guess I’m supposed to ride my bike to my car.”
Bikes, not cars
Here are the other city streets that will be restriped to create bike lanes.
• Fifth Street West from Smith to West Napa. Parking eliminated from west side (except between Andrieux and Studley), 86 spaces total.
• West MacArthur from Fifth Street West to Broadway. Parking eliminated from south curb, 84 spaces total.
• Napa Road from Broadway to just west of Fifth Street East. Parking eliminated from north curb near Larkin, three spots total.
2 thoughts on “Panel: more bicycling, less parking”
Comments are closed.
Bad idea. Sonoma Plaza is a hub of economic activity not a bike path. I’ve seen far to many mounted riders on the plaza during busy events and dangerously weaving in and out of pedestrians. Parking is paramount for shopping, dining, festivals, farmers market, parades, and a host of needs. To eliminate any parking near the plaza would be a grave mistake.
Bikers should be dismounting and walking their bikes within a block or two of The Plaza anyway as its far too crowded with pedestrians. The should be re-routed away from this busy area. Further, the bikers I see on the road for the most part do NOT respect the rules of the road as they are legally required to do meaning stopping at intersections, signalling, etc. Many of the riders appear to be tourists which makes it even worse they are not aware of traffic flows and do not respect busy Plaza events on weekends or other festival times. Bike rental companies should be held responsible for better training of these riders.
I’m all for sharing the road but bikers need to respect the Central Business District, go around or walk their bikes through and certianly do not warrant closing parking spaces and creating bike lanes within a few blocks of this area. Bikers also need to respect rules of the road if they want to earn the respect of the drivers as well and obey traffic signals and signal their intent properly. Of course helmets go without saying. Frankly this should be enacted as a law in Sonoma for all riders now that I think of it.
You know, bicycles support commerce and ease parking issues…if you provide some intelligent bike parking along with the lanes. Bike corrals, for example. You can park twelve bikes in the space of one car; at usual loadings that means a net gain of eleven customers accommodated. Why shoudl so much public money be spent to support so inefficient a use of public space as driving?
Car taxes cover less than half the cost of building and maintaining roads, and all those wide lanes and parking spaces don’t pay property tax, which makes private driving a double tax whammy.
Road diets such as can actually increase car traffic flow, as shown in NYC; and supporting bicycling has been shown to increase local business income in cities worldwide.