Happening Now

The City has been working with Asheville on Bikes and Connect Buncombe to develop a plan to install buffered bike lanes on College Street and Patton Avenue in the core of Downtown. These new bike facilities will connect to other existing bike lanes and future bike lanes that are planned.  The City would like to gather feedback on the proposed design and plans from the public, Downtown businesses, and property owners prior to planned installation in Summer 2022.

The City plans to host a virtual project open house on Wednesday, March 2 at 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. for stakeholders and in-person walking tours of the project area on Thursday, March 17 from 4-5pm and Saturday, March 19 from 2-3pm.

More details to follow.

 

Alternatives Evaluated

  • Because College and Patton are one-way streets in the core of downtown, the project team analyzed whether a bike lane should be installed on the left side of the street or the right side of the street.
  • Bike lanes on the left side of a one-way street are becoming more common because they generally have less conflicts with right-turning vehicles, transit stops, and driveways.
  • As seen in the table below, a bike lane on the left side of the street would result in a lower number of potential conflicts between a bicycle user and other vehicles using the roadway, although it would require one additional parking space to be removed.

 

 

 

  • Therefore, the bike lanes are proposed to be installed on the left side of each street.  

 

Pros and Cons of the Project

Pros

    • Residents, downtown employees, and visitors will have another safe, affordable transportation option to access downtown business and services.
    • The project will serve existing and future bicyclists, including e-bike users and a possible future City bike-share program.
    • Adding bicycle facilities has been shown to reduce parking demand and increase economic development.
    • The project will provide dedicated space for bicyclists, which increases safety for all road users.
    • The project will not require changes to traffic signals and is not expected to have a significant impact on traffic flow.
    • No impact to business access or driveways is expected.

Cons

    • A total of 4 on-street parking spaces would be removed with the project.
    • Some existing commercial loading zones may need to be relocated or reconfigured.
    • The project requires that one lane for vehicle travel be removed on each roadway.

 

Cost and Budget

Non-profit partners, Asheville on Bikes and Connect Buncombe, funded the initial designs through local donations. The initial designs were completed by local consulting firm, Traffic Planning and Design, in cooperation with the City of Asheville.

$100,000 in the City budget is already programmed in City of Asheville City Improvement Plan (CIP) for implementation, including costs for:

  • Pavement markings
  • Vertical delineators
  • Signage
  • Traffic control during installation

 

Timeline

  • Focused stakeholder conversations with property and business owners and employees that work in the project area, including:
    • Virtual project open house in February 2022
    • Guided walking tour of the project area in March 2022
  • Additional engagement with Asheville Downtown Association, Downtown Commission, and Multimodal Transportation Committee and other groups as needed in April 2022
  • Revise plan as needed
  • Bid invitation in spring 2022
  • Summer 2022 installation

 

Supporting Documents

Concept Design for Left-Side Bike Lanes

Examples of Left-Side Bike Lanes in Other Cities

 

 

Contact Information

Jessica Morriss, Assistant Director of Transportation