I wanted everyone to see the work the BPTC is doing on our behalf. See letter below.
LETTER OF SUPPORT – GRANBY STREET LANE REPURPOSING PROJECT
June 22, 2021
Melissa Seek, MPH
Chair Bicycle Pedestrian Trails Commission
Dear Council:
The Bicycle Pedestrian Trails Commission (BPTC) submits this letter in strong support of the proposed lane repurposing on Granby Street from Willow Wood Drive to Admiral Taussig Boulevard. The BPTC first formed out of a need for better bike connectivity in the City.
Granby Street is the primary North/South route for cyclists that connects downtown Norfolk to Ocean View. Strava data shows that Granby Street is the most widely used route, and the 2014 Strategic Bike and Pedestrian Plan showed that this corridor was the number one request for improvements from the three community meetings. This connection will serve as a critical connection for the Norfolk multimodal network. The proposed project will connect with the Granby Street Bridge infrastructure, as well as the Llewellyn infrastructure all the way through Park Place, Ghent and into Downtown. To the North, it gets us within a mile of connecting to the Bayview/Ocean View infrastructure.
In addition, we support the proposed lane repurposing project because it serves to improve bike and pedestrian safety for current and future users. Micromobility is on the rise, not just in Norfolk but across the nation. People in the community not only want to ride their bike, ride a scooter, etc as a means of transportation, but for some it’s their primary mode of transportation. While there is no way of knowing exactly how much ridership will increase with bike infrastructure on Granby Street, studies show that when safe and accessible bike infrastructure is added, ridership does increase (ridership increase). Bike infrastructure not only makes it safer for those already using it, but it opens up access for many more users, especially utilitarian, commuters, families, and casual riders. This lane repurposing will also allow access to the shops at Wards Corner for those who felt they couldn’t get to the shops easily and safely before. Further, adding bike infrastructure will add a calming effect to traffic. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, reducing travel lanes adds a calming effect hence making it safer for all those in the surrounding community (calming effect).
Repurposing lanes on Llewellyn, Lafayette, and Ocean View Avenue have proven to work. There are bike counters installed on already established multimodal lanes that show the increase in usage in these multimodal lanes. Further, the multimodal lane on the Granby Street Bridge is very actively used by riders and runners who now have much better access to both sides of the bridge. The reason for infrastructure is not just for fitness cyclists. The primary audience is the average user that would have access to roads for commuting, running errands, recreation, and general movement in the city.
The Bicycle Pedestrian Trails Commission offers its full support for the proposed Granby Street lane repurposing project. We look forward to seeing this long awaited and needed project come to fruition.
Sincerely,
Melissa Seek
Chair Bicycle Pedestrian Trails Commission
