Several people have asked about Senate Bill 617
“AN ACT TO REFORM VARIOUS PROVISIONS OF THE LAW RELATED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT.”
A provision in the bill appears to make it more difficult to accommodate bicyclists, seems to contradict the state’s Complete Streets policy, and seems to politicize local development decisions by requiring approval by the politically-appointed Transportation Board. The bill provision is as follows:
(b) Reduction of travel lanes to accommodate the addition of bike lanes within the existing paved and marked travel lanes of any State highway system street or highway located within a municipality shall be approved by a vote of two-thirds of all the members of the Board of Transportation.”
We have reached out to NCDOT (Reston Jones, legislative liaison and spoken with Mike Holder, chief engineer), Metro Mayors (Julie White), MPOs (Paul Black) and the League of Municipalities in hope that they will follow and address this bill as it contains many varied provisions that affect local government. The bill is currently in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources.
Information on the benefits of “Road Diets” can be found at
Smart Growth America’s report on the safety and economic benefits of complete streets
and USDOT’s Federal Highway Administration’s Safety information and their Road Diet Information Guide
