BikeWalkNC

North Carolina’s advocate for safe cycling and walking

Bill Restricting Bicycle Lanes to be Resolved in Conference

College Street in Asheville Improvements
College Street in Asheville Improvements

 

LEGISLATIVE ALERT – Ask House Conferees to Remove Section 7 from House Bill 44

The House and Senate must resolve differences between their versions of House Bill 44 .    Section 7 of the Senate’s version of the bill would  prohibit “road diets” under certain conditions without consideration of exceptions.  This provision was NOT in the House version.  The bill language is overly prescriptive and may in effect reduce a community’s ability to optimize safety and congestion relief in a comprehensive manner:

  (b) The number of travel lanes may not be reduced to accommodate the addition of   bicycle lanes within the existing paved and marked travel lanes of any State highway system   street or highway located within a municipality if either of the following conditions exists: (i)  the street or highway has an average daily traffic volume of 20,000 vehicles per day or greater or (ii) the action taken reduces the projected road capacity, for a 20-year period beginning at the   time the bicycle lane is established, to below a Level D, as defined by the Institute of   Transportation Engineers Highway Capacity Manual.”

Would the pedestrian and cycling safety improvements been permitted on the flagship Hillsborough Street  in Raleigh under condition (ii) above – the road currently may be a Level C, and Level  D- at peak times.  How about College Street in Asheville shown above?

If criteria is legislated, DOT should be given flexibility in the decision making process rather than a strict prohibition.

The House conferees will be – Lambeth (chair), Conrad, Ross, McGrady, Hanes, Bell, and Stam, so advocates can contact these House Representatives and express how unwise it would be for this language to remain in the bill. You could also contact Speaker Moore’s office to request that Section 7 of the bill be removed.  We will let you know who the Senate conferees are as soon as we hear.

More Information on HB44

FHWA Safety Engineer talks about how Level of Service is only one of many measures and there should be considerable design flexibility to achieve community goals on streets and for road diets (9:30 to 12:30 mark of webinar). This illustrates how the H44 Level of Service elements are counter to FHWA guidance.