Silver Ave. Bike Boulevard

BikeABQ is taking the initiative to transform Silver Ave. into a bike boulevard between University and Carlisle Aves.

What does that mean?

Bike boulevards are best defined as “bike priority streets”. Both bicycles and cars continue to the share the asphalt, but specific measures are taken so that motorists expect to see cyclists using the roadway and travel at speeds similar to a bicycle. Both Portland and Berkeley have developed bike boulevards that are successful for the entire community; check out the videos linked below.

For Silver Ave. the change to a bike boulevard would include:

1. a speed limit of 18 mph
   
2. street signage designating the road as a bike boulevard (including giant street stencils)
3. traffic calming features such as speed humps, traffic circles, diverters and chokers
   
4. unimpeded flow on Silver Ave. by removing the stop signs, while requiring cross traffic to stop before continuing (at Girard, for example)

The above photo is an artist rendition of what Silver Ave. could look like after the first phase of the project (photo borrowed from the BikeABQ web site).

The benefits of this development to the bike commuter are immediately obvious. But what about the rest of the community? Folks familiar with the bike boulevards in Portland report these bigger-picture benefits as well:

1. the road becomes nicer for pedestrians and neighborhood residents (because of the reduced traffic and speeds)
   
2. the road becomes safer for motorists (because they are expecting the cyclists)
3. automobile traffic in the area is reduced (because more folks feel safer commuting by bike)
4. property values around the bike boulevards rise

BikeABQ is focusing its efforts on Silver Ave. because the road is already used by countless university-area cyclists as an alternative to the immensely busy and potentially dangerous Central Ave. BikeABQ will be working with area neighborhood associations, merchants and the City Council to make this plan a reality.

OnLine Petition
BikeABQ also has an online petition to gather support for the Silver Ave. Bike Boulevard. Sign it today!

Videos
Check out a couple of videos about the bike boulevards in Portland and the bike boulevards in Berkeley.

Community
Also, check out the comments at the end of the Duke City Fix article about the Silver Ave. proposal to see what other people in our community think about the bike boulevard plans.