Doohickie

After a complete streets demo (commando-painted) during an art fest last fall, the official bike lanes are being painted on Main Street in Fort Worth. Note that the actual bike lane is outside the door zone. Sweet

genec

Oh man, a door zone buffer and BL in Cowtown... A frick'n mazing.

What a change since the days I lived there, and considered Trinity park a safe haven.

Doohickie

The southside crowd is very active and influential these days. Very cool folks.

Doohickie

The picture, by the way, was taken right in front of Trinity Bicycles on South Main, which has been open for just over a year. Bernie, the owner, has been very active in promoting the very near southside (between downtown and the hospital district. Right now the area is kind of rough but is on the brink of revitalization. I think the bike lanes will be a big part of that. They link downtown with the already-restored Magnolia Ave (north border of the Fairmount district). There is already some bike traffic through that corridor, and having the bike lanes marked will give a little more sense of place to cyclists. I can envision several of the industrial buildings in the area being converted to residential. It's already started and will probably accelerate as the economy improves. Downtown lofts are pretty expensive, but the near southside is much more affordable. With a short bike ride, though, you can be downtown in a matter of a few minutes.

Here's a link showing the "commando-painted" lanes during the Arts Goggle art show last fall. The city was kind of annoyed with the bike shop folks for doing that without authorization, but then they did work to move the federal highway designation for that stretch of Main Street which opened up the way for the new bike lanes.

I personally am not the strongest advocate for bike infrastructure; this new bike lane won't affect how I ride in that area. But it will attract other cyclists who aren't as comfortable riding out in the streets, and will almost certainly contribute to revitalization of a run-down area that lies between two desirable areas (downtown and Fairmount).

IR Baboon

Wow, weird. I was just there last week on business. Trinity cycles seemed like a great shop, nice Konas with 3 speed igh for rent, and a real friendly shopkeep The near southside definitely has a different vibe than downtown. I don't usually get that sudden feeling like I just crossed an invisible line while walking.

I wish I had had the chance to take a ride while I was there.

atbman

Bike lane outside the door zone.

That'f a fought worf finking

Doohickie

Yep, those cars parked on the right edge of the pic are parked in front of Trinity. Did you make it down to Magnolia? Very cool area about a mile further south with a strip of cool restaurants.

Digital_Cowboy

Okay, how the hell did you get them to paint the bike lane outside of the door zone???

mikeybikes

Man, the one buffered lane in Denver is the opposite, putting the actual lane often times in the door zone. So awesome Ft. Worth was smart enough to reverse it.

Doohickie

Don't give them credit yet; they haven't put down the indication of which lane is the actual bike lane!

This was worked by Bernie, the owner of Trinity Bicycles, and Kevin, the author of FortWorthology blog, along with other advocates who are pushing not just for infrastructure, but for smart infrastructure.

The link in Post 4 shows the precursor to these lanes, when lanes showed up in front of the shop with no municipal effort at all Some people almost got in trouble for it, but cooler heads at City Hall prevailed and the city decided that it was actually a good idea.

Chris516

More power to you, and those that use bike lanes and/or the shoulder? I don't trust motorists. Every time someone drives, it is like they auditioned for the 60's music group 'The Drifters'.

ScottStr

This is the result of having a lot of people who actually ride bikes a lot in on the planning. So many times, you have people who say they ride bikes, but they mean 5 miles, 10 times a year, doing the planning. When a city is smart enough to ask people like Bernie what to do, you can make cyclists safe from the door zone. The planners may have also noticed that on, 7th and Magnolia, if we ride in the bike lane, we ride on the far right side because of the threat of getting doored.

iforgotmename

Living the dream.

Doohickie

fify

ScottStr

Maybe this problem knowing my left frm my right is why I keep getting yelled at when somebody hollars "Car back, stay right." I think others are worse about it than I am.