As Elk Grove city politicians honor Bike Month, would they consider real steps to ensure bicyclists' safety?
But if the city sincerely wants to make bicycling safer on its main roads, especially Elk Grove and Laguna Boulevards, there is a pretty easy solution.
May is Bike Month, so in communities nationwide, proclamations will exalt the benefits of bicycling. If history is any guide, Elk Grove will issue its proclamation and take the opportunity to praise the city's trails to the high heavens.
While the city has an adequate bike and walking trail system, mostly for recreational purposes, it doesn't do so well for bicyclists on the heavily traveled roads they would need for work commutes. The city's bike lanes are notoriously underutilized, and who can blame sane bicyclists for avoiding them?
This story's companion piece documented that bicycling on roads is life-threatening nationwide. Given the overwhelming volume of speeding, reckless, and red-light-running motorists in Elk Grove, using a bike lane is a death wish.
But if the city sincerely wants to make bicycling safer on its main roads, especially Elk Grove and Laguna Boulevards, there is a pretty easy solution. All the city has to do is examine Franklin Boulevard between Armadale Road in unincorporated Sacramento and Sims Road on Elk Grove's northern border.
Motorists notice that on the 2.3-mile southbound segment, there is a protected bike lane and portions of the northbound side. The protected bike lane has a widened space with installed white warning bollards.
While the bollards would not stop a speeding vehicle, they provide cyclists and motorists with a crucial visual guide. See the map and the video below for the protected portion between Cosumnes River Drive and Sims Road.
An Ohio study reveals that widening bike lanes and adding bollards significantly improve bicyclist safety. For example, converting a regular bike lane into a separate lane with flex-post bollards cuts bicycle crashes roughly in half.
Installing bollards could increase bike lane usage in Elk Grove. Below the map and video are links to studies regarding enhanced safety. If Mayor Singh-Allen and her city council were serious about bike safety and getting people out of their internal combustion or electric vehicles, they would consider dedicating a lane on Bond Road, Elk Grove, and Laguna boulevards for an expanded bike lane with warning bollards.
Therefore, would the Mayor and her city council consider such a radical change to city roads? Compared to some of the other priorities, this would be relatively affordable.
It is unlikely.
Notwithstanding Mayor Singh-Allen's idiotic and disingenuous 2020 campaign promise that her five-point traffic plan (maybe the Mayor's five-point plan inspired Donald Trump's “concepts of a plan” to replace Obamacare!) would relieve the city's rapidly increasing congestion, there is no way she would ever support such a radical idea.
For starters, given that Elk Grovians eschew public transportation for their vehicles, they are unlikely to get on their bikes to commute to work. That might be a different story if they had family-supporting jobs in Elk Grove.
Most family-supporting jobs are not located outside Elk Grove. That, however, is another problem the Mayor and her city council have dropped like a hot potato.
Also, such a radical design change would aggravate the city's already rage-inclined motorists. For Mayor Singh-Allen and the city council, of paramount importance is that happy motorists are happy voters.
So when the Mayor or one of her minions pimp the Bike Month proclamation, it is just a self-aggrandized political claptrap.
Slow TrafficEconomic Benefits of Enhanced Bike Lanes
Chicago Protected Bike Lane Increases Usage
