**Post Update: As of 9/11/18, the Cameron Street bike lane project has been delayed due to a detour on the road from Clark Avenue, while a stormwater pipe is replaced. The City is predicting the detour to remain on Cameron Street until the end of November. Next steps are unknown at this time.
The Oaks & Spokes Advocacy Committee is working to get the Cameron Street bike lanes installed. Below is a recap of their efforts and proposed next steps.
As Raleigh continues to grow, Oaks & Spokes works to ensure bicycling in Raleigh is a safe, convenient, and comfortable option for people of all ages and abilities. This includes advocating for new, proposed, and approved bike facilities throughout the city. Oaks & Spokes aims to partner with the city and businesses, while representing community needs and advocating for underrepresented voices, to build better bicycle infrastructure.
Backstory: Raleigh City Council twice approved the addition of bike lanes on Cameron Street. The Cameron Village Small Area plan and the Raleigh Bike Plan both outline the bike lane additions. After approval, all bike lanes are installed during street resurfacing, meaning the lanes are added on a rolling basis. Cameron Street was resurfaced, but no bike lanes nor any permanent street markings were added for months. BPAC raised this issue with the city, and Oaks & Spokes started working on advocating for the installation of the lanes. Beginning with an email campaign to City Council members (Kay Crowder, Russ Stephenson, and Nicole Stewart), followed by letter writing in late June, and a bike ride in mid-July to Cameron Village to raise awareness for the lack of street markings (as the temporary marking had washed off) and missing bike lanes, and also for the safety of all Cameron Street users. These advocacy efforts sparked media interest and coverage in the New and Observer and Spectrum News, which you can see here and here.
Meeting and Next Steps: City Councilor Nicole Stewart gathered all interested parties and facilitated a meeting between the City, BPAC, Oaks & Spokes, and Cameron Village (Regency Centers). All parties discussed concerns and issues around the street re-configuration and missing bike lanes. The City proposed a pilot project and Oaks & Spokes is hopeful this new plan will move the needle on the permanent installation of the bike lanes. Outlined below is the general plan.
- The pedestrian crossings will be painted ASAP (half are currently painted).
- The City and Cameron Village will discuss a few important metrics.
- The City and Cameron Village will set a baseline for the metrics such as monitoring traffic (a count mechanism is currently on the street).
- Once the baseline metrics are determined, the City will paint the originally approved three lane configuration with bike lanes.
- This paint configuration will be a pilot project until December or January.
- In December or January all parties will evaluate the success of the pilot project.
A big thank you to the wonderful volunteers who took time to write emails, letters, host the ride, and attended the meeting. A special shoutout to amazing Oaks & Spokes members, whose annual contributions make initiatives like these possible – THANK YOU!