Breathing room. That’s what you get when a city gives you more than a skinny strip for riding your bike. And when the city paints it a bold green that make its purpose clear, the city gets new riders in return. Like Sarah, who rode with me on the newly minted Hedding Street bike lanes. With the wide lane, it was easy to chat.
Sarah and her girlfriend recently bought new bikes to ride on the rapidly expanding network of buffered bike lanes near their home in San José’s Japantown. Before the lanes she never considered bicycling. In fact, she hadn’t ridden a bike in 15 years. “The fast cars were too intimidating,” she said. Now when her girlfriend rides to work on Hedding Street and the Guadalupe River Trail, Sarah goes along for the ride. “We rock climb together. Now we can ride bikes together too,” she explained. Bravo, San José!
The Hedding Street green lanes run from the Guadalupe River Trail east to 17th Street (near Hwy 101). The lanes provide a critical east-west route that complements existing north-south bike lanes in central San José.
-
- On my way to work I popped off the Guadalupe River Trail where the Hedding Street green lanes begin.
-
- Near Superior Court I caught up to Sarah who was on her way back home to Japantown.
-
- She finds the wide green bike lanes comfortable, even though “some cars don’t get it yet.”
-
- For most of the route, the lanes are wide enough to keep bicyclists safe from people opening car doors.
-
- The lane narrows in a few sections because neighbors complained about losing street parking.
-
- Even though Mitch is willing to ride in traffic on busy streets, he loves the new green lanes too.
-
- Of course, not all drivers respect the purpose of the new bike lanes.
-
- Rush hour traffic is heavy but flowing at just under the 30 mph speed limit.
-
- Near Hwy 101 the bike lane becomes a narrow strip and traffic speeds up.
Location: Hedding Street between Guadalupe River Trail and 17th Street, San José, California, USA.
Matt
July 19, 2013 at 2:21 pm
This is great! I just got back from Portland, where green lanes are all over the place. In some areas, they even have huge planter pots (the 3-feet wide ones) separating the green bike lanes from car traffic. And bike racks in the street adjacent to the green lanes. I snapped some pics so I can ogle them at home.
sevencyclist
July 20, 2013 at 6:58 am
That’s great! I wonder how much impact these green lanes will have towards having more people like Sarah get into cycling, where they never would have thought of that before.
ladyfleur
July 20, 2013 at 8:44 am
If the lanes are part of a bigger network that’s wide enough and calm enough, I think they have a huge impact in bringing new riders out. And if the lanes lead to practical places like work, shopping, etc, recreational riders will probably add more transportation-oriented trips too.