SACRAMENTO, Calif. — You may have noticed new bike infrastructure popping up around Sacramento. The city uses bike boxes, bike signals, and bollards/delineators to create a safer experience for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Deb Banks with the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates (SABA) said the latest bicycle improvements in Sacramento are overall positive.
"We love all of the new infrastructure. Love 5th Street, that it's now two-way. The central mobility project has been a really good thing for all of Sacramento, and particularly, people [who] live in Midtown and downtown," said Banks.
The city of Sacramento has multiple traffic safety plans, and a climate plan will continue to create better and safer options for biking and walking.
Some infrastructure has been in place for years, but the city is adding more.
"If you feel more comfortable, you’re going to do it more often and that's what we want from a clean air standpoint, etc. It also means that the city is taking steps toward identifying and raising safety," Banks said.
Banks said people who didn't have the infrastructure before may have a harder time with it, but it's helpful for less confident cyclists. She acknowledges new infrastructure could at first be confusing for people in cars and on bikes-- and potentially intimidating for bicyclists.
Take the new bike signals, for example, Banks describes how bikes go while everyone waits. If you are turning, she says, you may be crossing the intersection in front of cars.
She says this means we all just need more awareness and continued education on how to navigate new things.
"Change always creates a little turmoil, a little bit of chaos. It settles out in the end," said Banks
You may have noticed more bike signals popping up in your area. Megan Carter, an engineer with the city of Sacramento, said the city's gotten a lot of positive feedback on the bike infrastructure. She says bicycle infrastructure is proven to reduce all types of traffic deaths.
According to Carter, there are seven bike signals in the city, with new ones going in this past summer at Broadway and 16th, as well as 21st and I Street.
"The main purpose of the bike signals is to give a special indication for the bicycle movement that is separate from vehicular movements that may be in conflict with it," Carter said.
Bikes can use the travel lane vehicles use – but this technology makes it more comfortable and protected.
"If you’re a confident cyclist and you want to take a lane, go for it, take a lane. But make sure you function like the other vehicles do," said Carter.
And if you are a less confident cyclist--
"If there’s a bike signal at an intersection, you should use it. Because it is usually going to give you a green signal when all other travel signals will be red," Carter said.
Most bike signals have what Carter calls passive detection, but in some areas, the cameras might have trouble seeing people. For example, the one by the Tower Cafe has reportedly had issues from time to time due to shadows made by trees overhead. There's a bike push button that bicyclists can press for the signal.
Carter says there are planned projects that will continue to improve roads to make biking and walking safer in Sacramento, like the Franklin Boulevard Complete Streets project. She says this will likely be under construction for the next two summers.
