Bike friendly?

Galen Hunter commutes on his bike to work—and suffered a concussion last month. He was riding on 23rd Street in Midtown, a roadway that doesn’t have marked bike lanes, when a hit-and-run driver knocked him off of his ride.

Hunter believes that without more dedicated lanes, Sacramento’s on-street bikeways will always be dangerous. “You have to stay close to curbs, and you’re having to weave into traffic to avoid car doors,” he said.

This summer, though, the city is expanding and creating new bike lanes. It hopes this will create more awareness about cyclists and make the situation safer. But some bike advocates say its not enough.

They argue that local cyclists usually just have two options: either ride in busy traffic, or hop the curb and pray cops don’t see you on the sidewalk.

The city insists options could improve by September, when officials plan to add 7 miles of mostly Class II on-street bike lanes on busy downtown streets near the Capitol. Most of the work will occur west of 16th Street and south of F Street (see map), with some new routes running all the way to Broadway.

For cyclists committed to making Sacramento a safer place on two wheels, it’s a welcome improvement. Still, they’d like to see Sacramento officials do even more.

“The project is a good first step,” said Tricia Hedahl, executive director of Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates. But she says that “what’s really needed in downtown are preferred and dedicated routes that are continuous.”

For instance, Hedahl pointed out the new city project doesn’t even connect existing bike lanes on Sacramento’s busiest streets. Even after the new lanes are in place, cyclists will have to scramble at, say, 13th and J streets, where one of the new routes abruptly stops, she noted.

It’s not perfect, but how does Sacramento compare to other bike-friendly cities?

Actually, fairly well, according to the League of American Bicyclists. The national advocacy group gives Sacramento a silver rating—not the platinum status of Davis or San Francisco, but still commendable.

Ed Cox, city coordinator for bicycle and pedestrian programs, says the city is improving.

“I think Sacramento is doing pretty well,” he said. “Yes, we’re silver, but a few years ago we were bronze, so we’ve moved up. We’re up-and-coming.”

As proof, Cox mentioned projects like Sacramento’s bike-parking program, which pays for specially designed racks in front of downtown shops. So far, the program has installed 100 racks around town and has funding for another 150.

He said officials are also considering a test program for on-street “bike corrals,” where the city would remove a parallel parking space and install racks or a bike-parking area instead.

Still, Cox isn’t sure more routes or parking are the only answers for a more bike-friendly city.

“A lot of people think it’s all about building infrastructure,” he explained. “There’s no shortage of things we can be building, facility-wise, but we should be working on the side of promoting education and enforcement as well.”

Cyclists and advocacy groups see it differently. Hedahl said Sacramento is being lapped by cities such as Portland, Ore., which has painted bike lanes and cycle routes protected from traffic by special barriers.

“One of the things that the gold and platinum cities excel at is connectivity, not just creating isolated areas where there’s a bike lane here and a bike lane there,” said Carolyn Szczepanski, a spokeswoman for League of American Bicyclists.

City officials are open to new ideas, said Cox, who will begin updating Sacramento’s master bike plan this summer. The only thing holding back a local bike-route makeover in the near future is money—the city currently faces a $15.7 million budget gap.

“There are definitely people involved in city infrastructure and city administration that are for [new projects],” said Adrian Moore, owner of IkonCycles in Midtown. “There’s a will, but there’s only so much they can do.”