Jul 25, 2016 - Things to Do

What Uptown Charlotte could look like with protected bike lanes

Andrew Dunn

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Sustain Charlotte will be presenting its case for protected bike lanes Uptown to the Charlotte City Council today.

The first step would be a connector across Uptown from the greenways on the east and west sides. The group has gathered more than 3,000 signatures on a petition (online + paper signatures) pushing for the council to allocate money to the project.

[Agenda story: There’s a new push for protected bike lanes across Uptown]

They’ve got some compelling images to back up their ideas.

All of the renderings were created for Sustain Charlotte by UNC Charlotte students Alyssa Nelson and Laurel Nee. They show how Charlotte’s Uptown streets could be completely transformed by a protected lane — essentially a barrier separating cars from bikes.

Sustain Charlotte’s images include how protected bike lanes would look on 3rd Street. Why? For one, a study prepared for the Charlotte Department of Transportation three years ago showed that this was the most feasible option. The study never went anywhere, however.