Tomorrow, the Raleigh City Council will hold a vote on whether or not to reopen the discussion of including bike lanes on Hillsborough St.

Those of you that know me know that I’m a committed “bike guy.” This is not because I’m an environmental activist and want to make everyone else feel terrible about not doing enough, or because I feel the strong need to “walk the walk” (“ride the bike,” in this case), but simply because bikes are cheap - I built mine at the Bike Kitchen. As of now I’ve been a bike-only commuter for upwards of 4 years while I lived in LA, Orange County, Seattle and now Raleigh. While it might surprise some of you to hear that Raleigh is by far the least safe place to ride a bike, for those of you who ride these streets daily, it probably comes as no surprise at all. While there are many factors that contribute to this, the single largest factor is lack of infrastructure on our streets. There are more and more people on bikes every week (more and more cars too) and without bike lanes, adequate signage or even the dreaded “sharrow” it just gets worse. For drivers, more bikes on unsafe roads is an inconvenience - sometimes a large one, admittedly. For bikers, it is literally a matter of life or death. Bikers die on unsafe roads.

Initially, the plan for Hillsborough Street included a space for bikes. While many of us can and will argue over the relative efficacy of 6 blocks of a bike lane that doesn’t connect to a larger system, the bottom line is that it will make it safer for the students and commuters who frequently clog that street. Unfortunately, those bike lanes were later removed from the plan. Tomorrow, the Raleigh City Council will vote on whether or not to re-open the discussion of including a bike lane for Hillsborough St tomorrow at 1PM. A group bike ride is being held to show support for this effort and will be meeting at the NCSU bell tower at noon. Join us if you’re able, or contact me - christopher[at]ncconservationnetwork.org for more details.