The Phoenix Street Transportation Department unveiled the preliminary plans to place bike lanes along the Third Street corridor at a public meeting on Thursday night.
The department deemed the Third Street bike lane project the top priority, as it was the highest-ranked corridor that needed to be redeveloped in Phoenix’s bicycle master plan. The plan would establish continuous bike lanes along Third Street that would stretch from Roosevelt Street to Indian School Road.
With a budget of $2 million, the department’s Special Projects Administrator Mark Melnychenko said he hopes to place a proposal before the City Council Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee in the next few months. He expects the design phase of the project to take eight to nine months. Then, construction would begin after a contractor is hired.
The project would create bike lanes between McDowell Road and Roosevelt Street. The following phase of development would create more bike paths between Buckeye and Washington streets. Melnychenko said bike lanes south of Roosevelt Street would have to wait.
The overall goal of the project is to make the street safer for bikes and to create an attractive place for the private sector.
According to the Street Transportation Department, the establishment of bike lanes would reduce traffic along Third Street. There were 364 crashes, including 22 bike-pedestrian crashes, between 2009 and 2013. The intersection of McDowell Road and Third Street had the second-highest crash rate in the corridor, according to one of the informational posters at the meeting. The bike lanes would reduce the space for cars and make the street more bike and pedestrian friendly.
Phoenix resident Margaret Dietrich said Third Street is dangerous for pedestrians.
“You basically take your life in your hands whenever you walk across Third Street,” Dietrich said.
The meeting was meant for the community to see the plan and offer feedback and suggestions to the Street Transportation Department. The map of the proposed changes to Third Street that was made available to the public at the meeting showed every intersection along Third Street where bike lanes would be placed. The map allowed citizens to make markings and offer commentary on how to improve what the department had proposed.
Citizens voiced their approval for the concept of the project but had issues with the specifics of the plan. The bike lanes planned along Third Street did not extend through every intersection, which caused concern that this would result in more crashes.
Other residents said they were displeased with the lack of crosswalks at streets where there were no traffic lights.
Melnychenko said input from the community was important to the development of the plan.
“What we were looking to get here is community support, and we certainly have that,” he said.
Kerry Wilcoxon, an employee of the Street Transportation Department, said the department hopes this plan will have an impact in the community.
“This is not a bike project, this is a complete street project,” Wilcoxon said. “We’re hoping that this is transformative in that what we do in the public sector spurs private sector development.”
Contact the reporter at Daniel.Perle@asu.edu.
