Two weeks ago, the City of Santa Rosa announced the creation of two protected, two-way cycle tracks in town: one on Armory Drive and one on Santa Rosa Avenue.
We headed out there to check it out. There does not yet appear to be anything installed on Santa Rosa Avenue, but the installation appears to be complete on Armory Drive between Ridgeway and Elliott Avenues. How does it rate?
We give the City an A for effort. We’ve been vocally advocating for Class IV protected bike lanes so are happy to see one that was completed in a fairly short period of time. While it has some flaws, we applaud the spirit behind making small improvements quickly!
We give the implementation a B. The striping is clear and we’re glad to see vertical elements that remind drivers to stay out. The pavement, however, is not in great shape, with bumps, longitudinal cracks, grates, etc.; like many of our roads, the pavement in the bikeway is in worse condition than the pavement in the vehicle lane.
Location gets a C. We do realize that this stretch will be a key connector when the 101 overcrossing is built, right now it’s not one of the highest priorities for improvement. (College Avenue? Stony Point? Steele Lane?) BUT if testing ’em out in a more out-of-the-way location (with no potential complaints about removing parking) is what it takes to start getting protected lanes built, we’ll take it!
Check out the video below!