A Look Into Raleigh’s Cycling Infrastructure

OPINION: Cycling is the future, but is Raleigh ready? | Opinion | technicianonline.com

Over the past few years, cycling has become increasingly popular as a mode of transportation because of its health and environmental benefits. However, in a city such as Raleigh, the expansion of cycling has proven to be quite difficult, and a big part of why this is seems to be because of the subpar cycling infrastructure all throughout the city. 

 

The above article briefly goes over a few of the issues currently facing cyclists in Raleigh. Right now, one of the main problems seems to be that the bike lanes are not protected from automobile traffic in any way. Most of the bike lanes in Raleigh are shared-use roads in which cyclists ride right alongside the rest of traffic. This, along with other North Carolina laws aimed at giving cyclists the same rights as other traffic, was supposed to make cycling safer for everyone. However, it’s had the opposite effect because cyclists have no protection from drivers, and one small mistake by a driver could be fatal for the cyclist. The article also mentions that small changes have begun to take place around Raleigh, such as protected bike lanes being added in the downtown area and on Hillsborough Street. However, these protected areas are currently too sporadic for them to have very much practical use for people who wish to travel their entire route on a protected bike lane.

 

Bikes on the Brickyard: renewed support for campus cyclists | Culture | technicianonline.com

 

This next article is a bit more specific to NC State and talks about some of the things that are being done to promote cycling around campus in addition to going over the cycling infrastructure around campus. According to this article, the cycling infrastructure on campus is fairly good, despite the fact that it is behind compared to most other schools, and it was rated an 8 out of 10 by Phillip Fries for bikeability. Another person was noted as saying that the greenway was nice and convenient and the bricks were wonderful to bike on. I would personally have to disagree with the fact that NC State’s biking infrastructure is up to par. I have had lots of experience cycling around this campus, and I think that the riding conditions could be much better. For one, the bricks are not very easy to bike on at all, especially when they’re wet. In addition, many of them are loose and uneven, and during most parts of the day, they’re entirely too crowded to bike on without pissing a lot of people off. Another problem with biking at NC State is that you are sharing the road with cars and pedestrians because there are no areas that are made specifically for cyclists to ride, so you have to be especially careful not to accidentally hit pedestrians or be hit by careless drivers.

 

 

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Example of a bike route on campus in which the road is very uneven and cracked and there is no separation from traffic. In addition, there is a vehicle barrier, which is very inconvenient to go around.

 

 

To conclude, I think that Raleigh and NC State are definitely bikeable, but if we want cycling to increase in popularity, we need to make many infrastructural improvements to make cycling safer and easier for everyone. This includes improving the quality of existing cycling lanes and implementing protected bike lanes across the city to separate cyclists from the dangers of careless drivers.