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The price of gas keeps rising with no end in sight; many people are parking their cars and taking to their feet for power. Are Bay County roads ready for an increase in bicycle traffic?
County traffic employees and bicycle shops have all seen an increase in people interested in using a little more manpower than gas power. Steve’s Bike Shop in Panama City has seen a large number of people coming in to have their older bikes refurbished, or to buy new bikes so they can hit the road.
Trading your four wheels in for two may seem like a crazy thing to do, but for Carl Glenn it’s a way of life. He sold his car a little more than a year ago and has been getting around by bike ever since. “Rather than deal with the hassle of getting a vehicle, the cost of insurance, a car payment, and obviously the rising price of gas, I decided that I would just go everywhere by bike,” said Glenn.
Yet, even this self proclaimed adrenalin junkie tries to avoid certain roads in Bay County. “I really don’t like the fast moving traffic on 23rd Street, on 98, and 15th Street. I try to avoid those and use more back routes,” Glenn added. He won’t even attempt others. “388 is a road I would not cycle down. That’s what I hear from a lot of cyclists.”
Bay County’s Traffic Engineering Manager says the County takes cyclists into consideration and is trying to make roads friendlier. “We’ve been very successful on roadways like Thomas Drive and North Lagoon Drive where we’ve put bike lanes,” said Keith Bryant.
Why aren’t we seeing more bike lanes going in? “Funding is a major factor in everything we do,” Bryant added.
Glenn says he’d like to see better bike lanes on roads like 23rd Street but realizes making all of Bay County’s roads bike friendly it’s a gradual process. “It’s a logistical problem. You can’t really repave a road just to put a bike lane in. That’s a lot of expense just for that,” Glenn said.
The three part Baldwin Road widening project currently under construction will also include paved sidewalks and bike lanes. Bryant says the County is only paying half of the bill. The other half is from a Department of Transportation grant. The County hopes to also add bike lanes to Crooked Lane, Edwards Road, and Titus Road when those resurfacing projects take place. 11th Street is also on the list. “We have so many schools along 11th Street. With so many kids walking and biking to school, we’ve applied for a grant for sidewalks and bike lanes along that street,” said Bryant.
Bike lanes aren’t only good for cyclists. They’re good for the road as well. “Generally when a road starts to fail it fails from the edge in. So if we’re able to put in a shoulder it helps the bicyclists, but it also extends the life cycle of the roadway,” explains Bryant.
The County takes several things into consideration when deciding whether or not to include bike lanes or sidewalks in a repaving project. Some of those include looking at the function of the road, if it’s a collector or an ulterior road, and how much bicyclists currently use the road. County officials say it costs $216,000 per mile of road, or about $41 dollars per foot, to include a paved shoulder in a repaving project.
Many of the major roads in Bay County, like 23rd Street, 231, and 98, are maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation. Some of those roads have designated bike lanes, others have paved shoulders. Representatives from the FDOT say when the roads without bike lanes need resurfacing they won’t receive a lane specifically for bikes. Instead they’ll get multi-purpose paved shoulders.
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great article. would appreciate more info on when transmitter road is slated to be re-paved. would you also know if it will be 3 lane or 4, with or without bicycle lanes. thanks. ben boyer. panama city, 32405.