Indy to add nearly 33 miles of bike lanes this year 4.19.11

INDIANAPOLIS STAR

By year's end, a bicyclist starting at Greenwood Park Mall could pedal north to the Boone County line along Indianapolis' rapidly expanding on-street bike lanes and other safe pathways.
This summer, a Downtown bicycle hub opening in City Market's east wing will provide storage, a gym and showers for two-wheeled commuters.
Those developments -- including nearly 33 miles of new bike lanes announced Monday -- make Kevin Whited bullish on bicycling's future in Indianapolis.
"The more infrastructure you have on roadways and the more complete your network is, the more cyclists you'll have," he said. "To me, this is very exciting as a bicyclist."
Whited, a bicycle commuter who lives on the Northside, is one of four leaders of INDYCOG, a nonprofit advocacy and education group for bicycle enthusiasts. He attended Mayor Greg Ballard's bike lane announcement Monday outside a Northwestside church.
The new bike lanes planned this year will more than double the 30 miles Indianapolis has added to roads since 2008. Work begins next month.
A city plan calls for 200 miles of bike lanes within 15 years -- a feat that, if realized, would compete with bike-lane availability in top-ranked cities today.
Bicycling Magazine last year ranked Indianapolis 45th among the United States' 50 most bicycle-friendly cities.
First-place Minneapolis has 46 miles of on-street bike lanes, while Portland, Ore. -- with more than 200 miles -- was second. The magazine considered a host of factors in the rankings, including bike lanes, off-street paths, other bicycling amenities and the dynamics of the local biking community.
Boulder, Colo.; Seattle; and Eugene, Ore., rounded out the top five.
Ballard, who talks passionately about bicycling efforts, says raising Indianapolis' profile in such circles will help attract talent.
Boosting accessibility for bicyclists "helps us to create the type of city where the young men and women want to live," said Ballard, who frequently takes weekend bicycle rides on the paths and roads at Eagle Creek Park.
This year's Mayor's Bike Ride is June 4 at Eagle Creek.
The tab for this year's bike lane projects is $10 million. The Indianapolis Department of Public Works says that amount will be covered by a mix of federal, state and local RebuildIndy dollars.
Meanwhile, the $800,000 bike hub project is facing some resistance. The owner of Enzo's Pizza sued the Indianapolis City Market this month and is refusing to move from its spot in the east wing to the main hall because of a contract dispute.
Enzo's owner Vincenzo Verderame claims he is being unlawfully evicted, in part because Enzo's new space is smaller.
The case has slowed construction and could push back the bike hub's mid-June completion, City Market's executive director, Jim Reilly, said Monday.
New bike lanes will provide safer routes in more parts of the city, but the long-term plan doesn't satisfy all bicyclists' wish lists.
Bill Kramer, an avid bicyclist and retiree who lives on the Northeastside, was disappointed to learn that bike lanes are planned on just a few sections of 56th Street over the next decade.
During warmer months, he rides east along 56th Street on his way to the Benjamin Harrison YMCA. He goes west to use the Fall Creek Parkway Trail.
Either way, the traffic is dangerous.
"It would be a real service to get a safer passage," Kramer said.
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