CITY-WIDE BICYCLE MASTER PLANNING
Pedestrian and Bicycle Neighborhood Connectivity Study
The Charlotte Department of Transportation (CDOT) is identifying citywide projects that can enhance connectivity for bicycle and pedestrian access within Charlotte neighborhoods. Input from citizens on such issues has been received about such issues as the following:
- Wanted to get to a nearby restaurant, park or school but could only get there by car.
- Wished you could bike or walk to one of these locations.
- Other opportunities for connectivity where safe passage is discouraged or blocked.
Three members of the bicycle community are participating in this study including one representative from CABA
To be get involved contact: Andrew Grzymski (agrzymski@ci.charlotte.nc.us)
Urban Street Design Guidelines (USDG)
Many streets in Charlotte symbolize the growing pains that can accompany growth and prosperity. Increased congestion leads to greater hostility to anyone but motorists. The Urban Design Guidelines show how streets throughout Charlotte can emulate the grace of streets built in earlier years of the last century, while at the same time increasing their capacity, safety and comfort all who share the road: motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders.
The Urban Street Design Guidelines are intended to help the City accommodate growth in several ways. They support a variety of City policies, including Centers and Corridors, which have been adopted to guide Charlotte’s growth over the coming decades. The Guidelines will help achieve the emerging vision for Charlotte (summarized in the box on the right) by supporting the goal of more compact and focused growth, and by offering more transportation choices. These are complementary intentions because compact development makes providing transportation choices easier and providing transportation choices makes compact development more liveable and viable.
“Transportation choices” are created both by providing more connections - more route choices for all travelers – and by building streets that are easier to use by more types of travelers – by peoplewho want to walk, ride transit, or ride bicycles.
Members of the bicycle community have participated in various workshops.
The entire draft USDG document is available for review at www.charmeck.org/departments/transportation
To get involved contact : Tracy Newsome (tnewsome@ci.charlotte.nc.us)
Transportation Action Plan
The Charlotte Department of Transportation (CDOT) is recommending $3.5 Billion be spent to address the entire array of transportation issues the City will face over the next 25 years. The TAP is critical to Charlotte's ability to fund and implement motorist, bicycle, pedestrian, neighborhood and quality of life projects for all of Charlotte.
The CDOT vision is for Charlotte to become one of the premier cities in the nation for integrating land use and transportation choices. Members of the bicycle community have participated in this ongoing process.
To get involved, contact: Dan Gallagher (dgallagher@ci.charlotte.nc.us)
Lake Norman Bike Route (LNBR)
The proposed Lake Norman Bike Route (LNBR), now in the planning stage, is a regional bicycle circuit encompassing Lake Norman in the Southern Piedmont area of North Carolina. The main spine around the lake is intended to be 70 miles, with approximately 80 miles of excursion routes throughout the Lake area. The proposed four-county Lake Norman Bike Route is similar to other regional routes. As of March 2006, no public hearings have been held....but are expected later in 2006. Guidance for the plan has been provided for nearly a year by a group of 30 stakeholders representing the NCDOT, land use planning agencies, Councils of Government, interested citizens, and other agencies.
To get involved contact: Bjorn E. Hansen (bhansen@centralina.org)
Greenway System
Maps of each Greenway and the Master Plan for the entire system can be found at
Trips for Kids Bike Recyclery
The Trips for Kids Bike Recyclery is located at 512 E.15th Street on the corner of North Davidson St. They take used, donated bicycles and bring them back to life through our Earn-A-Bike (EAB) program. EAB is or both kids and adults who want t "earn" a bicycle by helping to repair that bike while they learn some of the basics of bike mechanics. This is a project of the Charlotte Chapter of Trips for Kids, which is a national organization that takes inner-city kids on mountain bike rides.
Recyclery Director, Keith Sorensen, is a bike messenger who helped start a bike co-op in Cleveland, Ohio. He loves CABA and kids.
City-Wide Bicycle Master Plan + Bicycle Planning
This work has not begun yet. CABA intends to have full involvement in this process as it develops as it was for the first Master Plan which was completed in 1999 along with a “Suitability Map” for the road system.
To be more involved contact: Ken Tippette, Bicycle Program Manager (ktippette@ci.charlotte.nc.us)
