Grand Avenue adorned with new green bike lanes

PHOENIX — The city of Phoenix has rolled out a demonstration project to test new bike lanes along Grand Avenue that are designed to be easier to see for drivers.

The lanes — painted bright green and slightly widened — run on each side of the street along Grand Ave. between Seventh Avenue and Van Buren Street and 15th Avenue Roosevelt Street, said Matthey Heil, public information officer with the City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department.

“This is a very hard to miss bike lane,” he said. “It is almost lime green. You’ll also see a bicyclist graphic indicating it is a bike lane.”

The goal of the project is to get feedback from the public on whether they like the new bike lanes or if Phoenix bicyclists want some changes.

“It also lets us work toward implementing bicycle infrastructures at a lower cost,” Heil said.

The city is in the process of working on a city-wide master plan for bikes to get residents engaged and tell the city where they usually frequent on a bicycle.

As part of that master plan, the city has created an interactive map of the city where bicyclists can see where bike lanes already exist, what routes experience heavy and light traffic, and where bike barriers are in place. The wikimap allows bikers to communicate with the city and tell them what routes they usually take and where they’d like to ride if a bike lane existed.

Merchants and business owners along the Grand Avenue route hope to take advantage of increased bicyclist and pedestrian traffic with the new green bike lanes, said Heil.