Three roads in Tempe will undergo construction next fall to add wider bike lanes and sidewalks to make travel safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. (Photo by Ana Ramirez)Plans for three street projects are geared toward bicyclists and pedestrians near the Tempe campus and seek to decrease street traffic by widening sidewalks and bicycle lanes.
University and Hardy drives and Broadway Road will receive a makeover as a part of Tempe’s General Plan 2030, a guide for residents and the city to work together to enhance the area. The three projects, known as the Traffic Calming & Streetscape Projects, are currently in their design phase and will start construction by the fall 2013 or spring 2014.
University Drive and Broadway Road project manager Eric Iwerson said Hardy Drive will be the first project to start construction followed by University Drive and finally Broadway Road.
He said Tempe is attempting to build a more “balanced” transportation system.
“We’re building a system that has facilities accessible to all users, calms the vehicle traffic and makes bicycle riding and walking more attractive,” Iwerson said.
The sidewalks added will be six feet wide and the bike lanes average from five to six feet.
“In building bike lanes it encourages people to use other methods of travel (other than a vehicle),” Iwerson said.
The projects will be funded with federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant money. The University Drive project will run from Ash Avenue to Priest Drive and will cost $1.1 million. The City will give a five percent match of the grant money received.
The project on Broadway Road will run between Mill Avenue and Rural Road and will cost $3.17 million, with $2.57 million coming from the federal CMAQ grant and $600,000 from the city’s transit funds.
Hardy Drive project manager Robert Yabes said the additions of bicycle lanes have decreased traffic in other areas and the Hardy Drive project may do the same. The construction will run from University Drive to Broadway Road and will cost $1.2 million. He said the side street sees about 10,000 cars per day.
“It is a residential neighborhood, and calming the street would have more people walking around and riding their bikes,” Yabes said.
According to the city’s website, a similar project on 5th Street was completed in 1999 and reduced the traffic from 10,000 cars to 6,000 cars per day.
“We want to make sure pedestrians and cars don’t have a conflict and safety issues can be resolved before they happen,” he said.
According to the 2007 Bicycle Collision Summary done by the City of Phoenix, 52 percent of bicycle collisions are at the fault of the bicyclist, and 23 percent fault the driver.
A 2011 Motor Vehicle Crash Facts for the State of Arizona summary reported almost 2,000 crashes involved pedalcyclists and a vehicle, and 23 of the crashes were fatal — four more than the previous year.
ADOT bicycle and pedestrian coordinator Michael Sanders said education is key to preventing bicycle-related crashes.
“About one-third of all of the crashes involve bicyclists on a sidewalk going opposite to traffic,” Sanders said. “(Tempe) is the only city that I know of that has a law that prohibits people from riding on the sidewalk in the opposite direction.”
Sanders said many times the driver of a vehicle is unable to see the bicyclists because he or she is in a blind spot. He said it is important for both bicyclists and drivers to “understand the rules of the road.”
Reach the reporter at amrami13@asu.edu
