Time Is Now For Bicycle Improvements In Tampa

The city of Tampa is doing another bicycle/ped safety study. Seems like the MPO has lots of bicyclist/ped studies collecting dust. Plus, the transportation manager is quoted in the Tampa Tribune story saying there's limited money for improvements, so what's the point of yet another study?

Here's a few SWFBUD recommendations for the city of Tampa:

-- Deem bike lanes as essential parts of your transportation plan and design them into road plans from the get-go. Stop the excuses about not enough money -- bike lanes are pennies on the dollar when it comes to road projects.

-- Install signs advising motorists to watch for cyclists and peds at all exit ramps in downtown and at major ramp/road sites.

-- Check out St. Petersburg and Miami. They turned around their cities and have received national recognition for their turn-arounds. Those cities' mayors took ACTION -- not more studies -- and devoted resources to make their cities more safe and inviting for bicyclists.

-- Stripe bike lanes -- or at least sharrows -- as part of ALL re-paving projects.

-- Stripe bike lanes on major one-way, three-lane roads such as Platt and Armenia.

-- Re-surface Bayshore Blvd, reduce car traffic lanes from three to two in both directions and stripe bike lanes in both directions from the Platt Street Bridge to Gandy Blvd.

-- Create a PSA and sign program to educate motorists to look for bicyclists and peds.

-- Stop studying and start doing.

What are your recommendations?

Now is the time for local Tampa bicyclists to speak out and enter the political arena to tell Iorio, the city council and staff members that bicycling MUST be part of road plans.

Email Pam Iorio at Pam.Iorio@tampagov.net and tell the mayor that if she can spend tens of millions of dollars on a new art museum and a downtown park she can find money to protect the lives of bicyclists. Advise Iorio that she was wrong to kill bike lanes on Euclid Avenue so that motorists can park their cars for book club meetings.