A Bike Lane Comes To Platt Street In Tampa

Anyone in Tampa who saw one-way Platt Street with its wide width wondered why there was no bike lanes on this road that linked South Tampa to downtown Tampa. Soon after I moved to Tampa it was obvious to many bicyclists, including me, that a bike lane was a no-brainer. But five years ago check out the letter I got from Tampa's public works administrator, Steve Daignault:

But "Mayor Iorio asked me to respond to your latest e-mail re a bike lane on Platt street. The Public Works traffic staff have done a complete evaluation of Platt from Howard to Bayshore to determine if a bike lane could be installed. They discovered that the width of Platt varies sufficiently that a continuous bike lane, meeting established safety standards, could not be installed. While there are locations that would accommodate a bike lane, it would end up being intermittent and therefore not a safe installation.

"As you know the City does have greenways and trails initiatives that include bike lanes and new road construction like 40th street includes bike lanes and sidewalks. Additionally, we are about to begin planning for adding south bound bike lanes and doing other pedestrian intersection improvements on Bayshore. Connectivity is an important element when we evaluate roads for new bike lanes. Platt street does not have that connectivity at this time.Please know that we will continue to look for opportunities to include/install bike lanes in the City. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Thanks!
Steve

S. W. Daignault
Administrator of Public Works And Utility Services
City of Tampa
(813) 274-7883"

All I can say is that I'm glad Pam Iorio and Steve Daignault are gone. The city's transportation director, Jean Duncan, is doing all she can to find reasons to install bike lanes under the Buckhorn adminstration. That's why I was happy to see that in 2013 there will be several bicycle infrastructure improvements, INCLUDING A BIKE LANE ON PLATT STREET:

City of Tampa

The City of Tampa continues to implement the recommendations of its Walk Bike Plan. The following projects are planned to be under construction in 2013:

• 50th St - shared lane markings (sharrows) from Fowler Ave to Serena Ave
• Tampa Bay Blvd - sharrows from Dale Mabry Hwy to Armenia Ave
• Serena Dr - sharrows from 46th St to 52nd St
• Doyle Carlton Dr - bicycle lanes from Laurel St to Palm Ave
• Laurel St & Green St - bicycle lanes
• Platt St - bicycle lanes from Armenia Ave to Bayshore Blvd

If you live in Tampa, support Transportation Director Jean Duncan by advising Mayor Buckhorn and the City Council to devote more resources to bicycling. Here in Las Vegas, the city government -- yes, local government -- initiated a Las Vegas Bicycle Coalition and the group's diverse bicycle members from local govt and the private sector are putting on a Downtown Las Vegas 3-Foot Bicycle Ride on June 1. And neighboring city of Henderson held a recent bicycle swap meet and bike safety festival and plans to hold a Bicycle Scavenger Hunt. Local city government as bicycle activist, who would've thunk it?