Building Atlanta’s Bike Culture
Can roads become places of community?
I love to ride my bicycle, but I’m usually too scared to ride it on the roads in Atlanta. Today, I’m taking a chance. It’s overcast, and I’m commuting to work on my bike.
“Okay, I am in Downtown.” That’s me as I begin my ride through the cloudy morning, when a car comes to an agitated halt from behind. “Oh, got a honk — yeah, he’s not happy.”
There are so many challenges. The streets are narrow and filled with cracks and potholes. Many don’t have bike lanes, so cyclists share the road with faster moving cars.
“I think a lot of drivers are just not aware of, number one, the bicycle laws and the driving laws concerning bicycles, but bicycles in general. We’re here, and we share the road.”
That’s cyclist Oji Wan.
“A lot of drivers, they yell at you: ‘Get out of the road!’ or ‘Follow the rules!’ And they just don’t know the rules themselves,” Wan says.
Not surprisingly, drivers see it differently. Bill Kanz says he doesn’t think bikes should have the same privileges as cars.
“I feel like I pay for a tag and pay for the road, and these guys don’t have to, but they can take up the road,”says Kanz. “So, make them get a tag if they want to act like a car.”
Eric Ramer says bikes on the road are simply not practical or safe.
“Your choices are either to put their life in danger by trying to get around them, or go 5 miles an hour,” Ramer says. “And, usually, people aren’t going to go 5 miles an hour. So, they’re going to put that cyclist’s life in danger.”
The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition hopes to make some peace on the streets. Executive Director Rebecca Serna wants to convince Atlantans that bicycles are just as viable as cars.
“The key is opening up the opportunity for people to bike the quarter to 50% of trips that could be bike trips,” Serna says. “What are the places that you need to go on a regular basis, and could you get there in twenty minutes or less on a bike? Okay, let’s make those routes safe and accessible.”
Cycling is not just about the planet or personal health. Kari Watkins is a Georgia Tech transportation engineering professor. She says there are economic issues as well.
“If we want to be able to compete as a city, at this point, even if there are folks who are not fans of bikes, most of the country is going in this direction,” Watkins explains. “So, we’re going to have a hard time attracting businesses and millennials if the attitude is: if you’re a cyclist, stay out. ”
Joseph Hacker agrees. He’s a professor of planning and economic development at Georgia State University.
He says cities need to be smart about putting cyclists on the road. What works inside Atlanta’s Perimeter — say in Midtown or Home Park — won’t necessarily translate outside the Perimeter.
“That same thing wouldn’t work in Marietta. It might work on the square perhaps, but it’s just not going to work in a place that’s built on a car culture,” Hacker says. “But places where there’s a lot more mixed development, where you see higher density and what-not, it’s going to fine. It’s really not going to interfere with other people’s driving.”
Earlier this year, Mayor Kasim Reed announced plans for a bicycle share program. The effort is still in development, but, this week, Becky Katz started work as the city’s first Chief Bicycle Officer. Her task? Make Atlanta a top city for cycling. GSU’s Hacker says she can look to other large cities for inspiration.
“I had fifteen years of experience with this in Philadelphia, which has much narrower roads, and much more constrained infrastructure,” Hacker says. “And it’s a smash there. It’s doing great guns. I think it’s just a suburban attitude that we need to keep things separate.”
So, is there demand for a bigger bike culture in Atlanta?
They may be a small subset of the metro population right now, but hardcore cyclists, like Max McAllister, who I caught up with at the recent Atlanta Streets Alive bike parade, say, “Yes!”
“I promise you, there is a massive contingent of people that would ride bicycles if it were safer to do so,” McAllister says. “We just need to find a way to make it safer for them to be able to do that.”
The numbers may back him up. The advocacy group Georgia Bikes conducted a statewide random survey a few years ago, and 81% of respondents said they would ride a bicycle if it were safer.
That’s what biking advocates are striving for — making the road a place of community, not a battleground.
Originally published on www.gpb.org on October 21, 2015.
