New Multiuse Path at Mahonia Crossing may not be Durable Solution

Last summer the multiuse path along Battle Creek Road was under construction out at Mahonia Crossing. It was an attempt to strike a tricky balance between road widening, tree preservation, and a new bike lane. The solution was a wider sidewalk pulled in from a curb strip with the trees.

Is this really enough for the root zone? (June 2023)

Salem Bike Vision yesterday commented on the finished pathway.

via FB

A commenter there said,

Rode it a few weeks ago, almost ran into a person, smoking, while walking a dog, who stepped out from behind a tree. Be careful.

With the City seemingly pushing the sidewalkification of bicycling as they install or approve multiuse paths for new Strong Road, Marine Drive, McGilchrist, Commercial by the UGM facility, and here on Battle Creek, the theory that there will be an orderly sharing of the path — SBV says "a bike path for southbound bikes" as if no one will salmon or scorch — does not seem to match very well the reality of different users, both those having a smoke and especially newly electrified ones. Micromobility seems to grow more chaotic, not less.

Same trees: August 2023 (top)
and August 2015 (below)

Additionally, the road was widened, going from a two-lane ruralish condition with minimal shoulders and a drainage ditch to three lanes with a curb, modern drainage, and the multiuse path. While there are still only two auto travel lanes, there's a new center turn lane, and this widening will induce more speeding.

This is an instance where there was enough width to allocate to an actual protected bike lane instead of a center turn lane. Then there might have been a normal width sidewalk and even more space for the trees' root zones. That's a choice. We're still prioritizing car flow and speed. 

The multiuse paths also hinder efficient bike travel and promote scorching on the sidewalks. (Remember we have a mandatory sidepath law still.) They degrade the experience for people on foot and sometimes for those on bike.

Once the decision for a center turn lane was made, the multiuse path here might in fact be the best solution for balancing trees and other mobility. But if we weren't still so married to our autoism, even better solutions would be possible.

A lot of people seem excited by the multiuse path, but here anyway it's hard to share that enthusiasm. If we get the amount of micromobility we want, the multiuse paths will definitely be crowded and we will need to find new solutions. Reallocating carspace rather than making more carspace should be the solution of first resort. VMT is what we need to reduce.

Related, see:

• "The Prospect of more Biking on Paths in Salem" (2018)
• "Marine Drive and the Sidewalkification of Bicycling" (2023)