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Central Avenue to be converted into bike lane

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(Courtney Pedroza/DD)
Construction on the new lanes should be completed by tomorrow. (Courtney Pedroza/DD)

At a special public meeting held Saturday, April 1, the City of Phoenix announced its plan to convert a busy portion of Central Avenue in downtown Phoenix into a bikes-only corridor.

The plan will permanently convert all existing traffic lanes along Central Ave. into bike lanes. The announcement is the newest phase in Phoenix’s B-2100 plan to convert all existing roads into bike paths by the year 2100. Phoenix Diablo has learned that initial plans were drawn up during a secret private meeting at the Grid station at Civic Space Park back in January.

Construction on the new lanes should be completed by tomorrow.

“This is part of a concentrated effort to make Phoenix the least walkable city in America,” said Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton. “We really think the biking community will be excited about this.”
Downtown Phoenix has an active biking community that has continued to grow alongside the city. Misha Larks of Phoenix Handlebars People said she’s excited about the announcement.

“Central Avenue has become a very busy road in recent years,” Larks said. “We hope this plan will convince the thousands of Valley commuters who work downtown to start biking to work instead.”
But not everyone is riding along with the new plan.

Some members of the public who attended the announcement meeting expressed concern regarding how this new plan would affect parking downtown. To counter this point, the city announced its intent to make all parking lots downtown bike-exclusive by 2019.

“There is plenty of free, convenient parking available downtown,” said PHX BikeLab founder John Romero. “I’m glad the city of Phoenix spoke out about this very real issue.”

Bike enthusiast Peter Perspiration said he loves the idea of phasing out a major thoroughfare in favor of bike lanes.

“It’s the most efficient form of transportation,” Perspiration said. “It gives people more transportation options, this is one of the major achievements of Phoenix.”

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