Bicycling Information and Maps

• 2007 Bicycle Development Plan
• Peoria Bike Map
• Upcoming Bike Events
• Bike Ways – Metropolitan Phoenix Area

Background

The City of Peoria Engineering Department, with the assistance of Sprinkle Consulting, Inc., Coffman Studios, and HDR, Inc., created a comprehensive Bicycle Development Plan (Plan) in June 2007 to provide the City with a “blueprint” for the continuing development of its network of on-street bicycle facilities.  This was a much needed update to the 1993 Bicycle Route Plan, which focused primarily on the details of bike lanes on collector streets, but not on arterial streets.  In the course of preparing the Plan, the consultant team performed an evaluation of bicycling conditions on the City’s roadway network and, where necessary, made recommendations toward improving bicycling conditions on specific segments.  Various “Bicycle Friendly” practices and policies in use across Maricopa County, Arizona, and the rest of the country were also reviewed and summarized.  The consultant team, drawing upon input from City staff and residents, recommended certain policies and practices appropriate to the goals and objectives articulated by the City Council, General Plan and other documents.  Finally, the consultant proposed a three-tiered priority list for bike facility retrofits, with priority toward completing low-cost retrofits first, such as restriping with narrowed travel lanes to create width for bike lanes, before more extensive projects, such as roadway widening and side paths.  In addition, the Plan set a goal of a Bicycle Level of Service (LoS) of "C" for all streets.  The purpose of the LoS is to measure the comfort level of bike riders on any given street, similar in many ways to the LoS ratings for roadways as they pertain to traffic congestion levels.
 
When the Plan was presented to the City Council on June 5, 2007, it was warmly received, but the concept of Bicycle LoS sparked many questions and concerns.  The City Council expressed support for the Plan, but urged staff to use it only as a starting point for improving bicycling conditions for Peoria’s residents.  With this enthusiastic direction, Engineering staff began evaluating ways to implement and expand the Plan, though no funding had yet been identified.
 
Implementation

Since that time, the Engineering Department has made notable progress in the implementation of the Plan. Recommended policy changes have been incorporated into the Circulation Element of the General, Plan and other planning documents requiring installation of bike lanes on all arterial and collector streets, where feasible, during any street project, whether performed by the City or a developer.  When bike lanes are not feasible or practical, additional roadway width is provided for the curb lane to provide additional room for cyclists sharing the roadway with motor vehicles.
 
One prominent element of the 2007 Plan was abandoned however.  The concept of the Bicycle LoS was difficult to explain to citizens and was both time consuming and costly for staff to monitor regularly.  Instead, staff has focused on the universal goal of providing bike lane facilities on all feasible arterial and collector streets at the maximum practical width, usually five to six feet, but up to seven feet in some cases.  Some streets, such as Lake Pleasant Parkway, will always be more intimidating to some bicyclists, and the City will strive to provide bike facilities and allow its citizens to ride at their comfort level.
 
The Plan originally identified 19 miles of roadway eligible for retrofit of bike lanes, through restriping and other minor shoulder widening projects. The Engineering Department increased the number of eligible streets to include more than 70 miles, by reducing minimum travel lane widths in certain applications, such as along two-way left-turn lanes and curb lanes adjacent to bike lanes, by as little as one foot.  In these examples, the extra foot or two is more valuable for a cyclist to establish a dedicated bike lane than it is for a motor vehicle.  This change in direction has enabled the installation of bike lanes on nearly all Peoria arterial and collector streets through restriping alone.  Because of this, the original priority list has become obsolete and has been replaced with a simple formula; when a street is scheduled for surface treatment, it gets bike lanes.  This strategy allows the City to retrofit bike lanes at a fraction of the cost.
 
To build new bike lanes, the Engineering Department coordinates with the Public Works Department and the Economic Development Services Department to ensure bike lanes are installed as part of all projects, where feasible.  When bike lanes are already on a roadway, staff evaluates lane widths to determine if motor vehicle lanes should be narrowed to widen existing bike lanes.  For the 2011 fiscal year, the Engineering Department requested $150,000 to fund retrofits of bike lanes, and has stretched that funding to install nearly 15 miles of new bike lanes in conjunction with regularly scheduled street maintenance chip seal and micro seal projects.  Additional bike lanes have been installed through other CIP and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 funded projects.  The new bike lanes installed, or scheduled to be installed in the 2011 fiscal year, include:

The new bike lanes installed in the 2011 fiscal year represents nearly a 67% increase in centerline bike lane miles on Peoria’s arterial streets in one year.  These projects increase the City’s percent of arterial streets with bike lanes from 25% in February 2010 to a projected 39% by July 2011.  Additional bike lane projects are continually being planned as the Engineering Department continues to coordinate with the Public Works and Economic Development Services Departments.
 
In addition to the implementation of new or wider bike lanes, the Engineering Department has been working on an updated Bike Lane Map, using GIS mapping.  Though the map is still in its early stages, Engineering staff is coordinating with the Community Services Department, Parks and Recreation,to integrate bike lane data with the existing path and trails map to provide one seamless Bike Map for Peoria residents.  In addition, the Bike Map will be used for future bike lane and pathway planning.