From Staff Reports

Despite fierce opposition from a number of downtown business-owners, Asheville City Council voted 4-3 on Oct. 10 to pedal forward with the College Patton Bike Lane Project.

The project will add bike lanes along College Street between Spruce Street and Pritchard Park and on Patton Avenue between Pritchard Park and Biltmore Avenue.

Voting against the bike lanes were Vice Mayor Sandra Kilgore and Councilwomen Antanette Mosley and Sheneika Smith.

Meanwhile, Mike Sule, the executive director of Asheville on Bikes (a bicycle club and bicycle advocacy group), said of the three opponents on council, after watching the meeting, in an interview included in an Oct. 11 report on Asheville television station WLOS (News 13):

“They (the bike lanes’ opponents) want to preserve downtown for the convenient movement of people in cars alone — and to maximize on-street parking.”

Conversely, Sules aid that “great downtown communities have facilities for people to move about, not just cars. He said that the research is overwhelmingly clear that collisions are reduced when we design for the movement of people,” News 13 noted.

The TV station then quoted Sule as saying, “The more facilities that we build for the movement of people, the safer and additionally the more prosperous our streets become.”

Taking a decidedly contrary position, were the business-owners, News 13 noted, adding that Hunt Mallett, who owns Cork and Keg Bar on Patton Avenue, said afteer the vote that he was “disappointed to see the results of the council meeting.”

Mallett told News 13, “I think it was abundantly clear that businesses downtown here are not against bike lanes. We’re against the road diet idea of compressing traffic to one lane.”

Further, the TV station reported: “Mallett said that it would cause problems with delayed response times and congestion in a city that is already congested.

“As a cyclist, Mallett said he welcomes bike lanes, but believes they don’t need to be in that particular three-block area. For his business, Mallett is concerned about the 17 parking spots they’re eliminating.”

News 13 then quoted Mallett as saying, “‘Yes, there are garages available, but it’s still going to be inconvenient, as people don’t want to get into my store if they have to walk three blocks.’

“He said that he believes this project will impact his business, even though he hopes he’s wrong.

“‘At this point, council has approved moving forward with it, so we fought the good fight and lost, and that’s unfortunate, but that’s the way things go,’ he said.”

On the triumphant side, News 13 reported that Sule “said he was excited to see council members reaffirm their commitment to complete streets,.  

“He said this decision was a wave of relief after they spent two years working on this project... Sule said it was important to note that this is a complete street project.”

The TV station then quoted Sule as saying,“Yes, it does include bicycle facilities buffered bicycle facilities, which means that people who use the bike lanes will be separated from traffic beyond just a white stripe.”

Sule said the new lanes are referred to as “bike-plus lanes” because they can be used for all kinds of light mobility.

Further, News 13 reported, “Bikes aren’t the only beneficiaries of the project, Sule said. It should help businesses with their delivery zones, providing 175 feet of dedicated loading zone.

“Although he’s heard concerns from people about cars being able to get through, Sule said the data shows that it won’t be an issue. Instead, he believes the feedback has more to do with an aversion to change.

“‘Really, what I hear is a concern of change,’ he said. ‘That this is the way it’s been for 40 years, and why are we changing it.’

“Sule said that while he was excited to see this move forward, in the future, it doesn’t need to take two years for projects like this to come to fruition.

“‘Two years of work for a half mile of complete streets, and I want to point out that while last night was a win, we cannot continue at that rate if we’re really committed to building an active transportation network,’ he said,” the News 13 story concluded.

Meanwhile, among the comments following News 13’s bike lane story on its website were the following:

• robert36 — “I’ll just add long lines of traffic on college/patton to the list of reasons not to go downtown. Man, the list sure is getting long....”

• AvlNC — “The list is so long downtown is a place to avoid.  Tourists don’t know any better, but residents do.”

• reggin — “There was a split vote among council members to move forward with this project, as councilmembers Sandra Kilgore, Antanette Mosley and Sheneika Smith voted against it. All worked out in the back room before the vote.”

• EarthCharge — “Because there are soooooo many bikes on the city roads in mountainous Asheville that has only 2-3 avid biking seasons. I see an average of ONE bicyclist on a trip to a downtown grocery. And around 2 bicycles parked in the bike rack. So here’s an avid mountain biker saying, You planner people are idiots...

• AvlNC — “Avoiding Merrimon came first. Now downtown.  Weaverville is racking up a lot of Asheville’s business. I bet they’re happy.”

• EarthCharge — “Congratulations ACC! You’ve just made AMZN my one-stop Downtown Asheville shopping destination. Keep It Local dollars and sales tax revenue you generated: $0.00 in perpetuity.”