Parking protected bike lanes
There are currently two parking protected bike lanes in Bend. A short section of Wall St; about a block long next to Bill Worrell Wayside park. And a teeny section of NW Franklin Ave near its intersection with Wall St in downtown; it’s 4 cars long on the south side of the street.
A new parking protected bike lane is planned for the extension of NE Purcell Blvd.
On a typical street, street parking is next to the curb and a bike lane would be to the left of that street parking area. If a car wants to park on the street, it needs to cross the bike lane in order to do so.
With a parking protected bike lane the street parking and bike lane swap places. The bike lane is now next to the curb and the street parking area is moved to the left side of that bike lane.
The parked cars buffer the bikes from traffic.
Community Feedback
Things to love
- Bikes are further from moving vehicles compared to a normal bike lane.
Improvement areas
- If no cars are parked then there isn’t anything between bikes and moving vehicles.
- Causes conflicts with parked cars because car doors open into the bike lane, and people getting out of their car cross the bike lane to get to the sidewalk.
- Drivers can get confused and park in the bike lane.
- Parked cars can create a blind spot at intersections where the parking protection ends – so bikers are less visible to moving cars.