Are bike lanes even necessary?
The city may have been compelled to acknowledge that one of the central arguments for bike lanes is irrelevant. After interviews with numerous bike enthusiasts, it is clear that lanes on Six Forks are not a priority. Bike enthusiasts do not want to deal with the numerous street crossings, driveways, and traffic along the Six Forks corridor nor do they want to be close to traffic.
In addition, commuter bike use offer no more support for a bike lane. People going to work at North Hills must show up clean and pressed, particularly service workers. The idea that workers can ride bikes to their work is an elitist view held by people that don’t need to show up to work on time in presentable condition. If commuters did want to ride bikes to work we would see that now. But they don’t ride bikes to work. The idea of “build it and they will ride” is patently not the case. There is so few people walking or ride on the existing sidewalks that there is absolutely no barrier to riding bikes now that will be eliminated by the proposed separate bike lanes. It will still rain, it will still be hot and cold and people will still not want to ride bikes to work even if the proposed bike routes are forced upon us.
A study was conducted but even careful observation reveal very little existing or projected bike usage. The City’s response to this information was, and we quote “we don’t have to justify the level of bike usage.”
Here we feel the City has disregarded community input, ignored expert opinions, and far exceeded fair use, public need, and justifiable expense.
Bike lanes have been added to city byways across the country for decades and have been controversial. For example, California municipalities have constructed them, removed them, then built and removed them yet again.
We do not object to bike lanes in principle and have even made proposals for widening the pedestrian path to accommodate bikers safely as has been done in other areas of Raleigh without issue.
Taking Property for Bike Lanes
We recognize the authority of municipalities to condemn and seize property from owners. NC State Statute Chapter 40 detailed lists and sublists setting forth the specific purposes a municipality may set aside the constitutional rights of property owners and take property for public use. Bike lanes are not found on any list of authorized purposes. Given the high level of public awareness and the controversial nature of bike lanes it is unlikely that the state legislature inadvertently omitted bike lanes. Rather, it is likely, given the extensive enumeration of permissible uses that bike lanes were specifically excluded. Although courts may give broad latitude to municipalities working in good faith to define the nature and amount of property seizures, municipalities have the responsibility to not take too much and not to engage in seizures for un-sanctioned uses. In this case, we will show the city unnecessarily authorized the taking of property for unsanctioned use. City ordinance(s) authorizing seizure of property for bike lanes is a recent invention, illegal, and must be undone.