More protected bike lanes coming to Sacramento’s core

Cyclists in Sacramento may have noticed some changes to bike lanes along 19th and 21st streets. That’s likely thanks to Sacramento’s Central City Mobility Project, which recently began construction on additional protected bike lanes in the city’s core. 

For this project, the protected bike lanes are typically where the pathway for cyclists is separated from moving vehicles by a buffer of parked cars. The $16 million project is funded, in part, through  multiple grants that amount to about $10 million. 

Philip Vulliet, a senior civil engineer with the City of Sacramento who manages the project, said some studies have shown these lanes encourage more bikers to get on the road. 

“There's this huge swath [of people] … that have been found in studies that are interested in using bicycles as a mode of transportation and just a mode of recreation,” he said. “But they generally just don't feel comfortable in traditional bike lanes when they're very close to moving vehicles.”

In recent years — and, to some degree, due to the pandemic — Sacramento has seen an uptick in bike sales. Vulliet said this is another reason the plan is important to implement now. 

“It makes it a much more comfortable place for people to go out and ride bikes with their children,” he said. “It's just a better facility for a broader swath of users.”

Bike advocates are eager to see the changes. Lawrence Risley, administrator of the local cyclist meetup group Bike Party Sacramento, said cars veering too close to cyclists can pose a hazard to their safety. 

“We call them drifters — they drift into the cycling lanes,” he said. “That's the issue that we run into most, if you're a daily cyclist.” 

Risley said Bike Party, a group that invites cyclists of all levels to ride together, is one way he likes to encourage newbies and give them the confidence to get on the road. But while support from a group can help, he said the planned additions to making biking safer are vital. 

“Anything that makes an opportunity for somebody to get out and ride a bike again, to me, is absolutely worth every nickel,” he said. “Cyclists need to feel comfortable to get on the bike and ride. You provide them a comfortable situation, a safe situation, you're going to get more miles better than you could ever believe.”

But while Sacramento’s city center might be an easier place for cyclists to navigate, other parts of town are tricky. Debra Banks, executive director of Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates, said she’s hoping for more improvements along South Sacramento streets. 

“The good thing about these roads, 19th and 21st, [is that] they are large arteries in[to town] from farther out suburbs, from Tahoe Park, Oak Park, etc.,” she said. “So that part's nice — they help get people into the core and out of the core.”

Streets like Stockton Boulevard, however, pose dangers to cyclists for whom the street might be their only avenue in and out of the city’s center. Although a bike lane is present along part of this thoroughfare, it’s narrow and fast-driving cars have hit cyclists as recently as last March. 

“You're having to ride your bike on a really unsafe corridor,” Banks said. “That is inequitable and unacceptable.” 

The city has recognized these dangers in projects like Vision Zero and plans to address streets like Stockton Boulevard. Even so, Banks said the hazards remain for the time being. 

“It's had a lot of work done in terms of the planning process,” she said of Stockton Boulevard. “But it hasn’t yet broken ground and it really desperately needs to.

In the meantime, cyclists like Risley have found ways to adapt. When he’s guiding a group with Bike Party, he says he’ll play it safe on less bike-friendly roads. 

“We won't ride down Broadway,” he said. “We'll cross it, so that you can see there's bikes out here, but we won't ride down that way because it's just so dangerous, and then we become a nuisance because we have too many people.”

Risley said overall, he’s encouraged by recent changes. When Bike Party began about a decade ago, he said he didn’t see as much in motion to make Sacramento safer for cyclists.

“It didn't seem like there was a lot of activity, let's say, five or seven years ago,” he said. “It seems like a lot more is happening now, which really pleases me.”

Initial construction for the Central City Mobility Project has focused on 19th and 21st streets, with more protected bike lanes to come in other parts of the city’s core. Vulliet said construction will move next to I, Q and D streets, as well as 5th, 9th and 10th streets in the coming weeks. He expects construction on these roadways to be complete or at least near complete by the end of the summer.