The Politics of Lanes

One of my tweeps posted a link to an article last week from the Shareable Cities blog that I've been meaning to get to because I think it could be applicable to Akron.  It's entitled, "Are Bike Lanes Expressways to Gentrification?" and brings up an interesting point.  From the perspective of minority and disadvantaged communities, bringing in bicycle infrastructure may not be a good thing.  Here is a quote from a New York Times article quoted on the blog,


"When initiatives for cycling come through, there are questions about who will benefit from bike lanes," says Paige Coleman, director of the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods.  Coleman says conversations about biking being a "white thing" have come up often in recent years.  "Some communities call the bike lanes the 'white stripes of gentrification,'" she adds.

I find this very interesting.  I had always viewed the construction of lanes and such as a good thing, but apparently that isn't the viewpoint of everyone and the negative reaction isn't coming from drivers.


In the urban center of Akron, bicyclists predominantly hail from the disadvantaged neighborhoods.  There's nothing "gentrified" about riding a bike in the Rubber City.  Dutch bikes don't live here.  Neither do $2,000 road bikes.  You don't see families out for Sunday ride to the ice cream shop either.  Most of my fellow cyclists are riding their bikes because it is their only option to get somewhere and there's nothing fancy or trendy about it.  Except in Highland Square, people aren't riding bikes to be cool.  Highland Square has obviously been selected as one of those marketable neighborhoods.  However, in the City's redevelopment of the area, they haven't used the bicycle as a means to dress up H-Sq.  There is one lane, which runs near the Portage Path School and outside the retail center.  There are only couple of "U" racks and there's one at the Library.  But, this lack of cycling support doesn't deter people from riding their bikes.  They prefer to ride on the sidewalk and lamp posts work just fine to secure them.  The other bike lanes, sharrows, and blue mileage signs that the City has installed over the years are all in disadvantaged neighborhoods- where the bicycles are.  As soon as the road passes into the wealthier communities, the lanes magically disappear.  You will not find lanes in Fairlawn.  You won't find them in the old money neighborhoods off Merriman road.  When they widened West Market Street from Walhaven to Fairlawn a few years back, they didn't install lanes.

If Akron wanted the cycling gentry to cycle into the urban neighborhoods where the lanes are, they didn't provide a way for these cyclists to get there.  Even in downtown, bicycle lanes don't exist- even though the Ohio & Erie Towpath Trail passes right through downtown.  Additionally, there isn't a reason for the "wealthy cyclists" to ride into these areas anyway.  There aren't any shops or eateries.  Unfortunately, these are also the high crime areas.  When it comes to bike lanes, the "build it and they will come" mentality doesn't work.  The lanes need to be in places where people want to ride.  When I spoke with the AMATs reps in the Spring they said the city looks at where people ride already and then the lanes come in based on that data, not vice versa.  So, in Akron's case the cycling was being done more frequently in the low income neighborhoods so that's why the lanes are there.

Interestingly enough, the lanes aren't being used even when they are there.  People 9 times out of 10 will use the sidewalk in Akron.  This is direct evidence of what the article also brought up, a lack of cycling education.  There is no reason why cycling education can't be made easily available to the public, yet it isn't.  Therefore most of Akron's cyclists don't realize they're not using their bicycles safely.  They either think they aren't supposed to be on the road or that its not safe to be there.  Or they don't care.  In my opinion, that is the bigger concern.

Obviously, Akron isn't Seattle.  And their issues don't necessarily apply to this City.  There isn't a bike culture of significance in the metro area. Unlike in Cleveland, it hasn't become a movement yet either.  There aren't critical mass rides.  There is only one shop and it has erratic hours.  There isn't much of a "gentry" to market to.

However, I think this issue may become more prominent if a strong movement does develop.  Planners should keep this perspective in mind.