BikeWalkNC

North Carolina’s advocate for safe cycling and walking

Lisa Riegel

Last Chance To Help Stop Road Diet Prohibition

Lake Pine Bike Lane

 

Our understanding is that the House and Senate Conferees have finally met and are close to a compromise on House Bill 44.  A decision will be made imminently – please make one more effort to email the Senate (especially) to remove Section 7 – the Bike Lane prohibition.  Now is the time!

Section 7  of  House Bill 44   prohibits road diets with bike lanes  under certain circumstances.  The provision is overly prescriptive and may in effect reduce a community’s ability to optimize safety and congestion relief in a comprehensive manner.  

This is a Senate provision and they seem entrenched in supporting this prohibition so please let them know you think it is important to remove this provision and not over-regulate.   Here is contact information: Conferee Emails

Senate Conferees are Sen. Trudy Wade, Chair,  Sen. Tom Apodaca, Sen. Andrew C. Brock, Sen. Harry Brown, Sen. Kathy Harrington, Sen. John M. Alexander, Jr., Sen. Ben Clark

House Conferees  – Rep. Lambeth (Chair), Rep. Debra Conrad, Rep Stephen Ross, Rep. Chuck McGrady, Rep. Edward Hanes, Rep. John Bell, and Rep. Paul Stam.

For more details on our position – HouseBill44 Legislative Alert

Conferees to Meet Soon on “Road Diet” Bike Lane Prohibition Bill

Lake Pine Bike Lane

Conferees are scheduled to meet next week, Senate and House together, to discuss House Bill 44.

Section 7 of HB44 prohibits road diets with bike lanes  under certain circumstances.  The provision is overly prescriptive and may in effect reduce a community’s ability to optimize safety and congestion relief in a comprehensive manner.  

If any of you know or are constituents of the Conferees, that personal call or email with a specific story illustrating why you want this provision removed, is the most effective.  This is a Senate provision so they are the most entrenched in supporting this prohibition and need to be contacted by end of day Tuesday.

Senate Conferees are Sen. Trudy Wade, Chair,  Sen. Tom Apodaca, Sen. Andrew C. Brock, Sen. Harry Brown, Sen. Kathy Harrington, Sen. John M. Alexander, Jr., Sen. Ben Clark

The House conferees will be – Rep. Lambeth (Chair), Rep. Debra Conrad, Rep Stephen Ross, Rep. Chuck McGrady, Rep. Edward Hanes, Rep. John Bell, and Rep. Paul Stam.

 

Bike Safety Law Study Working Group (HB232) to Begin Meeting August 7th

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The first eight members of the bicycle safety law study working group have been selected by NCDOT and they plan to meet at 10 am on August 7th in Garner, NC.  The group then elects a chair and up to three additional members.  Refer to the bike/ped home page for the H 232 committee meeting notice with details about the meeting location and a link to the House Bill 232.

Please note the room only holds 40 people.  BikeWalk NC plans to attend all meetings and we will let you know what is being discussed.  Refer to other blogs on our website for our recommendations to this working group and our supporting best bicycling practices document.  We welcome comments on these documents and/or other suggestions.

We need to grow our network so please consider joining BikeWalkNC!

Senate Names HB44 (“Road Diet”) Conferees

lakepine

The Senate appointed HB44 Conferees on Tuesday:

Sen. Trudy Wade, Chair,  Sen. Tom Apodaca, Sen. Andrew C. Brock, Sen. Harry Brown, Sen. Kathy Harrington, Sen. John M. Alexander, Jr., Sen. Ben Clark

Next week both the House and the Senate will be on break, but since it is unclear how soon conferees will be meeting, the sooner we make contact the better.     The bike lane (road diet) prohibition under certain conditions provision is Section 7 of HB44.  The bill is actually called the Local Government Regulatory Reform of 2015.    The House conferees received hundreds if not over 1,000 emails about Section 7; all urging removal.  Thank you to all of you for your action!!  According to People for Bikes, on just the letters they tracked, the NC response to action was 15.5% vs. an average of 3.6%.

No letters/emails in support of the provision have been received based on our inquiry of the House conferees.

We have been talking with NCDOT and urging them to explain that this provision is not needed – they already use this traffic flow and level of service criteria, and need the flexibility to consider other criteria such as safety and economic development in approving road projects.

BWNC position on HB44 is to remove the provision as it is overly prescriptive and will result in a negative impact on communities working to optimize safety and congestion relief in a comprehensive manner.

 

Contact Senate Conferees here and urge them to remove Section 7 from HB44.

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