Dedicated cycling lanes should be on King St.

City council displayed its progressive side Monday night by insisting that cycling lanes be included in a fullscale makeover of downtown Charlotte St.

And not just cycling lanes, but the city’s first lanes to be physically separated from traffic to improve safety and make cyclists more confident.

In doing so council overruled the city’s traffic consultant. The consultant recommended a design that widens sidewalks at various points along Charlotte between Park and George streets and maintains most street parking.

While it is good to see council giving cycling lanes priority, this isn’t the right location to take a stand.

That’s not because the consultant’s arguments against cycling lanes on Charlotte – parking and safety – were persuasive.

Loss of parking ties in to related downtown projects, including conversion of Bethune St. to a linear park and the Louis Street parking lot to a public square. A total of 155 parking spaces will be wiped out.

Replacing 32 of 50 Charlotte St. parking spaces with raised cycling lanes would add to the total and harm businesses, the consultant said.

Council was not impressed. Two councillors said the Louis St. lot and Charlotte St. spaces are rarely at capacity.

Loss of on-street parking is often cited by cycling lane opponents but has generally not turned out to be a problem for businesses. Count one for the cycling lane side.

Safety was the second concern. Charlotte St. needs to be pedestrian friendly, the consultant said, and replacing wider sidewalks with cycling lanes reduces the safety factor. He also cited a concern with pedestrians-cyclist collisions at intersections.

And Charlotte St. was reported to be too busy for safe cycling, even with dedicated lanes.

It’s true that cycling lanes would change the sidewalk pattern. Whether that makes pedestrians less safe is debatable but the look and feel would be different.

As for cyclists hitting pedestrians and cars hitting cyclists, those are arguments against bike lanes in general. Accept them and it becomes necessary to remove existing lanes on George St.

Overall, the consultant’s arguments against Charlotte St. cycling lanes aren’t persuasive.

However, while Charlotte St. would work there is a better option, one suggested by that same consultant. Put the cycling lanes on King St. They should connect to Monaghan Rd. on the west and Millennium Park on the east. That would give cyclists the access to downtown they need and want

It would also do a better job than the Charlotte St. option of connecting the city’s cycling grid. King Street lanes would link directly to two main north-south routes: Monaghan Rd. and the waterfront trail.

Lighter traffic along the cycling route and reduced parking impact would be an added bonus.