Riverside bike plan deserves new approach

Some of the city’s new bike lanes have been unpopular with some motorists. Riverside Drive has proved to be a complete train wreck.

The complaints, combined with a count of the street’s cycling traffic, produced a decision by City Hall this week to give up on a bold experiment: reserving the westernmost two lanes for bicyclists and pedestrians and routing automobiles to the east side of the median from Georgia to Beale.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton said the street will revert to its old configuration, without bike lanes, in June, following the Memphis in May International Festival, pending further study.

The decision placed on hold, at least, what had been considered a viable alternative to the current configuration — putting one lane of vehicle traffic on each side of the median, with bike lanes on the outside portions of the road.

Supporters of a more livable, sustainable, progressive Memphis should not give up hope, however, that further study means that eventually one or more bike lanes or bike trails separated from vehicular traffic on Riverside will be part of the plan for what is perhaps the city’s most scenic drive.

For one thing, there is no reason to believe that Memphis is not taking part in the growth of cycling in the United States, which has seen the number of commuters who ride bicycles to work increase by 60 percent — 100 percent in some U.S. cities — in the last decade, according to a report in USA Today.

For another, Riverside Drive is destined to play a larger role in the overall connectivity of the Memphis metropolitan area as work continues on the new bicycle and pedestrian boardwalk on the Harahan Bridge, scheduled for completion in 2016.

The bridge, of course, is only part of a larger project known as the Main to Main Intermodal Connector Project, linking the Downtown business districts of Memphis and West Memphis over a 10-mile stretch, with connections to other trails and green spaces on either side of the river.

And don’t forget that the Main to Main project is a key element in the Mid-South Greenprint & Sustainability Plan, which calls for 500 miles of off-street trails and 200 miles of bike lanes connecting parks, neighborhoods and job sites across Greater Memphis by 2040.

To be sure, the current configuration of bicycle and automobile traffic lanes on Riverside has confused and angered some motorists, and bicycle traffic has been light.

But as progress continues on other nearby projects, the use of Riverside by cyclists is bound to grow.

All of which will benefit efforts to make Memphis a healthier community with the kinds of amenities that attract the young professionals who are needed to improve this city’s economic and cultural landscape.