MATT OLBERDING / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, July 31, 2006 7:00 pm
If things fall into place, University of Nebraska-Lincoln students could have an added incentive to bike to campus when classes begin this month.
The Lincoln City Council on Monday approved adding bicycle lanes to two downtown streets — 11th Street south from Q to K, and 14th Street north from L to R. Several council members said they thought the lanes were important to make cyclists feel safe while riding downtown and, potentially, to increase the number of people riding bikes.
“Bicyclists have really needed something like this downtown for a long time,” said council member Jonathan Cook.
The city hopes to have the 6-foot-wide lanes ready before UNL classes start; at the latest, they would be ready by mid-September.
The project will cost about $20,000 and fits in the annual budget for road striping.
While the lanes are meant to be permanent, council members did approve an amendment by council member Robin Eschliman to examine the lanes in a year and make changes if needed.
Council member Ken Svoboda cast the lone vote against the lanes, saying he didn’t see a lot of accidents downtown involving bicyclists and didn’t think the lanes would make things any safer.
“I highly promote bicycle usage, I just don’t think this makes it any safer in the downtown area,” he said.
In other business Monday, the council voted against a package of Planning Department fee increases.
The increases had been approved by the Planning Commission and included in the mayor’s budget proposal, but council members said they didn’t think now was the time to enact the fees because the local construction industry, especially home building, has been struggling.
At formal and informal hearings, the proposed fees had drawn the ire of developers and builders, as well as neighborhood groups worried about a near-doubling of the fee for downzoning applications.
The fee increases would have generated an estimated $25,000 a year.
Planning Director Marvin Krout said the council’s vote would not have an effect on his budget because the fees go into the general fund budgets of the city and county.
“It’s just a little more taxes we’ll all pay,” he said.
Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.