Plan Will Make Omaha More Bike-Friendly

Tue May 13 2008
Posted May 13, 2008
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City unveils proposal to create bicycle lanes With gas prices averaging around $3.65 a gallon, we're all searching for alternatives. The city announced Monday an effort to make Omaha a more bike-friendly city, providing safe routes to and from work for commuters who prefer to pedal. This is Bike to Work Week. Ed Brown rides his bike to work downtown at Union Pacific about three times a week and it's quite a ride. "I live at 156th and Blondo.” Hills and traffic are not a major problem, but the city itself is another story. "I would say it's not a bike-friendly city. I think the people are friendly enough, they allow bikers to have a right of way, but I just don't think that going east and west in Omaha we have any bike lanes." Don Harper also bikes to work, from Lake Zorinski to Offutt Air Force Base. "It's about 50 miles roundtrip." Harper says he's in great shape and saves on gas money. He agrees Omaha needs more east-west access. "The one thing we are not is a bikeable (sic) community." Mayor Mike Fahey says the city's latest transportation system is on the way. "The creation of Omaha's first on-street bicycle route system." That means bike lanes, boulevards and shared traffic lanes, many going east and west paralleling the city's main streets. "The purpose of this pilot system will be to link downtown Omaha with the trail system in central Omaha so it will make it possible to get easily from downtown to the Keystone Trail, to the Boulevard Trail and to other points west," says former city planner Marty Shukert. It’ll provide year-round bike commuter Harper a safe and healthy route to work. "I get on my bike and I can go for miles and miles and my heart and lungs are in shape. I feel good." Brown gets his exercise while paying less for gas. "I definitely save a lot by commuting." The $600,000 project will be funded by two private foundations. The city hopes to start work later this summer. An additional 20 miles of on-street bike routes in the metro will be added and could be completed in a year-and-a-half. The city began developing the Keystone Trail in 1988, developing approximately 67 miles. In November, trails in Omaha will be connected to Iowa via the new Missouri River pedestrian bridge. It will connect Omaha's Riverfront Trail with Playland Park in Council Bluffs.