For the past several years, the City of Iowa City has worked to improve bicycle transportation around Iowa City based on the recommendations of the City's Bicycle Master Plan.

In order to make these improvements efficiently, street bicycle facilities are most often completed in conjunction with other planned road improvement projects, such as surface replacement, reconstruction, or new street installations. Through this process, the City can close connectivity gaps in our network of bicycle facilities.

Several areas throughout Iowa City now feature new bike amenities or will see these installations in the near future. Below is a list of projects underway.

Burlington Street

Buffered bike lanes have been installed on Burlington from Madison Street to Riverside Drive. Bike lanes will connect between the Iowa River Trail and Madison Street. This portion of Burlington Street between Madison and Riverside is wider, allowing for bicycle lanes.

A two-stage left turn box will be installed in October to assist eastbound bicyclists on Burlington Street who wish to turn left onto Madison.

Sharrows (shared lane markings) will be added for bicyclists crossing Riverside Drive and continuing on Grand Avenue in order to connect to the bike lanes on Melrose Avenue.

South Dodge Street

Buffered bike lanes now extend from North Summit Street to Bowery Street for southbound bicycles. The lane north of Burlington was established last year. With a completed 4- to 3- lane conversion south of Bowery Street, standard bike lanes are available to northbound bicyclists along this section of South Dodge. From Bowery Street, northbound bicyclists can connect to Governor, which has buffered bike lanes from Burlington to Brown Street, which were added in 2019.

New facilities

Bike Turn boxes will be painted at Jefferson and Dodge streets and at Market and Governor streets to assist bicyclists connecting between bicycle lanes on one-way streets. Bike boxes allow bicyclists to position themselves in the appropriate lane during a red traffic signal so that when the signal changes to green, they can quickly turn into the connecting bike lane without conflicting with motorists.

Signed bikeways on Bowery, Walnut and Page, Summit, Sheridan, and 7th Avenue, are scheduled to be completed this fall and will help bicyclists connect between facilities from the east side of Iowa City. Additionally, a special bikeway located between F and J Street at Bradbury Street will help safely guide younger bicyclists to South East Junior High.

These new facilities are intended to encourage a greater range of bicyclists to feel comfortable on the street. The goal is to provide more options to help more riders get where they are going safely and efficiently.