Rivals – Transportation – Cars Vs. Bikes

You can see the conflict unfolding. A well-intentioned cyclist trying to reduce his carbon footprint pedals along ferociously, en route to class or to work, attempting to get beyond the car that is creeping up from behind him.

The car, carrying an overtaxed mom trying to get home or to pick up a kid, isn’t quite sure what to do. The lane doesn’t feel big enough for both them, despite the road paint commanding her to share. Does she swing out wide and try to pass the cyclist? Or does she wait the extra few seconds—which feel much longer—until he turns onto a side street or until the road widens enough for both of them?

Scenarios like this happen all the time in Baton Rouge, on both crowded thoroughfares and neighborhood streets. No one intended for bikes and cars to lock horns, but they are doing so more often now as the Capital City’s cycling culture increases before the streets can physically accommodate both. There are more cyclists are on the road than there are full-fledged bike paths.

Still, Baton Rouge has taken steps to transform its historically car-centric streets to accommodate cyclists. Mayor-President Kip Holden’s “share-a-lane” program is intended to remind motorists that the law permits both types of transportation. Mid City’s Capital Heights Avenue was recently transformed from a two-lane to a one-way street to accommodate a designated foot and bike path. BREC is completing a 2.2-mile urban path connecting the Mall of Louisiana and Siegen Lane that will be open for walking, jogging and cycling. And the city’s Better Block program recently created an experimental weekend bike lane on a portion of Government Street to demonstrate what this tweak could feel like long term. In fact, the East Baton Rouge Parish master plan, FuturEBR, calls for this very change on Government Street. These and other advancements have helped Baton Rouge earn designation as a bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists in 2013.

Still, it’s clear the city hasn’t fully embraced its own progress, says avid cyclist and local fitness expert Patrick Fellows.

“There can be a lot of hostility from drivers,” says Fellows. “I think it’s still a pretty antagonistic relationship.”

Bike Baton Rouge, a cycling advocacy group, was started about eight years ago in response to growing antagonism between bikes and cars and several high-profile cycling fatalities, says the group’s volunteer chair, Beau Jones.

“It was a bad climate between the two users, so it started as an organization to ring the bell that bikers aren’t wackos,” says Jones. “They’re your neighbors and the people you work with.”

Bike Baton Rouge maintains that it’s possible for both bikes and cars to move around comfortably, and the group is advocating for more bike lanes and more tolerance from both groups, says Jones.

“Let’s work to make this town more livable—a place where young people are staying after college,” he adds.

“There’s a strong association with bikes among young people, who are driving less and buying fewer cars. We don’t want those kids to ship out and live somewhere else.”