Bicycle Implementation Plan

The City of Chattanooga’s Bicycle Implementation Plan was established with the main objective of extending bicycle connectivity throughout the city within a relatively short four-year timeframe.  Using a variety of facilities through our City’s different neighborhoods, the plan aspires to make bicycle transportation a feasible alternative for as many residents as possible for trips to school, work, and shopping, and to provide recreational opportunities.  The following table indicates the milestone goals for the four different types of proposed facilities:

Within this typology, greenways (also called shared-use paths) are the only facilities mutually accessible to bicyclists and pedestrians.  Similar to the Tennessee Riverwalk and South Chickamauga Creek Greenway, these routes frequently run along waterways and other natural features.  They can also run parallel to high-traffic roads where on-street facilities might otherwise be unfeasible.  In contrast, protected bike lanes take advantage of space within the existing street footprint and add physical separations from car traffic, whether by curbing, planters, parked cars, bollards, or other physical separators.  The first protected lanes in the city will be constructed on Broad Street in 2015, running from Martin Luther King Boulevard to the Riverwalk at Ross’s Landing.  Similar to its protected counterpart, the standard bicycle lane is also located on the street but is only separated from cars by way of pavement striping.  An example would be the bike lanes on Chestnut Street that stretch southward from Martin Luther King Boulevard towards the Tennessee Pavilion.   As the last of the four facilities, bike routes are similarly located on streets.  Rather than being a fully dedicated facility, however, these accommodations are shared with vehicular traffic but enhanced with signage and “sharrow” pavement markings.  The implementation plan targets low traffic neighborhood streets for routes that provide good connections to other areas and neighborhoods.  A good example is 14th St. from Central Ave. to Dodds Ave.

The implementation plan was developed from previous bike planning documents, and from a number of public and stakeholder input sessions.  It is not a fixed document but will always be open to review for potential changes and additions. The projects shown on the map are in the process being developed by the City of Chattanooga, as well as other entities like Hamilton County, TDOT, the Trust for Public Land, and other groups, and is not necessarily inclusive of all the projects currently being pursued.