Granny White Pike will be repaved with bicycle lanes added this summer. With the scheduled repaving to take place by June 30, 2020, the City hired engineering firm Kimley-Horn to explore the feasibility of installing bike lanes as part of the new striping plan. In a final report from 2016, the citizen-led Brentwood Bike and Pedestrian Ad Hoc Committee suggested installing bike lanes when Granny White Pike was scheduled to be repaved.
Engineers from Kimley-Horn presented staff with three options for bike lanes to run from the new traffic signal at the entrance to Foxland Hall subdivision north to the southern entrance to Brentwood Academy adjacent to Powell Park. Option 1 was a buffered four-foot bike lane with eleven-foot-wide travel lanes and left turn lanes only at intersections. Option two was a non-buffered three-foot bike lane with ten-foot-wide travel lanes with a center left turn lane through the corridor. A third option would be to leave the road as currently striped with no bike lanes.
Citizen input from a community meeting held in February, along with social media input, proved that Option Two was the most popular choice if bike lanes were to be added. At its Monday, May 11, 2020 regular City Commission meeting, Commissioners voted six-to-one in favor of Option Two which includes the non-buffered three-foot-bike lanes with ten-foot travel lanes and a center turn lane.
Brentwood Commissioner Regina Smithson said that the board tried to address the needs of all while keeping safety as the top priority for everyone using the road. “The most comments that I received, were requesting not to take away the continuous center turn lane,” Commissioner Smithson said. “Even the ones who requested that Granny White stay the same accepted option two,” Commission Smithson added.
“Given the traffic levels on the road, any change to the lane configuration would have an impact on the nearby residents as well as those who routinely travel the road,” said City Manager Kirk Bednar. A heavy-duty green epoxy paint will be used at several locations through intersections as well as green backgrounds for each of the required bike lane symbols. “We plan to use this through the intersections and with the symbols to create better visibility of the bike lanes and safety for those using them,” said Bednar.
