NORFOLK, Va. — Bike lanes on Granby Street are at the center of conversation in Norfolk. Now, city officials want to hear from residents as designs for the Granby Street Bike Lanes project are taking shape.
“This is something that the bicycling community has been pushing for and asking for for years,” said Michael Merritt with the group Bike Norfolk.
The bike lanes come with support and pushback.
“I think the traffic on Granby Street, especially at Wards Corner, is very dense and I think it’s going to cause more problems,” said Nick Renesis, a Norfolk resident.
Merritt said no matter what, bicyclists want to see barriers to protect them from drivers.
“I think it would be safe for families to ride,” he said.
Norfolk city officials have worked to develop 60% of the designs for the project. For several years, they’ve talked about turning the outer lane of each direction on Granby Street into a bike lane.
“This will probably look very similar to what you see along Llewellyn over by the Harrison Opera House," said City Transportation Engineer Keith Darrow. "It will be a concrete curb stop. I believe it’s rubber over there but a concrete curb stop with a flex post.”
The Granby Street Bike Lanes project was initiated in 2021.
Over the following year, city staff collaborated with the community to develop recommended bike lane concepts for implementation on Granby St., spanning from Willow Wood Dr. to Admiral Taussig Boulevard, just south of the Interstate 564 overpass. In conjunction with the bike lanes, staff and the community also identified other multimodal and pedestrian safety improvements at various locations along Granby Street.
Darrow explained why it’s taken so long to get to this point.
“We’ve applied for some funding back in 2016, 2017," he said. "Just the nature of federal funding, it takes a few years for that funding to come around. So that funding has finally arrived.”
In January 2022, the City Council voted in favor of accepting the SMART Scale funding for this project, which initiated the design phase. The project team will continue to work diligently to finalize the designs for the bike lanes and pedestrian crossing improvements until Winter 2024.
Darrow said once they receive feedback from people, city staff will finalize designs and will move towards construction.
“Starting up construction, late summer, early fall, and then I’d say about a 9-month construction timeframe," Darrow said. "So, ideally hopefully, we’ll have things up open up by spring next year.”
Residents were invited to share their thoughts on the preliminary bike and pedestrian designs at an in-person community meeting from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Thursday at Tabernacle Church of Norfolk at 7000 Granby Street.