If you’ve been preaching that Winston-Salem needs to update the infrastructure to reflect one of the fastest growing segments and literally the most efficient form of transportation, trust me, you’re preaching to the choir. And now with Tesla Motors turning their patents over to the open source community, it’s just a matter of time before we have electric-assist bikes that will be able to recharge with painted-on solar cells while you’re riding. Needless to say, an overhaul is due.
What you may not know is that city staff have proposed that the City include a Shared-Use Path in the planned revamp of Business-40 through downtown. When it’s complete, it would connect Baptist Hospital and the new Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. If this trail becomes a reality, it would be an epic step for the Camel City infrastructure, bringing it into the same century as all the technology currently moving to the Innovation Quarter.
Stimmel — a local landscape architecture and civil engineering firm — provided renderings for the presentation.
The first rendering shows the proposed route of the path in orange. It is planned to be about 1.1 miles and connect to a number of other current and proposed bike lanes.
The other renderings were created from different angles along the Bus-40 corridor and make visualizing the finished project a breeze.
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The proposed package would also remove the currently crumbling bridge at Green St. — one of Winston-Salem’s most recognizable urban-decay attractions — in favor of a shared-use bridge for walkers, runners, and bike riders. The bridge would connect the BB&T Ballpark to the neighborhoods south of Business-40.
If this project makes you as excited as it does us, you’re probably wondering how you can help. Here’s a few ways that we’ve come up with.
Talk to Your City-Council Member
If your city-council member doesn’t know that you would like this to happen, they may not vote in favor of it. It doesn’t take long to send them an email or call to say, “I would be in favor of the Multi-Use Path proposal and cycling improvments for the Bus-40 corridor.”
If you don’t know who your city-council person is, go here. The city is divided into wards. Find the ward you live in and the corresponding city-council member.
Show Up to the Meetings
The bulk of these meetings have a lot of people not in favor of what’s proposed, so people that are in favor weigh heavily. The next meeting — and the first public one — for this proposal will be on Tuesday, May 12 at 6:00 pm. You can find the details here. If you would like to ride with us, we will be leaving from the Washington Perk on Acadia Ave. at 5:15. I may or may not be there drinking a beer prior.
When attending these meetings, please where green if you can. Wearing green is a symbol that includes us in a larger group of people. People other than cyclists that see value in having a beautiful, accessible city. Business owners, walkers, runners, people in wheelchairs, and more are all people who will potentially utilize the trail.
Spread the Word
Whatever you do, make sure to tell others about the trail and how amazing it will be. This project will benefit everyone in the community, even those who don’t think they will use it. A project like this enhances the community as a whole by providing the needed infrastructure for biking and walking which makes it safer and easier for everyone to travel. It also brings economic benefits, by way of increased traffic to new areas of town and beautifying our city along the way.
How would you like to use the trail? Leave us a comment below.