Fire Trucks and Bike Lanes

This week, I return to an issue I raised a half year ago — “design by fire truck.” Fire chiefs around Virginia and around the country often conflict with developers who want to create pedestrian-friendly streetscapes. Designers of the New Urbanist persuasion prefer narrow streets because they slow traffic, which puts pedestrians more at ease. Fire chiefs prefer broader streets that have room for their big fire trucks and their outriggers.

Doug Cole, a principal of Design Forum Inc., which is designing the Wilton and the James project in Henrico County, beat his brains out trying to find a way to satisfy the county fire department yet preserve the vision for the project’s main boulevard. Eventually, he found the answer: add a 6-foot-wide bicycle lane. The lane provided the space the fire trucks needed while keeping the main traffic lane narrow enough to dissuade drivers from speeding.

What’s really interesting is what happened next. One bicycle lane didn’t make much sense. Cole persuaded HHHunt, the Wilton on the James developer, to lace the entire project with bicycle paths, and then to link them to the anticipated Capital Trail running from Richmond and Williamsburg. Now plans call for the Capital Trail to loop through Wilton on the James, following the scenic course of the river.

The developers are happy. The fire chief is happy. Pedestrians are happy. And bicyclers are happy. Everybody wins. Read the full story in “Fire Trucks and Bike Lanes.”

(Photo credit: Invisible Structures Inc.)