It's All About Timing.

In order to create bike lanes the cheapest and most efficient way it is important to know when to install bike lanes. Also, knowing the best candidate streets can help significantly lower the cost of such a project. The sections of Chapman Ave. and Glassell St. that I had selected for construction are perfect examples of roads that can easily add bike lanes.

The cost of installing a bike lane is approximately $5,000 to $50,000 per mile. This depends on the condition of the pavement, the need to remove and repaint the lane lines, the need to adjust signalization, and other factors. It is most cost efficient to create bicycle lanes during street reconstruction, street resurfacing, or at the time of original construction.

Although the bike lanes proposed to run Chapman Ave. stretch an approximate eight miles, the project could fit in with some of the other plans that the city of Orange currently have in progress. After viewing the committed recovery act project for Orange, CA 2009 I found that there are plans for road rehabilitation that sit in a large portion of the proposed bike route. With a federal funding of $1,620,734 bike lanes could easily be fit into the budget of this city project.

The proposed plans to connect the bike lanes from Chapman Ave., through the Orange circle and onto Glassell St. measures a mere half mile. This tiny strip of road although small, is extremely important in providing safe transportation for cyclists traveling to the city’s schools. This section of Glassell St. is well paved and could easily house bike lanes at an affordable price.