Central Sioux Falls bike boulevard nears completion

A group of members in Falls Area Bicyclists veered off the city’s recreation trail on a fall ride this past weekend to try out a new route designed to help connect cyclists from downtown through central Sioux Falls to the Great Plains Zoo.

The 15th Street Bicycle Boulevard is wrapping up after a few years of planning and construction.

“I’ve ridden it a fair amount this summer in particular,” said Roger Nikodym, the group’s ride director. “It’s a start, in my mind. It does connect downtown and the trail, and I think that was the goal. I think it’s a well-kept secret with a lack of awareness.”

Attentive drivers might have noticed images of bicycles on some street signs this summer — those are designed to designate the 15th Street Bicycle Boulevard, which goes from about Ninth Street and Phillips Avenue out to the Great Plains Zoo.

Existing bike lanes guide cyclists west along Ninth Street until Spring Avenue, then the ride goes along Ninth through traffic circles that were constructed a couple of years ago at Ninth and Duluth Avenue and Ninth and Prairie Avenue.

Once bicyclists turn south on Prairie, there are traffic signals installed last year at 10th and 11th streets to help navigate those busy east-west streets.

The route then continues from Prairie west on 15th Street, where the city already installed some small bump-outs, or chicanes, to help slow traffic. A pedestrian crossing signal was installed this summer at 15th and Grange Avenue.

A new traffic circle also is under construction at 15th and Prairie. The whole project is expected to be done by early December.

The end of the bicycle boulevard will go from north of 15th across Kiwanis Avenue and end up in the area of Sherman Park and the Great Plains Zoo.

“It’s been multiple phases, but we’re finally getting to the point where we’re just about done,” said Fletcher Lacock, senior planner in the city’s Planning and Development Services Department.

“The whole idea is designed to connect and find the safest way for people to ride their bicycle, in this case from downtown to the zoo.”

The city identified a route that doesn’t get as much vehicle traffic and then planned where “calming devices” were needed to slow traffic and help cyclists use the roadway, including crossing busy intersections.

Signage went up this summer identifying the bike boulevard.

“They’re currently working on constructing curb bump-outs at 15th and Grange, and they have RRFB, or rapid rectangular flashing beacons, so that’s the signal with a push button that starts flashing when the button is pushed, which gives vehicles a signal there’s someone who wants to cross,” Lacock said. “The ones going in on the 15th Street Bike Boulevard will have push buttons at the road, so people don’t have to get on the sidewalk to push the button.”

Falls Area Bicyclists completed a bike audit of the boulevard this summer sponsored by AARP and the League of American Bicyclists and will present its findings to the city.

“I think it’s a start. They sought our input and do bicycle committee meetings monthly, and we participate,” Nikodym said. “I think you eat an elephant one bite at a time, and I think that’s what it’s going to be getting a more healthy bike culture in Sioux Falls. It’s not going to happen overnight.”

The city is open to considering other bike boulevards, Lacock said.

“I think it’s getting people aware of it. And as they start riding, they will tell their friends, and other people will start using it,” he said. “It’s a big deal for us. Once it’s completed, what’s the next one we’re going to do, where do we focus on next. We know there are a couple high-priority locations.”

Throughout Sioux Falls, “I’ve like to see some protected bike lanes,” Nikodym said. “It would be a lane that has some kind of a barricade separating where the bikes travel and the vehicles travel. There are a number of options, and some are easy to install and quite modular.”

His group would like to focus “as much as we can on riding on the streets for visibility, to get more people accustomed to seeing bikes on the streets,” he said. “And it’s an education thing for cyclists because they have to understand as a cyclist you do have rights but you also have responsibilities and you have to live with traffic just like you do in a vehicle.”

Newly offered license plate decals encourage sharing the road. They’re being offered through RASdak, and the proceeds will support efforts around safe biking statewide.