A cluster of about 30 cyclists tooled down 14th Street in Highland Park, listening to jazz from a blue trailer speaker attached to the back of a bike.
At key intersections Saturday, the cyclists stopped and surveyed the environment around them, discussing how those crossings could be improved as the city plans a new greenway along 14th.
Josh Hurt, a Highland Park resident, said lots of people use the 14th Street route — one block from East Main Street — to get into downtown Chattanooga.
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“I think it’s really cool to have a community effort,” Hurt said. “Thirty people showed up today — it’s like, ‘OK, let’s all get together. Talk about it, look at it, think about it. What matters to the people that are going to use it?’ That’s a big deal.”
Straddling a black bike, Elsy Interiano, a transportation review specialist with the city of Chattanooga, described how planned “quick-build” additions, like plastic bollards and rubber medians, could slow traffic and make it easier for people to walk and bike across busy intersections.
“I’m excited the city is starting to embrace the idea of quick-build, cheap stuff,” Dave Lowther, who commutes by bike in Chattanooga, said after the ride. “And make sure they’re gonna work without committing. I think that gives you a lot more levers to play with and to see what the ideal placement is.”
The city received a $200,000 grant from the Lyndhurst Foundation to create a greenway on 14th Street. It is expected to be much like one on Virginia Avenue in St. Elmo created in 2015. The project is on track to be finished around March, Interiano said.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Bicyclists make their way down 14th Street on Oct. 19, 2024, during a community ride.Eventually, the route could include signs that point people to local businesses, parks and other bike routes, Interiano said. It could also serve as an artery that connects with other bike routes in the city, she said, and host future stations for the city’s bikeshare program.
Several riders Saturday suggested adding buttons to activate blinking lights for crossing at intersections with Willow Street, Holtzclaw and Central avenues.
When the city first surveyed residents around 14th Street about the greenway, many people said they wanted the route to be more friendly to kids and families and safer for people running, pushing strollers or walking their dogs, Interiano said.
“You want people to get to schools safer, you want people to get to their parks safer, jobs, all of it matters,” Brandon Sutton, a former planner and transportation design manager with the city, said after the ride. “You provide safer, more comfortable options.”
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The ride was organized by Two Bikes Chattanooga, a community bike shop opened earlier this year on East Main. Founder Mitchell Connell said he put the event together after going to a community meeting about the greenway where few people showed up.
“I bike down 14th Street almost every day,” Connell said. “One of the things that’s cool about these bigger bike rides is how excited the community feels. There are people waving at us from their porch, people are smiling and super excited … I think the more opportunities that we have for people to reclaim the streets, as pedestrians, the better.”
Highland Park has fostered a culture of kids playing in the streets and walking to parks, Connell said.
“I would feel like the greenway is the most successful if I can’t ride my bike in the greenway because there’s so many neighborhood kids walking on it,” Connell said during a feedback session after the ride.
Contact Ellen Gerst at egerst@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6319.