Update on the Uptown Cyclelink construction

2021 is gonna be a great year for cycling in Charlotte! Another segment of the city’s Uptown Cyclelink project went into construction last week!

Davidson St. and MLK Jr. Blvd. resurfacing project

Regularly planned street repaving on portions of Davidson St. and MLK Jr. Blvd. will add roughly ½ mi. to the Uptown CycleLink network. Altogether, over 3.5 miles of AAA (all ages and abilities) bicycle facilities are under construction RIGHT NOW in Center City. See the yellow lines on the map below.

Segment details –

• The project adds 0.45 miles of new protected bike lanes to the overall network and is only a small part of the much larger forthcoming Uptown CycleLink route.
• The City is leveraging a routine resurfacing project to reimagine how we all travel by converting it into a complete street. This will be accomplished by re-distributing the use of paved street space from only accommodating automobiles to now sharing it with a protected cycle track.
• As part of this conversion, the bike lanes will be protected with vertical elements.  These will include flex posts, Zebras, and synthetic rubber speed bumps.  Green pavement markings will be used at intersections to highlight conflict areas between automobiles and active transportation users.
• Bicycles, scooters, and other forms of active transportation within the cycle track will have signage directing them to utilize the leading pedestrian interval (LPI) walk phase of traffic lights.  The LPI is a safety feature that will allow them to get a 3-5 second head start into the intersection before the light turns green for automobiles.
• A two-stage left-turn box will be utilized at the Davidson St. / 4th St. intersection to accommodate turns from the cycle track into the existing bus–bike lane along 4th St.

More information can be found on CDOT’s CycleLink project page.

5th/6th street cyclelink construction update

Construction is well underway for upgrading and completing this segment of the Uptown CycleLink to provide a safe connection to our greenways and Uptown!

Segment details

• Length: 2.5 miles
• The 5th/6th Street project will install a continuous greenway-to-greenway bike connection across Uptown, linking the Irwin / Stewart Creek Greenway system to the Cross Charlotte Trail / Little Sugar Creek Greenway system. The project will also upgrade the existing pilot project from the Rail Trail to Little Sugar Creek Greenway.

Map overview of the project – All map images above are from the City of Charlotte’s Department of Transportation

Thank you to all of you who have helped us in so many ways to advocate for better streets for biking. It’s exciting to see how far we’ve come together since launching our #ibikeclt campaign over 5 years ago!

Sustain Charlotte is especially grateful to New Belgium Brewing for their generous 2020 grant in support of our bike advocacy work.

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