SAN DIEGO — The City of San Diego has its sights set on Convoy Street for the next round of bike lanes, as part of its goal to make the area more conducive to walking and biking.
“There’s really no space for bikes on Convoy,” said cyclist, Allen Beach, who lives in the area. “You really can’t go on the street here with the way traffic is.”
Potholes and cracked pavement can make biking a treacherous venture along Convoy.
“It’s bumpy,” said Beach. “These roads probably need a fresh coat of pavement.”
That’s exactly what the city is planning to do over the next few months, and while they’re repaving Convoy, they’ll be adding bike lanes too.
“They might be trying to widen the sidewalks a little bit more for more walkability,” said Lauren Garces, Special Events Director for the Convoy District Partnership. “And then we’re going to have a protected bike lane, which eliminates the parking.”
The bike lanes would bring the loss of nearly 300 parking spaces along Convoy Street, which currently, are in high demand.
“I can’t believe they would even put bike lanes in here, I mean, who can get here from a bicycle?” said Elaine Dill, customer of a local spa.
A number of businesses along the Convoy Asian Cultural District are concerned about the loss of parking.
“As a local and small business owner, that’s definitely a little punch to the gut,” said Cristian Liang, owner of Common Theory. “People complain about there’s nowhere to park, so taking away parking spaces along the street and adding bike lanes is going to definitely exacerbate that problem even more.”
Garces says they’re working with the city on possible solutions, such as replacing some of the parallel parking on side streets with angled parking, so they can fit in more spaces.
“We’re identifying roads with the city to know if we can add more angled parking to this area to mitigate that impact, lessen that impact of the parking spaces being lost,” said Garces, who pointed CBS 8 to a parking survey people can fill out to give their feedback before January 15, 2023.
“Right now, the Convoy area is really difficult to get around as someone walking or riding a bike,” said Will Rhatigan, Advocacy Director for the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition. “By putting in bike lanes, by improving the sidewalks, improving road safety, you’re going to give people an option to really treat the Convoy District as a destination.”
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