New Bike Lanes Planned On Coral Springs Roads In Coming Years

CORAL SPRINGS, FL – Like it or not, Coral Springs is getting more bike lanes, thanks in part to the “penny tax” approved in 2018 by Broward County voters.

In the coming months and years, state and county road construction projects are being planned to include four-to-seven-foot-wide bike lanes through the city.

According to Alex Nonamaker, a senior planner for City of Coral Springs, bike lanes will be included in road construction on:

– Wiles Road, from University Drive to Riverside Drive.

– Riverside Drive, from Sample Road to West Atlantic Boulevard.

– University Drive, from Sample Road to NW 40 Street (consider to start in 2023).

– NW 39 Street, from Coral Ridge Drive to NW 110 Avenue (considered to start in 2025).

Nonamaker discussed those projects during a recent Slice of the Springs public meeting.

In addition, bike lanes will be included in other road construction projects recently made public by Coral Springs City Commission or Florida Department of Transportation:

– Coral Ridge Drive, from Southgate Boulevard to Wyndham Circle.

– Coral Springs Drive, from Wiles Road to Ramblewood Drive (considered to start in 2026).

Many of these projects are paid through a one-penny increase in Broward County’s sales tax that is intended to make better roads, increase public transportation options, and reduce traffic congestion.

Although there hasn’t been much debate at the Coral Springs City Commission in the past year on adding bike lanes, the issue is contentious in other cities across the nation because of the additional cost of building bike lanes and their potential for creating less space for cars and causing traffic jams, according to news reports.

Despite pushback in some places, bike lanes make roads safer for everyone, including motorists, according to a 2019 study on bicycle and road safety.

The study published in the Journal of Transport & Health found that “bike facilities” act as “calming” mechanisms on traffic, slowing cars and reducing fatalities.

“Bicycling seems inherently dangerous on its own,” said study co-author Wesley Marshall, assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver, in a news release. “So it would seem that a city with a lot of bicycling is more dangerous, but the opposite is true. Building safe facilities for cyclists turned out to be one of the biggest factors in road safety for everyone.”

In Coral Springs, bike lanes have already been added on various streets, including Rock Island Road between Wiles Road to Sample Road.