Recent discussion on incorporating bike lanes into Price City has been had between city officials, local businesses and other interested parties in the past months. Part of this discussion took place during the Price City Council meeting on Wednesday evening.
As part of the remarks given during the meeting by Price City Mayor Mike Kourianos, it was explained that possibilities of bike lanes within the city are being addressed. One of the main locations being considered is Main Street, which could be made possible by moving to a parallel parking system along the street.
According to the mayor, the city has future plans to resurface and re-stripe Main Street. “At which time, we can evaluate how parking will work. As we do this, we might want to think about how we can modernize our area for our residents and visitors,” Kourianos said.
Kourianos also spoke on the recently-implemented Blue Bikes Program at USU Eastern. Blue Bikes is a free bike share program where students can check out a bike and use it for transportation. The bicycles can be rented for an extended period of time as the students use them to travel to classes, work, stores and more. In order to better integrate the program and make transportation accessible to students, Kourianos explained that bike lanes could prove crucial to this mission.
Finally, Kourianos stated that as Carbon County looks to attract more tourists, further recreational and transportation opportunities could be a large benefit.
“Perhaps we can capitalize this by trying to find an appropriate and safe way to make our downtown accessible to those who would like to come visit,” the mayor said. “I have been talking a lot in our community about bikes lanes and where it makes sense to do bikes lanes. Main Street would be one of them and perhaps other places in our community. But only in places where it makes sense, where it is safe and where it will benefit our residents and visitors.”
During the public comment portion of the evening, representatives from some Price City businesses expressed various concerns regarding the bike lanes, specifically on Main Street. The main concern revolved around the parking on Main Street, which is already limited. One business representative explained that she has seen many people looking for parking on Main Street and, unable to find a space, move on and don’t stop at the businesses.
There was also concern over the matter of some people not being able to parallel park. One member from a local business said that these could lead to accidents on the busy street, resulting in property damage and an increased workload for law enforcement.
Ultimately, two people spoke against the possibility of bike lanes on Main Street, but stated that another area of the city might be a good possibility. The mayor and council took these statements into consideration.
“There are no concrete plans; we are merely exploring the opportunity and potential.” Kourianos said. “We are doing research and looking at potential plans of what things may look like. But we have not made any firm decisions.”
Mayor Kourianos concluded that the city will be actively seeking and welcoming public input from the community as these possibilities are explored further.