Ed Gulick wants downtown Billings to be more bike friendly and has a very specific plan to make it happen.

How does he plan to accomplish this? By converting one-way high speed roads into slower moving roads with lanes in each direction and bikeways. Right now, our “current one-way streets are designed to maximize motorized vehicle volume and move vehicles through downtown,” says Gulick. Moving traffic as quickly as possible away from downtown means that fewer potential customers stop at local businesses in the urban core.

In addition, fewer cyclists feel comfortable riding downtown for fear of fast moving traffic. Kristen Prinzing finds riding downtown to be unnerving. “I am an avid bike commuter and ride my bike almost everywhere, but I try to avoid riding in the core of downtown because it feels really unsafe riding in traffic.” “Downtown Billings’ current street network is at odds with our desire for a vibrant, exciting, robust downtown–it’s…preventing downtown from achieving its potential,” Ed explains.

At present, the majority of downtown streets are one way. Gulick advocates converting all north-south streets as well as 2nd Ave. N and 3rd Ave. N. into two-way streets and suggests extending bike lanes or sharrows south on N. 25th Street,

Current street layout, one-way streets are marked in red, two-way streets are marked in blue.

north on S/N 23rd Street, and west on 2nd and 3rd Ave N. “Bikeways demonstrate to motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians alike that bicycles belong downtown–there is a rightful place for them” Gulick says. He hopes that more bikes downtown will translate into more business downtown as one study indicated bike-riding customers spend about 10% more per month than their car-driving peers.

Converting fast moving one-way streets to calmer 2-way streets is not a new idea. In December of 1997, the Billings City Council and the County Commissioners adopted the Downtown Billings Framework which recommended converting all but a few of the existing one way streets to two-ways. In addition, studies in other cities have proven that two-way streets are good for the community. According to one study, one-way street conversions resulted in fewer robberies, auto thefts, and collisions and dramatically improved property values.

Will residents and city officials accept Gulick’s vision? BikeNet certainly hopes so!