I am bit confused about the bike lane changes… they replaced the southbound lane with a northbound lane?

I also thought I read that the new 10th and 13th bike lanes will not reach this far south. They plan to end those lanes around South Street. Am I wrong?

Correct. The new angle parking spaces take up the old bike lanes on the western side of the street. The new lane is on the other side of the street, the only area where there is space for the additional lane.

The 13th St. lane will extend from South St. to just below Spring Garden St. The 10th St. lane will go from Ridge Ave. to Lombard St. We mentioned these bike lanes in this post not to imply that they would pass through Bella Vista, but because we were on the topic of bike lanes in general and wanted to reassure people that they are still in the works. Sorry for any confusion.

As a daily bicyclist on 11th Street, I’d like to note for the record that 11th Street, especially in front of Bella Vista Beer Distro, is reduced to a one-lane road during the morning rush.

There’s *always* at least one tractor-trailer parked in front of BV, taking up the entire 5 feet of bike lane, along with about 3 feet of roadway. Across the street at Moonstone preschool, there is always a line of parked cars dropping off kids. There’s also usually a bread delivery truck parked in the bike lane a little further south in front of the bread distro. And South of Washington there are delivery trucks for the various delis and restaurants, creating further hazardous conditions on the trolley-tracked street.

Yeah, what a wonderful place to bike.

Can’t be fun with cars crawling up your ass and recessed tracks that drop bikers like flies.  In fact this new lane looks dangerously close to ‘em.  Wonder if those tracks will ever go away?

I feel your pain as a pedestrian on that road in the am – people tend to make it a 2 lane northbound route, therefore cutting off any cyclists OR drivers following the rules of the road!  It drives us nuts too, I wish the police would enforce the law more often.  Can’t wait for 10th & 13th Street lanes to open up.

You’re correct.  Although I hate to see any bike lanes removed, the southbound lanes hear don’t make a ton of sense since 11th is only two-way for about a seven block stretch.  Although, in theory, I guess, they could have directed traffic from the 10th/13th bike lanes to them. 

It’s a lane of convenience.  It takes away no space from cars but it gives a bike lane.  It’s not a necessary part of a biking network but I have found it useful (when not being blocked).  Hopefully the back in angle parking will help.

No. There used to be northbound and southbound lanes between Bainbridge and Washington. Parking wise, northbound 11th was angle in, southbound was parallel. (This might have been hard to discern because all the lines were super-faded.)

What they did was, replace the parallel parking southbound with angle-in parking. That ate up the southbound bike lane.

I hope they don’t. There are tram tracks galore in bike mecca Amsterdam… cross them quickly (not via a slow parallel meander) and you’re fine. 

I wish SEPTA would reinvigorate this stretch with a tram line… no lame trolley, a full-fledged tram.

Four years in the making and it seems like this bike lane is getting mixed reviews… I suppose any bike lane is better than none, and at least we have the 10th & 13th Street lanes to look forward to! 

We are still waiting for the city to paint bike lane symbols on the lane itself…

But, are there *any* plans for a southbound bike lane?  Like at least down to Tasker or so?

Sold.  The image you planted in my head of a modern, efficient and expansive tram system here in The City of Brotherly Love is a splendid dream.  I think this is just a few years down the road…

[...] street that you’ll find throughout Center City, into a fairly wide, two-way boulevard (with bike lanes!). This curious stretch extends all the way to Reed Street, where it stops entirely for a couple of [...]