Update: New Belgium, bicyclists oppose bike lane limits

ASHEVILLE—New Belgium Brewing is putting its mouth where its money is.

An official with the company building a brewery on the west side of the French Broad River wrote state legislators Monday to oppose legislation that would make it harder to convert parts of state-owned streets and roads to bicycle lanes.

Language in the Senate version of the bill would prohibit conversion of space for automobile travel to bicycle lanes on any road that carries more than 20,000 vehicles a day or where traffic congestion is forecast at any time over the 20 years after the proposed change.

A previous version of the bill would have prohibited any conversion without approval of the state Board of Transportation. The Senate voted 29-19 Monday night (June 15) to substitute the other requirements. Such decisions are now made by N.C. Department of Transportation engineers.

The House voted unanimously Wednesday not to agree to a Senate rewrite of the bill that would make several changes to laws governing local government. That means the final content of the legislation will be up to a conference committee of House and Senate members.

Jenn Vervier, director of strategy and sustainability with Colorado-based New Belgium, wrote legislators Monday that the part of the bill dealing with bike lanes "is counterproductive to NCDOT's measures to improve public safety on our roads and NCDOT's Complete Street Policy" and urged them to oppose it. It's not clear which version of the bill the letter refers to, but either would make establishing bike lanes more difficult.

Sen. Trudy Wade, R-Guilford, said in a committee meeting on the bill that there should be more of a check on cities or towns converting automobile lanes to bicycle lanes on roads that are paid for with state tax dollars.

New Belgium is contributing $50,000 toward the cost of a city project to install a westbound bicycle lane on Haywood Road between Craven Street, a few feet away from the brewery site, and Beecham's Curve and build a sidewalk along the road's north side. Vervier also noted that the company is allowing an easement on the brewery site to make room for bicycle and pedestrian facilities along Craven Street and giving property to Asheville for a greenway.

"Adding additional regulatory burden to these projects may mean in the future these partnerships are not possible," Vervier wrote. Statistics show North Carolina is "one of the least safe states" in the country for bicycling, she said.

New Belgium gives each employee a bicycle after one year of service and uses bikes in its advertising and branding.

"We want our 140 coworkers and more than 200,000 annual visitors to be able to access us via safe and connected bicycle infrastructure if they choose," Vervier writes.

Asheville on Bikes, a local group advocating bicycle riding, has put the letter on its website and is urging its supporters to oppose the language.

The bill began its life in the House as a measure to make it easier for cities to deal with property owners who habitually allow their lots to become overgrown with vegetation. The Senate added provisions dealing with buffers along streams, well drilling, development ordinances and other issues.