Kenner Pop-Up Protected Bikeway

Join us at the Kenner Pop-Up Protected Bikeway installation March 24th to help more Jefferson Parish residents feel comfortable biking by improving our streets.

*Sign up to volunteer here*

More and more people are biking in Jefferson Parish – whether a social ride in Gretna on a Friday night to have some fun, an early morning ride along the levee to stay healthy, or a quick trip to the store to pick up some groceries. Although the parish has made strides in improving the infrastructure and safety for people on bike and people walking, there is still so much work to be done to make Jefferson Parish streets feel safe for everyone on them. Today, people on bike in Jefferson Parish face streets with high-speed limits and no bike lanes, dangerous intersection crossings, and drivers often unaware of how to share the road. Everyone deserves safe and reliable ways to get from point A to point B, and that includes people biking!

In a couple of weeks, Bike Easy, along with local ambassadors and volunteers will be installing a “pop-up” bike lane on Loyola Drive in Kenner. The temporary route will run along Loyola below West Esplanade from Yenni Drive to East / West Loyola Drive. The bikeway will be placed along the sidewalk and protected by putting up barricades to physically separate bikers from car traffic. We hope to keep the route in operation for two weeks, after which it will be taken down and returned to its previous condition.

Our hope with this pop-up bikeway is to show the importance of safe and reliable biking infrastructure and how best existing roads in Jefferson Parish can be built to share among people who bike, walk, take transit, and drive. This route along Loyola Drive will connect bikers to parks such as Kenner City Park and Wentwood Park, several Elementary and Middle schools, as well as the soon-to-be, built Kenner Discovery School, a Walmart shopping center, Ochsner Medical Center, other local businesses, and residential neighborhoods. Additionally, the bike lane will provide easier access to the levee trail by way of West Esplanade.

While this is not a quick-fix for safer and accessible biking across all of Jefferson Parish, it is a first step in showing how bikers and drivers can share the road with protected biking infrastructure. Some of those benefits include a decrease in congestion, increase the quality of life, and positive effects on retail sales in commercial corridors.

Bike Easy is utilizing staff, recruiting volunteers, and providing funding for this project. Help from community residents and local institutions is essential to making it a success – by canvassing neighborhood residents and businesses, collaborating on the design and artwork, volunteering for installation and removal, and donating funds and/or materials are what we need to bring a vision of safe passageways to our neighborhoods. We hope you’ll be a part of this vital work!

Installation will be Saturday, March 24 and we are doing some work beforehand to ensure everything goes smoothly – sign up here to help out.

Please fill out this survey so we can have an accurate picture of how the community feels about biking and walking in their neighborhood!

For any further questions or concerns, please contact Oliver Anderson, Campaign Assistant, at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) .