Why am I posting a video showing this?
The roads around UCF are very different when it comes to the attention they get in the way of improvements. For example the main entryway to UCF is University Blvd with Alafaya Trail bordering the western end of university property. Alafaya Trail is six lanes as is University Blvd. Both sides of Alafaya and University have sidewalks and Alafaya Trail has six signal lights in a span of 2 miles. More than enough lights for pedestrians to cross.
I have to comment that for bicycle commuters, even these two roads need a lot of work. The bike lane on Alafaya Trail is narrow and only separated by a thin white line while cars whiz by at 45-50 mph. It is very disconcerting and dangerous to ride a bike on the bike lane on Alafaya Trail. And believe it or not, there is no bike lane at all on University Blvd. I am not sure what traffic planners think commuter cyclists are supposed to do, ride on the sidewalk? That just doesn’t work when a person wants to get to work or school. After all, what is the difference between a car commuter who wants to get to work as fast as possible and a bicycle commuter? They both want to commute as fast as possible. To be fair, there is a project underway right now to improve pedestrian and bicycle experience on Alafaya and University but I have no details on what the plan entails.
When it comes to other roads though, they just don’t get the same attention. I am speaking about McCulloch to the north and Tanner to the east. The only reason I can think of as to why this happens is that they are still thought of as rural and lightly traveled. I think that mindset is changing because of resident input but so far I have not seen or heard of any plans to improve them for car or cycling commuters.
All we can do as residents is continue to raise the awareness of issues on these roads with Orange and Seminole County as well as UCF and continue to offer solutions to the issues.
We have two rather large apartment complexes on McCulloch between Alafaya and Lockwood. How do some students get to school and back at UCF on a bike from Northgate Lakes apartments. Let me show you.
At the end of the video are ways to improve the experience for these bike commuters that will make it safer and easier for them to get to class as well as promote bike commuting which will help reduce traffic on these roads.
Just my humble suggestions for improvements.