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Mark Martin hasn’t owned a car in more than 18 years, including the past four in Baton Rouge. He says getting around Baton Rouge on two wheels isn’t as dangerous as people think.

“I could be passed by a thousand cars, and most of them don’t behave badly,” he says. “All it takes is one person being an ass, and that’s the one you remember.”

Martin, founder of Baton Rouge Advocates for Safe Streets, has been yelled at and threatened while biking; one young woman felt the need to reach out and touch his elbow from the passenger seat of a car while imploring him to “get on the sidewalk.” Except there was no sidewalk, and biking on the sidewalk is illegal.

“If I was twitchy, I’d be dead,” he says.

Martin was one of about 25 people who biked to Capital Heights on May 13 to hear Mayor Kip Holden announce improvements to the city’s bike facilities. The improvements are part of the mayor’s “Healthy Baton Rouge” initiative and a response to numerous requests from bike-minded constituents.

“By June of 2010, over 44 new miles of bike lanes and paths will be added or programmed to our existing facilities of over 23 miles,” Holden says, “with additional facilities already being identified.”

If anyone was expecting to hear about big, new projects, they were disappointed. The city plans to paint stripes and add signage to existing roads designating bike lanes or lanes to be shared by bikes and cars. But beyond that, there will be no new construction, at least not in the short term.

Some lanes will connect to other announced projects, like BREC’s planned linear park along Ward Creek and the future extension of the levee trail. The total cost is expected to be nearly $2.5 million, paid for with Green Light Plan funds and about $1 million in federal money for the trail extension.

Martin was encouraged to hear Holden refer to bikes as transportation in his presentation. Not toys or recreation, but a legitimate way to get around the city. To do that, one has to be willing to ride with cars. A bike lane gives riders their own space. An officially designated shared lane can help guide bikers to useful routes that have lower speed limits and less traffic. Both encourage motorists to look out for bikes, and both, proponents hope, can help create a culture that respects alternate means of transportation.

“Our first objective was to get things that were low-hanging fruit, projects that weren’t too expensive that we could do easily within the next year,” says Melissa Guilbeau, the city-parish’s chief infrastructure planner. They looked for key routes that only needed paint and signage, as opposed to a bigger right-of-way or more pavement. Guilbeau compiled a few plans that had been gathering dust for years, going back to 1974, along with a list of priority bike projects from the Capital Region Planning Commission, then brought together local officials and stakeholders, including Martin’s BRASS and the Baton Rouge Bike Club. The group started meeting in February.

Some routes were obvious. North Boulevard links downtown with Baton Rouge Community College, crosses several useful north-south roads, is in good condition and has a relatively low traffic count. But a sign on the overpass just east of Interstate 110 says bicycles are prohibited, though it doesn’t give bikers a clue of where they should go to cross the railroad tracks.

“That ‘bikes and pedestrians prohibited’ sign is going to go away,” Guilbeau says. Safety-wise, the city-parish is following the best practices in other cities. Officials plan to start thinking about the next phase of projects over the next few months.

Gil Penalosa, director of Walk & Bike for Life in Ontario, says about 1% of the population in any given city will ride their bikes anywhere. About 5% to 7% are willing to use bike lanes. And about one-third of the population isn’t getting on a bike no matter what the facilities are like.

But most people say they’d be willing to ride if they felt safe. On neighborhood roads, that means automobile speed limits below 20 mph. On roads with speed limits above 30 mph or more than 5,000 cars per day, the average person wants a bike lane that’s physically separated from the road; for example, by a concrete barrier 30 inches wide and a few inches high. For many bikers, a stripe just doesn’t provide a feeling of safety.

“When we evaluate any facility for pedestrians and for cyclists, we say that we should follow the 8/80 rule,” Penalosa says. “Any facility has to be good enough for an 8-year-old and for an 80-year-old. We end up doing facilities for the 20- to 40-year-olds who are healthy and athletic.”

While one could argue a striped bike lane is better than nothing, Penalosa says such measures can be counterproductive.

“Then the politicians say, ‘You see, we don’t have a bicycle culture, because we did this bike lane and no one is using it,’” he says.

A separate lane with a physical barrier is the Cadillac of bike lanes, says city-parish administrator Mike Futrell, but the parish is constrained by cost and available space. The next batch of projects might require building bridges or buying rights-of-way, which would in turn lead the city to talk with the legislative delegation about securing more funding.

“Where we can have a separate bike path, we will,” Futrell says. “Where we can’t, we will make it as safe as possible.”

Martin, the local cycling advocate, is hopeful.

“It’s a good start to be able to get people where they need to go,” he says. “It gives some sense of protection, at least on less-traveled streets.”

He says the city needs to commit to keeping the lanes clean and educating the public on how to use them. BRASS plans to conduct more road-riding lessons, perhaps in conjunction with LSU. A lot of students need to learn not to ride on sidewalks or use the crosswalks like a pedestrian, he says.

But Baton Rouge’s car culture is pretty firmly entrenched. Drivers are creatures of habit, he says. They figure if they drive to work on Lee Drive and take a right on Perkins Road, that’s how they have to ride.

“That’s not the case,” Martin says. “There are safer routes to take. It’s not deadly.”

Rules of the road

What drivers should know when sharing the road with bicycles:

• First and foremost, bikes are traffic. Cyclists have as much right to be on the road as you do, so act accordingly.

• Yield to bicyclists when making turns.

• Don’t distract cyclists by honking your horn or driving too close.

• When passing a cyclist, leave at least three feet between your vehicle and the bike.

• Stay alert near trees or parked cars that might obstruct your view of cyclists.

• When parked along the side of the road, be careful opening your door.

What bicyclists should know when sharing the road with cars:

• Bicycles are subject to most of the same rules and guidelines as cars; make left turns from the left lane, for example.

• Always ride on the right side of the road with traffic, and as close to the right side of a shared lane as practicable.

• If there’s a bike lane adjacent to the road, use it.

• Riding on the sidewalk is illegal, except for small children’s bikes.

• Helmet usage is encouraged, and required by law for children under 12.

• At night, a white light in the front and red reflectors in the back and on each side are required.

• Use hand signals: arm extended horizontally for a left turn, extended upward at a 45-degree angle from the shoulder or elbow for a right turn, or extended downward at a 45-degree angle when stopping or slowing.