SALISBURY — Three years after approving the bicycle master plan, City Council on Tuesday approved Salisbury’s first official bike lanes for a one-mile stretch of Newsome Road.
Council members agreed to spend about $279,000, or 20 percent of the total cost, to widen Newsome Road from Stokes Ferry Road to Bringle Ferry Road in the eastern part of the city near Corbin Hills neighborhood. The state will pay about $1.1 million, or 80 percent, of the $1.4 million project.
Bike lanes are part of the widening project. The city plans to give Newsome Road, which is only 20 feet wide, two 11-to-12 foot travel lanes and a five-foot wide bicycle lane on each side, City Engineer Wendy Brindle said. The city currently has no bike lanes, despite the Comprehensive Bicycle Plan passed by City Council in 2011 after five years of study.
Jerry Shelby, who said he has worked on the city’s various bike plans since 2001, told City Council it is taking too long to implement the Comprehensive Bicycle Plan. The plan contains recommendations that would make many roads safer for the young and young at heart, Shelby said.
A significant number of teenagers and adults in Salisbury do not own a car, and the city needs to work to make the streets more bicycle-friendly, he said, holding up a hefty copy of the bike plan.
Newsome Road, which carries about 4,000 vehicles per day, has long been targeted for road improvements because it is the only north-south connector for neighborhoods bound on the west by Interstate 85 and on the east by a regulated floodway, Brindle said. Curb, gutter and appropriate drainage will also be part of the project.
Clyde, who only uses one name, said during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting that some people who live on Newsome Road want sidewalks. People walk, use wheelchairs and push strollers in the narrow street, which they must share with tractor trailers using the road as a cut-through to get to Faith Road, Clyde said.
After the meeting, Brindle said where feasible, the shoulder along Newsome Road will be graded to accommodate future sidewalks on both sides of the street. The Cabarrus-Rowan Metropolitan Planning Organization has approved additional funding for sidewalks. If accepted by N.C. Department of Transportation, sidewalk construction could begin during fiscal year 2019, Brindle said.
The widening and bike lane project should be done by the end of September 2015.
Eric Phillips, who owns Skinny Wheels Bike Shop in downtown Salisbury, also spoke during public comment and thanked City Council for approving the bike lanes. He encouraged the city to look for more opportunities to add bike lanes and other measures to make Salisbury more bicycle-friendly and detailed statistics about the economic boost that cities gain from encouraging bicycling.
The bicycle and tourism industries go hand-in-hand, Phillips said.
Councilman Pete Kennedy said the city is trying to make Salisbury a more walkable and safe community for pedestrians and cyclists.
Councilman Brian Miller asked if the city also could paint “sharrows” on roads leading to Newsome Road to help cyclists get to the new bike lanes. A sharrow is a mark painted on the street that lets motorists know they are sharing the lane with cyclists.
“If we are going to have bike lanes on Newsome, we need a way to get the bikes to Newsome,” he said.
Brindle said she plans to put sharrows on Fulton Street, which was recently repaved, and will consult the bike master plan for other appropriate locations near Newsome Road for the markings.
In 2012, city officials considered putting bike lanes on Statesville Boulevard as part of a road diet that would have taken the four-lane thoroughfare down to two lanes, a turn lane and two bike lanes, as recommended in the bike plan. But after complaints from neighbors during a contentious public workshop, the city ditched the bike lanes and had the state repaint the boulevard with four lanes.
A bike lane is part of the road, as opposed to a bike path or greenway that is not built for cars.
Also Tuesday, City Council approved an agreement with N.C. DOT to build sidewalks on Bringle Ferry Road between Long Street and Newsome Road.
The state will reimburse the city for 80 percent of eligible expenses for sidewalks on both sides of Bringle Ferry Road. Construction is scheduled to be done in August 2015. The project will cost $298,650, with the city paying $59,730 and the state paying $238,920.

Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.