Orem planning to be more bike-friendly

OREM — A bicycle outing is a daily experience for Lisa Morse and her two daughters, Kate, 5, and Jess, 2.

"It's good exercise, and we enjoy getting out," Morse said after a 15-minute ride from her home to the Orem Public Library. "Everything is so close. It's just easy to get there on our bikes."

Jess made the trip in a bicycle carrier mounted on the handlebars of her mother's Peugeot bike, while Kate followed on her own 16-inch two-wheeler that she mastered recently after her father took off the training wheels.

"It was like magic," Kate said.

Negotiating Orem's busy streets requires some magic as well. With limited bike lanes and no bike plan in place, Orem can present an obstacle course.

That's something the city hopes to change over the next five years as it implements the first phase of a bike and pedestrian plan designed to make the city more friendly for folks who want to get around without using their cars.

A map of the proposed bike lanes is online at www.walkbikeorem.com, a website set up by the city to allow residents to rank the proposed bike trails.

Paul Goodrich, the Orem transportation engineer heading up the project, admits that the first phase will be cosmetic, with bike lanes designated on existing streets, but he said that will be an improvement.

"Basically, it's paint," Goodrich said, "but other communities have found that it makes the road safer."

Dedicated bike paths could follow in the second phase.

Brad Woods, manager of Mad Dog Cycles in Orem and a member of the Orem Transportation Committee, said he is pleased to see the city develop a bike trails system, especially since surrounding communities — Provo, Lindon and Vineyard — have bike plans in place.

"They call Orem the hole in the doughnut," Woods said.

City officials hope painting bike lanes on designated streets throughout Orem will help promote simple changes — including getting cyclists off the sidewalk.

"It's a great start," Woods said. "Orem has a lot of asphalt, and the city's sidewalks are too narrow for riding. People should be on the road."

Implementing that kind of transportation plan creates a better community, he said.

"Bicyclists are an indicator species for a healthy community," Woods said. "When we started, the goal was to make Orem a safe place for women and children to ride a bicycle. That's still the goal."