Moving visitors by bike to SunTrust Field. (Atlanta, Marietta: 2015, live in)

[cqholt]

Braves executive encourages bike riding to new Cobb stadium - Atlanta Business Chronicle
This is the biggest joke I have heard. Cumberland is not bike friendly at all. Roads have too high speed limits for safe cycling.

[afdinatl]

[flyonpa]

Is there going to be a Bike Valet.... "Secure" parking...

So you don't come out the game and find your bike gone, and you are walking home..

[evannole]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Braves executive encourages bike riding to new Cobb stadium - Atlanta Business Chronicle
This is the biggest joke I have heard. Cumberland is not bike friendly at all. Roads have too high speed limits for safe cycling.

This is true, and indeed that was my first reaction, but after a bit of thought, I realized that from many areas in Cumberland, you can get very, very close to the stadium without being on the main roads with high speed limits, mainly via trails, all of which are paved:

The Silver Comet Connector runs basically from West Village at Atlanta Road and 285 (and points futher west on the E-W Connetor) to Cumberland Mall, where you could certainly secure your bike.

You also have a path called the Bob Callan trail that runs basically from Paces Mill/Cobb Pkwy, through the Chattahoochee Nat'l Recreation Area, all the way to where the stadium will be.

There's also a partially completed trail running along Spring Road from downtown Smyrna. Today, it stops a bit short of Cumberland Blvd; hopefully it will be extended by the time the stadium opens, though I don't know what's actually planned.

There's even a trail that runs most of the way along Atlanta Road (west side of Dobbins), from downtown Marietta all the way down to downtown Smyrna. I believe this is planned to be expanded and completed in the coming years. I may well test this route to get to a game sometime after the stadium has opened.

Is it perfect? No, and certainly I wouldn't expect more than 1-2% of spectators to come via bicycle with the current infrastructure. But for some folks who live in the Smyrna/Vinings and even southern Marietta areas, it will be a viable option. Frankly, I think the biggest challenge will be the terrain, as the area is exceptionally hilly; coming from most places, you'd better be in awfully good shape if you want to ride your bike to the stadium.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by flyonpa

Is there going to be a Bike Valet.... "Secure" parking...

So you don't come out the game and find your bike gone, and you are walking home..

Turner Field currently offers secure bike racks, so I'd expect the same. But how do they expect people to bike over when the area is built for moving cars, fast?

[flyonpa]

With the GridLock'ed traffic, During Game Arrival Time.

I would expect the Bikes to be going 2-3x faster then the cars.

[glovenyc]

As much as I hate to agree with my #1 favorite "anti-Cobb Braves" poster here (JSVH being #2), I have to agree with the with the ridiculous nature of this one. I live extremely close to the site, and it is entirely too hilly to expect people to ride there bikes to the stadium. BRAVES/COBB politicos, you all have to do much better than that.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by evannole

This is true, and indeed that was my first reaction, but after a bit of thought, I realized that from many areas in Cumberland, you can get very, very close to the stadium without being on the main roads with high speed limits, mainly via trails, all of which are paved:

The Silver Comet Connector runs basically from West Village at Atlanta Road and 285 (and points futher west on the E-W Connetor) to Cumberland Mall, where you could certainly secure your bike.

You also have a path called the Bob Callan trail that runs basically from Paces Mill/Cobb Pkwy, through the Chattahoochee Nat'l Recreation Area, all the way to where the stadium will be.

There's also a partially completed trail running along Spring Road from downtown Smyrna. Today, it stops a bit short of Cumberland Blvd; hopefully it will be extended by the time the stadium opens, though I don't know what's actually planned.

There's even a trail that runs most of the way along Atlanta Road (west side of Dobbins), from downtown Marietta all the way down to downtown Smyrna. I believe this is planned to be expanded and completed in the coming years. I may well test this route to get to a game sometime after the stadium has opened.

Is it perfect? No, and certainly I wouldn't expect more than 1-2% of spectators to come via bicycle with the current infrastructure. But for some folks who live in the Smyrna/Vinings and even southern Marietta areas, it will be a viable option. Frankly, I think the biggest challenge will be the terrain, as the area is exceptionally hilly; coming from most places, you'd better be in awfully good shape if you want to ride your bike to the stadium.

Placing 'bike paths' or as I like to call them, wide sidewalks, next to roads creates a dangerous interaction between cars and bikes. Drivers are not looking for cyclists to be moving faster than a pedestrian walks on a wide sidewalk when they go to turn. Also, too many curb cuts and cars blocking the crosswalk, where the wide sidewalk crosses is dangerous and can force pedestrians and bikes behind cars where they are not seen and risk getting hit. Also, the traffic speeds of the local roads are too high for safe street level activity.

[HH82]

Originally Posted by glovenyc

As much as I hate to agree with my #1 favorite "anti-Cobb Braves" poster here (JSVH being #2), I have to agree with the with the ridiculous nature of this one. I live extremely close to the site, and it is entirely too hilly to expect people to ride there bikes to the stadium. BRAVES/COBB politicos, you all have to do much better than that.

I don't think the hills are the problem. Downtown has all kinds of hills. The problem is expecting people to bike safely on Cobb Parkway as it is currently structured. I'd walk from East Atlanta to Cumberland before I got on a bicycle in that area.

[alco89]

Hey, at least they are considering it. We'd be upset if they didn't.

Now if we could just get them to mow over a few of those hills and do some traffic calming (I lmao knowing both are impossible/won't happen).