Brady Castellano rides his bike “literally every single day” for both commuting and exercising. While he enjoys riding in Gainesville more than other cities he’s lived in, it isn’t without its dangers.
Gainesville bicyclists often face concerns of distracted or impaired drivers, paths in poor condition and limited bike lanes.
When biking for his commute to campus, Castellano, a 25-year-old UF master’s student, predominantly sticks to bike lanes. Still, he said he would rather “be annoying by taking up the whole lane” than ride in a narrow bike lane.
“Sometimes I feel it is safer to take a whole lane rather than just riding on the edge of the road,” he said. “All it takes is a single driver glancing at their phone and veering a few feet for my life to end.”
While Castellano rides on sidewalks sometimes to get out of the way of drivers, they are often more dangerous to ride on because of bumps, pedestrians and cars pulling out, he said.
“I have been in a situation where I was riding on the sidewalk, and a car passed me and pulled in front of me, giving me no time to brake,” he said. “Because I was on a sidewalk, I had no options to swerve to avoid it.”
For Castellano, it is often the driver — not the road itself — that concerns him most when riding, he said.
“The biggest issue facing cyclists in [Gainesville] is people with ‘car brain,’” he said. “Everyone is in a rush these days and also distracted by their phones, and it's really unfortunate when a cyclist bears the brunt of that by getting hit or yelled at.”
There were 132 bicycle crashes reported in Alachua County in 2023, resulting in one death, according to the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles website. Bicycle crashes resulted in three deaths in 2022 and four in 2021.
For Blaire Moraski, a 21-year-old UF Spanish and international studies junior, UF’s main campus seems to be safer to ride in than the Gainesville area at large.
“Campus is very bikeable, but around Gainesville it can be a bit trickier,” she said. “Areas around town tend to have good bike lanes, and I feel comfortable riding in them, but farther out from the heart of Gainesville it can be more hit or miss.”
Some roads in and around Gainesville lack bike lanes and opt for shared lanes instead, she said.
“There are some areas I’ve noticed that have signs where ‘bicycles may use full lane,’ but that isn’t equivalent to bike lanes and tends to push cyclists, including myself, to bumpy sidewalks instead,” she said. “One time, I crashed into a pedestrian since my bike hit a bumpy section of [an] old sidewalk.”
Moraski believes the crash could have been avoided if there was a bike lane on the road, she said.
The City of Gainesville has plans to take up the first road project funded by a portion of the Wild Spaces Public Places surtax, a news release revealed Dec. 21.
The first of these “Streets, Stations and Strong Foundations” projects is the “resurfacing and restriping” of a section of North Main Street. Bike lanes will be added in both directions, according to the news release.
The next will address a section of Northeast Ninth Street.
Reina Saco, a Gainesville city commissioner, said Gainesville has limited control of roads in the city. Still, finding ways to make Gainesville streets safer is important, she said.
“Making our streets, our sidewalks and our bike lanes safer for everyone is one of the best investments we can make with these funds,” Saco said.
The city will continue to gather input through “community engagement” to decide on future projects, according to the press release.
Jason Lokkesmoe, a 45-year-old Gainesville resident, was a professional cyclist in the early 2000s when he lived in California. He still regularly commutes to work by bike.
Lokkesmoe often chooses to avoid busier roads and opts for multi-use paths off of the roads when he can’t avoid them, he said. Still, not all paths are in good shape. A stretch to the side of 23rd Avenue is an example of this, he said.
“The multi-use path is really dangerous because it’s uncared for,” he said. “The roots have created all of these undulations that are bumps that basically make it very difficult to ride straight, but then it also has moss growing on it.”
One of Lokkesmoe’s biggest concerns is distracted drivers. Drivers may become complacent driving their regular commute routes and may fail to notice bicyclists sharing the road with them, he said.
“If you're unaware as a driver, you're way more likely to hit something or strike something that isn't normally in that spot,” he said.
Lokkesmoe often rides with his son and fears for their safety around inattentive drivers, he said.
“My fear is, with especially my son, that we’re going to be out riding and somebody’s going to be on their phone, and they’re going to swerve over and then that’s going to be it for my family,” he said. “That’s an awful feeling.”
He encourages cyclists to wear flashing lights when riding, even in the daytime. The flashing motion “helps draw attention to it,” Lokkesmoe said.
“Cyclists have the opportunity to help be part of the solution by having lights on their bikes or helmets or wherever they want to put them,” he said.
Tommy Duque, a 19-year-old UF industrial and systems engineering sophomore, generally finds Gainesville a safe place to ride. Still, he believes Gainesville’s status as a college town may contribute to the number of distracted drivers on the roads, he said.
“I think my biggest concern is probably people under the influence of something, whether it be alcohol or any other substance, because we do live in a university setting,” he said. “There’s a lot of young people who might make stupid mistakes.”
While cyclists might be doing all they can to stay safe on the roads, there will inevitably be drivers that aren’t, Duque said.
“Even if you're following all the safety precautions, you still have to be vigilant of other people like drivers who aren't, necessarily,” he said.
Contact Bailey Diem at bdiem@alligator.org. Follow her on X @BaileyDiem.
Bailey Diem is the Fall 2024 Metro Editor at The Alligator. She spent previous semesters reporting for The Alligator's University and Metro desks. In her free time, Bailey enjoys playing guitar or getting lost in a book.
