On Monday, March 21, 2022, the Jackson Town Council approved the Willow Street Safe Routes project- a seasonal bollard bike route through Town that will connect with the bollard lanes on Snow King and Cache and extend to Jackson Elementary School.

As soon as mid-May, the bike lanes will be installed on both sides of Willow Street with a single bollard lane on the south side of Snow King for eastbound cyclists. The new Willow Street Safe Route will include bollards, striping and signage to create the seasonal bike lanes.

Friends of Pathways would like to thank Teton County Pathways Coordinator Brian Schilling for taking the lead on this important project and the Jackson Town Council for voting in favor of it. FOP would also like to thank everyone who supported Willow Street Safe Routes by writing letters and voicing their opinions. This would not have happened without overwhelming public support!

READ ON TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT

What is the Willow Street Safe Routes Project?

In August of 2021, the Town of Jackson began exploring the idea of extending the seasonal protected bike lanes on Snow King Avenue from where they end at Cache Street and continuing them two more blocks to Willow Street. On Willow Street, the plan is to extend the bike lanes from Snow King Avenue to Gill Avenue. This extension will make a complete protected bike route through town, linking key destinations like Jackson Elementary School and the Rec Center with Snow King Mountain, Phil Baux Park, and Teton County Library.

How does the Willow Street Safe Routes Project enhance the bicycle network?

While cyclists enjoy pathways throughout Teton County, when they arrive to the core of Jackson from any direction, the pathways end and cyclists must find their own route through town. The increasingly congested streets of town are unsafe for children on bikes and uninviting to less confident cyclists. A complete protected bike route through town is needed to accommodate cyclists of all ages and abilities, and to encourage active transportation for locals and visitors alike.

Currently, about 1,000 bike trips a day are made by people on bikes on Snow King Avenue. That’s 1,000 trips a day not made in a car – an impressive number of bike rides per day, and a number that will likely grow if there is a continuous bike route through town.

Why Willow Street?

Willow Street is currently a designated bike route through town because of its relatively low traffic volumes and direct connection to Jackson Elementary and the Rec Center. This project builds on that designation by adding physical barriers (bollards) along the bike lanes, which will be present during the busiest months for biking (April/May to mid-October).

Willow Street connects the southern end of town (Phil Baux Park and Snow King Mountain) with the northern end of town (Jackson Elementary School, Rec Center, and one day, Grand Teton National Park). It connects these areas without passing directly through the highly trafficked town square, making it the safest route for those on bikes.

The route has been tested: In September of 2021 Friends of Pathways and Jackson Hole Community Pathways installed pop-up protected bike lanes on Willow Street and Snow King Avenue during iWalk, iBike, iBus to School Day. While the bike lanes allowed more children to safely ride to school than ever before, they also offered a welcoming safe route through town for anyone riding a bike. The bike lanes were widely used that day, as cyclists had a natural continuous route through town, safe and out of the way from cars.

When will the Willow Street Safe Routes Project happen?

The project intends to install temporary protected bike lanes by May 2022 and looks to explore design options for long-term, permanent bike lanes in the future.