Skip to Content
Streetsblog California home
Streetsblog California home
Log In
Advocacy

Bike Lane Pop-up in Macon, Georgia, Wins Over County Engineer, Goes Permanent

All photos: Macon Connects.

Resident-led, temporary demonstrations of protected bike lanes just keep working.

This time, they worked on a partially state-run road through a small city in central Georgia.

Walnut Street in Macon, Georgia (county population 153,515, it's 80 miles southeast of Atlanta) will get three miles of conventional bike lanes in a city that currently has almost none, NextCity reported Monday. According to NextCity's Josh Cohen, that wouldn't have happened without a one-week demonstration of a temporary bike lane network through Macon last fall, created by a volunteer-powered street improvement group called Macon Connects.

As Cohen reports, that demonstration gave Bibb County engineer David Fortson "heartburn," but apparently also a change of heart about bike infrastructure:

Despite his concerns with implementation, he gives the pop-up event credit for leading to the implementation of the permanent bike lane downtown this year.

The event also helped shape his thinking about bike infrastructure. “I would say yes, it did [change my mind],” he says. “I think both bike lanes and bike infrastructure are important. But also, the event just reinforced the need for proper planning when you do make permanent improvements.”

The permanent lane is going to be installed on Walnut Street, a state-owned thoroughfare in downtown Macon. Rogers says the street “is just wide-open asphalt and doesn’t need to be. It connects three neighborhoods to downtown including a low-income neighborhood.

Fortson now says "the overall event was positive and it was good for the community."

Three miles of unprotected, unbuffered bike lane that doesn't yet connect to a larger network isn't likely to result in much ridership, of course. But carving out dedicated space for bikes in a city with essentially no bike lanes is a difficult hurdle for any city to cross. It's a credit to Macon's government and residents that a one-week pilot was what it took.

PlacesForBikes is a PeopleForBikes program to help U.S. communities build better biking, faster. You can follow them on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook or sign up for their weekly news digest about building all-ages biking networks.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog California

Thursday’s Headlines

Publishing note: SBCAL is taking a three day weekend. See you Monday.

July 31, 2025

Cities Matter More Than Ever After Trump Officially Denies Climate Change

We're entering a new era of federal climate denial, and it's time to use a different set of tools to fight back.

July 31, 2025

Commentary: More Trump and Co. High Speed Rail Sophistry

Sorry not sorry you're getting sued for the HSR money you're trying to steal from California, Sean Duffy.

July 30, 2025

Eyes on the Street: Pretty Unsafe for a Bikeway, Yeah?

We suspect the signs won’t stay up - they are too clearly NOT official - even though they provide an important warning for bike riders. 

July 30, 2025

Wednesday’s Headlines

Some rollbacks in Oakland and Carlsbad. New traffic calming in SF. And much more...

July 30, 2025

Shifting Gears to Urban Bike Delivery

Bikes can revolutionize delivery in urban areas. A new report outlines how policymakers can spur them in their communities.

July 29, 2025
See all posts