The design for Chapel Hill’s West Cameron Avenue bicycle lanes will have the lanes facing each other, but running on the south side of the road. (Photo via the Town of Chapel Hill/McAdams.)
After conducting a selection process, the Town of Chapel Hill announced it has chosen an option for how it will improve bicycle infrastructure on West Cameron Avenue.
In an update shared on Apr. 2, the town said that “alternative 2” is the design it will implement along the stretch between Merritt Mill Road and South Columbia Street. Alternative 2 will allow two-way bike traffic on two five-foot-wide lanes, which will be added to the south side of the street.
“This will be Chapel Hill’s first cycle-track,” the town’s release read. “It can be thought of as an in-street greenway where everyone on bikes will be consolidated to one side of the street and can travel in both directions. Cyclists will still operate as vehicles and follow appropriate pavement markings, signage, and traffic lights. The project will also have the Town’s first bicycle traffic lights.”
The Town of Chapel Hill collected community feedback from residents on location in April of 2025, setting up along W. Cameron Ave. (Image via The Town of Chapel Hill.)
As well as including two-way bike lanes, the design includes a three-foot-wide concrete buffer to separate bike and motor vehicle traffic.
“West Cameron Avenue is a main route for people on bikes traveling to and from UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus,” the release continued. “The Town wants to work with partners to make this route safer for everyone, especially the most vulnerable road users. This project follows a 2023 OWASA waterline replacement and will be installed at the same time as a much-needed street resurfacing.”
As for when commuters can expect the changes, the town hired the civil engineering company McAdams to lead the design and planning phase, which it said will likely take 12-18 months. If the project can stick to that timeline, the town said construction will begin in the summer of 2027.
A diagram of where the new bike lanes will be added to W. Cameron Ave. (Image via The Town of Chapel Hill.)
In April of 2025, the Town of Chapel Hill asked for community feedback on three options for new bike lanes. Alternative 1 would have been very similar to alternative 2, only with the two-way bike lane placed on the north side of the street rather than the south. Alternative 3 would have seen one-way bike lanes placed on both sides of the street, with bike and motor vehicle traffic on either side heading in the same direction.
As for why the town went with alternative 2 over the other options, the release listed “safety, connectivity, maintenance, cost and efficiency” as primary factors. It said alternative 2 has the fewest driveway conflicts, the best safety features, and will be easier to maintain than one-way bike lanes due to its width. It also said it is the cheapest option to construct, uses the least amount of space, and still allows for on-street parking on the north side of the road.
You can read more on the town’s selection and community feedback process here.
Featured image via The Town of Chapel Hill/McAdams.
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