My Statement before PS&TC
Below was my statement to the Public Safety and Transportation Committee held a meeting in May of 2020 support of two-way bicycling on the Carriage Lane. Two-way would make bicycle travel legal eastbound, toward Boston.
“A scenario I see regularly: A child and her parents go out on their bikes and head down toward Walnut St. They get to Bulloughs Park, and the pond. How are they supposed to get back home safely? Do we want them to ride along Commonwealth Avenue alongside cars, in the parking lane? OR ride along the winding and narrow Mill Street – which has no parking on one side? What about the children to bike to Burr School along the safety of the Carriage Lane? Do we not want them to bike back home from Burr School on a similarly safe route, separated from heavy vehicular traffic? It’s not a question of IF we can make the CR safe for bicyclists heading east; we can, and we MUST use the tools we have to do so – and we do have the tools.
“Having legal two-way bicycle traffic on the CR makes the CR safer for bicyclists… Having legal two-way bicycle traffic on the Carriage Road allows the City to install the signs and stop lines that will make travel on the Carriage Road safer for the multitudes of bicyclists, runners, pedestrians and dog-walkers who travel along it daily, and all year long. Having legal two-way bicycle traffic will make travel on the CR safer for drivers in vehicles heading north and south on the cross roads to cross the Carriage Lane and reach Commonwealth Avenue.
“Eight years ago when Phil and I first started working toward improved safety for those who drive on the CR as well as those who cross it heading south and north, I did not believe it was even safe to head west by bicycle down the CR, or to run and jog east. For those of you who have been following this: after adding 13 new stop signs (most on the crossroads before the CR and some on the CR itself before the crossword), after adding 3 additional signs on the left, which have improved visibility due to the presence of crossroads that curve to the right as they approach the CR…. after adding 5 stop signs moved 20’ closer to the intersection later (which means that drivers now actually stop right before the intersection rather than rolling through it; after numerous bushes and heavy foliage have been removed and trimmed to allow better visibility later, one year after striping a bike lane from Oldham Rd, through Washington St to the barriers at Arapahoe St., and so much more, the CR is now a far safer road than it was in 2012 – and the numbers of people who bring their children to the CR attests to that.
“These changes have been simple and inexpensive but they have been significant in how they have improved safety – and – improved how safe and comfortable pedestrians, runners and bicyclists feel while ON the CR, and their desire to use it recreationally. I believe it’s now time to take the next steps, the next sequence of actions. And that’s why we’re here tonight.
“In the last year, while myself walking and cycling on the CR, I have stopped many cyclists to ask them their thoughts about making two-way CR traffic legal. Almost every adult whom I stopped had the same response: You mean it isn’t legal now? Cyclists are under the impression that it is currently legal, cyclists behavior indicate this: It’s time to give the City the tools – many of which are simple and inexpensive – that it needs to more fully and completely protect us all while honoring Olmstead’s vision.
We are pleased that on May 20, 2020, the Public Safety and Transportation Committee voted overwhelmingly, 7-0, to approve of the change and to move the notion of contra-flow along the Carriage Lane from Woodbine Road to Mt. Alvernia Road to its next step, Councilor Downs to be docketing the necessary stop signs with Traffic Council.
