|
Follow Us:
Home
On The Ground
Features
Development News
Innovation News
In The News
Neighborhoods
About Us
Contact Us
In The News
Friction over bike lanes in Fairmount
Flying Kite Staff
|
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Share
Related Tags
Transportation
Fairmount / Art Museum
The Philadelphia Inquirer'
s Inga Saffron weighed in on a bike lane controversy brewing in Fairmount.
Unlike so many of Philadelphia's polar-vortex-ravaged streets, the stretch of 22d between Spring Garden Street and Fairmount Avenue is as smooth and dark as a chocolate bar. It was repaved in August, and yet no white lines ruffle its silky surface. The way things are going, there won't be any for a long time.
Perhaps if the Streets Department had simply presented the roadwork as an effort to calm traffic, reduce crashes, and make the street safer for pedestrians, those stripes and glyphs would have been painted on long ago. Instead, the department's traffic engineers made the mistake of mentioning the B-word - as in bike lane - and now the worthy improvement project is ensnared in the web of City Council politics...
What opponents don't understand is that bike lanes can be a tool to make conditions better for all users. By clearly delineating space for cars and bikes, all players know their place. On Spruce and Pine Streets, which were turned into major bike corridors under Nutter, accidents have fallen by 30 percent, says Andrew Stober, who runs the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities.
The explanation for the drop is simple. The two streets have been reduced to one car lane each, forcing motorists to drive more slowly. Cyclists feel safer, too, so they're less likely to ride on the sidewalk. That increases the chances that pedestrians will have the space all to themselves.
Original source:
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Read the complete story
here
.
Share
Related Tags
Transportation
Fairmount / Art Museum
Give us your email and we will give you our weekly online magazine. Fair?
A valid email address is required.
Invalid email format, please check email format.
Signup for
Email Alerts
Give us your email and we will give you our weekly online magazine. Fair?
A valid email address is required.
Invalid email format, please check email format.
Signup for
Email Alerts
Related Content
Valley Forge and the Schuylkill River Trail reunite with opening of new bridge
The closure of the old Betzwood Bridge irked pedestrians and cyclists who used to be able to cross the river between the Schuylkill River Trail and Valley Forge. Now a new span reconnects the region.
Say It Ain't So: Vintage departures board at 30th Street to be replaced
UberEATS looks to feed Philadelphia
Greenworks strives towards a more sustainable Philadelphia
SEPTA powers its future with regenerative braking
U.S. Department of Transportation design event targets Vine Street