Letter: Bike safety vs. a straight line

Posted 12/10/20

I am grateful to the town leadership for moving the East Bay Bike Path extension project forward .

I must say that I was disappointed in what the contractor recommended as a route. The number …

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Letter: Bike safety vs. a straight line

Posted

I am grateful to the town leadership for moving the East Bay Bike Path extension project forward.

I must say that I was disappointed in what the contractor recommended as a route. The number one reason people do not ride bikes is because they feel it is too dangerous.

The proposed West route requires bicycles to share the road on a state highway and on the parade route and does nothing to assuage this fear.

A number of years ago, the director of the Bristol recreation department and I designed a route from Roger Williams University to the start of the East Bay bike path at the corner of Oliver and Thames street.

The route would start at the north end of the university and continue down Griswold, east of Metacom Avenue. Where Griswold returns to Metacom, a short path would run in front of the Weetamoe/Seal Island complexes to the intersection at Woodlawn. A signal light at Woodlawn would serve as a traffic calming measure, facilitate traffic coming onto Metacom and provide a safe crossing for bicycles.

From Woodlawn, there would be a quick right turn onto Dewolf. Dewolf has minimal traffic and usually no parked cars. Dewolf crosses Mount Hope, State and easily connects to Franklin or even Roma streets, all lightly traveled streets leading to town. This opens up accessibility for residents on the east side. With a few connectors, the police station, businesses and residents at the top of Bayview would become bicycle accessible.

I have been riding my bike from the northwest corner of Bristol to the university for years. I’ve tried every possible route I could find. Dewolf rides a near North-South spine of Bristol. It is safe. It would lend itself easily and cheaply to a complete street design. I am baffled why this was not considered.

Expectation of better behavior on the part of car and bike users is more realistic on slow, calm roads. Bike riders on the road should have an infrastructure where dismounting to cross safely is not necessary.

Chris Menton
Bristol

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