His Honnah And Others Bust Out A Bike Lane

Written by Boston Biker on Aug 06

So I was at the Com Ave “first” bike lane (it has come to my attention it is really not the first one, just the first significant one). His Honnah Mayor Menino was there, and Nicole Freedman director of bicycle programs, David Watson of MassBike, and Larry Slotnick (thanks for the tip Charlie) Phil Goff from the Livable Streets Alliance, and some other guy who I have forgotten but had something to do with roads or something…Anyway.

Every century ride starts with pushing through that first mile, and that is what this was (hopefully) for Boston. The first in a series of bike lanes aimed at creating a network of well design bicycle infrastructure. Do I think these lanes are too short, yes. Do I think these lanes are on a section of Com Ave that didn’t need bike lanes, yes. Was the Mayors MASSIVE FREAKING TAHOE parked in the bike lane THE ENTIRE FREAKING TIME HE WAS THERE, yes. But does that mean I think these are bad bike lanes, hell no.

These are important first step, Nicole, David, Phil and the Mayor and all the people in all of their groups worked hard to get these lanes put in. These lanes are a token of things to come. I can only hope that these sort of infrastructure projects become so common that there will be little cause for hooplah and press coverage.

I think that a well designed system of bike lanes, bike racks, and other cycling infrastructure will shepherd Boston out of it’s dismal bicycle past (rated worst city in America for cycling). Ironically bike lanes themselves do not make bikers safer, however they do encourage more cyclists to get out on on the street, which does in fact make bikers safer. More cyclists = less cars = more cyclists = less cars, you get the idea.

I was unable to get video of the whole deal, but here is some of it from MassBike.

Tags: Bike Lanes, Com Ave, David Watson, livable streets, massbike, Mayor Menino, Nicole Freedman, Phil Goff
Posted in advocacy, video | 4 Comments »