Been an activist for 25 year, a bicyclist for 60, and rode 150,000 miles mostly around Rhode Island. I consulted on RIDOT's Guide to Bicycling in the Ocean State map.
There isn't a scintilla of truth in this entire article, which repeats conservative negativity and warrants censure.
Bicycling infrastructure costs ZERO. All cities have to do maintain a shoulder with a solid line far enough away from the curb after they routinely repave streets. This "fog" line is mandatory anyway, so must be repainted after resurfacing. Bump outs, dedicated lanes, and traffic calming measures actually aggravate cyclists.
The trouble is that impatient motorists urge city hall to add "double or turning lanes" to streets that used to be one lane and a shoulder in each direction.
This is ILLEGAL. Violates several federal, municipal and state laws, NHWSA and USDOT guidelines, all of which guarantee equal access to all roads for bicyclists, drivers and pedestrians. Plus ADA demands crosswalks and curb relief for disabled wheelchair users.
Bicycles are already BANNED from 30% of streets: highways, limited access, and major bridges, often where not practical. In these cases, parallel routes need to be designated that don't cause undue detours. For example, Jamestown and Pell Newport bridges don't allow bicyclists, so the detour is 75 miles through Providence for riders who want to go from North Kingstown to Newport,
Streets shown on state map up to now altogether ignored Providence, until recently considered one of the worst places to bike in a 100 radius. The new bike-ped bridge parallel to Point Street is a danger to ride across, as is Point Street, the principal crossings of Narragansett Bay.
You don't need a lot of input from vocal cranks to conduct neighborhood street repairs that follow existing laws. They can take it up with three branches of government, to change the laws, but otherwise they have no say.
Please explain the inappropriate content below.
