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NORWALK, Conn. – It's likely you'll see an alteration on Norwalk's Beach Road soon, a change spurred by area cyclists, given the agenda for Monday's traffic commission meeting.
Do you think shared lanes are a good idea for bicyclists on Calf Pasture Road?
View ResultsDo you think shared lanes are a good idea for bicyclists on Calf Pasture Road?
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Yes
30% -
No
58% -
Willing to give it a try.
12%
Item 5 is "approve the implementation of wide outside lanes (WOL), a.k.a Shared Roadways, a.k.a. sharrows, on Calf Pasture Beach Road from Marvin Street to the entrance of Calf Pasture Beach according to the attached plan." Sharrows are the city's version of a bike lane for the road.
Public input is on the agenda for Monday's meeting. Each speaker will get a maximum of three minutes. City officials have not provided details on when the city might repaint the road.
Activists had campaigned to change Calf Pasture Beach Road to one lane in each direction, a plan called a "road diet." But Public Works Director Hal Alvord said last month that a road diet would not work because there are buses that need to pull over, a mailman making deliveries and parents lining up to pick up children at Marvin Elementary School.
"Then it's not a vehicle free lane and we're giving people the wrong impression," Alvord said.
"There's some discussion in the professional circles that using the shared lane approach, it's a little easier to educate cyclists because they understand that they're sharing the roadway. They don't believe they're in this completely protected lane that nobody can touch them in," he said.
Comments (2)
So instead of just saying its unworkable we will have "shared lanes" Which is exactly what we have now. How much money did we waste to do this? The issue anyway is VOLUME. What we need is another venue to attract tourists to that doesnt require everyone going thru a residential neighborhood to reach. Plant grass & build ball fields on West Ave and start charging $40 for non residents to use the beach like Darien does. Turn Norwalks beaches back into a destination for Norwalkers.
Ken P,
I agree that they should raise the fees for non-residents. Westport charges $30 per non-resident car during the week and $50 on weekends. Greenwich, I believe, charges similar fees plus a $5 per person surcharge for passengers. Why can't Norwalk do the same?
I'd much rather see the City experiment with closing one entire lane of Beach Road Highway before concluding that painting a few sharrows is the best we can do. The reasons given by City Administration for why one lane can't be closed don't seem to make sense. Gregory Blvd is the main feeder to Beach Road Highway, should the City use eminent domain for a project that would widen it to two lanes?