Robert J. Matter
May 17th 05, 05:37 PM
The Florida bicycle boycott remains in effect. Cycletourists, express
your dissatisfaction with FDOT by spending your tourism dollars in
states that have more respect for cyclists' lives. And if you must cycle
on A1A, take the lane where a 5' bike lanes or shoulders are
unavailable, but use a rear-view mirror to track approaching cagers. -RJM
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/05/14/s1a_dblanes_0514.html
Compromise on Delray bike lanes unveiled
By Meghan Meyer
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 14, 2005
DELRAY BEACH — Nearly two years to the day that tempers first flared
over plans for bike lanes on State Road A1A, the Florida Department of
Transportation announced its final decision Friday to build paved
shoulders ranging from 3 to 5 feet wide along the oceanfront highway.
The state also will build a 6-foot-wide sidewalk along much of the road.
Construction probably will start in summer 2007, stop during the winter
tourist season and finish the following June, DOT Project Manager Sonny
Abia said.
The plans will be displayed during a public meeting from 4 to 8 p.m. May
26 in the Crest Theatre at Old School Square.
Beaten down by years of bickering, bicyclists, business owners and beach
residents accepted the news less enthusiastically than they had when the
state unveiled its plans at a public meeting in May 2003, which nearly
ended in a melee.
Bicyclists wanted standard, marked 5-foot-wide bicycle lanes wherever
the state had enough room to build them.
Residents feared the lanes would attract more annoying out-of-town
bicyclists and traffic, detract from the road's scenic nature and
destroy landscaping they had installed on the state's right-of-way.
Business owners feared losing already-scarce parking spots by the beach.
Each faction formed a special-interest group, and the Delray Beach
Chamber of Commerce formed a committee to work out a "consensus
agreement" in private. In the end, no group got everything it wanted.
"Overall, we attempted to see what is a sensible thing to do while
meeting safety standards and minimizing the impact to the community,"
Abia said.
That means building 5-foot-wide "paved shoulders" along most of the
road. Abia wouldn't call them bike lanes. He said transportation
officials would decide later whether to mark the lanes with bicyclist
icons or leave them blank.
The shoulders shrink to 3 feet wide north of the public beach, in front
of investor Rick Edick's oceanfront house. Edick spearheaded the
anti-bike-lane movement with his group Save Our Seacoast.
He flew to Tallahassee at one point on a private jet to plead with
Transportation Secretary Jose Abreu to simply repave the road instead of
widen it.
Edick would not comment Friday, saying he had not read the letter
District Secretary Rick Chesser sent to him and city officials.
Happy that DOT has included more bike-lane space than the consensus plan
called for, county bike and pedestrian coordinator Raphael Clemente
still seethed at what he saw as the state caving to the wishes of
wealthy homeowners when it has enough room to add 5-foot-wide marked
bike lanes as he contends its policy requires.
The same thing happened in Palm Beach, where the state has enough room
to build 5-foot-wide lanes on A1A but is building 3-foot-wide lanes
instead, Clemente said. It has been a fight every step of the way to get
the state to do what it's required to do, he said.
"It's just an indication that they are throwing the citizens of Florida
a bone; they're doing it where there's the least opposition possible,"
Clemente said. "It's much better than what we had. But it's still not
right."
Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce Director Bill Wood said he was glad the
state decided to keep the angled public parking spots by the beach.
Officials had remained reluctant to change plans for parallel parking.
"They really took into account an awful lot of what the consensus group
asked for," Wood said. "They had to maintain a certain degree of safety.
They had a lot of big issues to deal with. I'm breathing a sigh of relief."
Beach resident Jim Smith, who founded the group Safety As Floridians
Expect, said he thought the 7,300 signatures his group collected in a
petition drive made state officials realize many residents wanted
sidewalks and bike lanes.
"It's important as we go into the future that cyclists show their
appreciation to taxpayers for paying for the bicycle lanes to ride in
that bicycle lane and not all over the street," he said. "You don't see
motorists driving in the sidewalk, and you don't see pedestrians walking
down the middle of the street."
###
your dissatisfaction with FDOT by spending your tourism dollars in
states that have more respect for cyclists' lives. And if you must cycle
on A1A, take the lane where a 5' bike lanes or shoulders are
unavailable, but use a rear-view mirror to track approaching cagers. -RJM
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/05/14/s1a_dblanes_0514.html
Compromise on Delray bike lanes unveiled
By Meghan Meyer
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 14, 2005
DELRAY BEACH — Nearly two years to the day that tempers first flared
over plans for bike lanes on State Road A1A, the Florida Department of
Transportation announced its final decision Friday to build paved
shoulders ranging from 3 to 5 feet wide along the oceanfront highway.
The state also will build a 6-foot-wide sidewalk along much of the road.
Construction probably will start in summer 2007, stop during the winter
tourist season and finish the following June, DOT Project Manager Sonny
Abia said.
The plans will be displayed during a public meeting from 4 to 8 p.m. May
26 in the Crest Theatre at Old School Square.
Beaten down by years of bickering, bicyclists, business owners and beach
residents accepted the news less enthusiastically than they had when the
state unveiled its plans at a public meeting in May 2003, which nearly
ended in a melee.
Bicyclists wanted standard, marked 5-foot-wide bicycle lanes wherever
the state had enough room to build them.
Residents feared the lanes would attract more annoying out-of-town
bicyclists and traffic, detract from the road's scenic nature and
destroy landscaping they had installed on the state's right-of-way.
Business owners feared losing already-scarce parking spots by the beach.
Each faction formed a special-interest group, and the Delray Beach
Chamber of Commerce formed a committee to work out a "consensus
agreement" in private. In the end, no group got everything it wanted.
"Overall, we attempted to see what is a sensible thing to do while
meeting safety standards and minimizing the impact to the community,"
Abia said.
That means building 5-foot-wide "paved shoulders" along most of the
road. Abia wouldn't call them bike lanes. He said transportation
officials would decide later whether to mark the lanes with bicyclist
icons or leave them blank.
The shoulders shrink to 3 feet wide north of the public beach, in front
of investor Rick Edick's oceanfront house. Edick spearheaded the
anti-bike-lane movement with his group Save Our Seacoast.
He flew to Tallahassee at one point on a private jet to plead with
Transportation Secretary Jose Abreu to simply repave the road instead of
widen it.
Edick would not comment Friday, saying he had not read the letter
District Secretary Rick Chesser sent to him and city officials.
Happy that DOT has included more bike-lane space than the consensus plan
called for, county bike and pedestrian coordinator Raphael Clemente
still seethed at what he saw as the state caving to the wishes of
wealthy homeowners when it has enough room to add 5-foot-wide marked
bike lanes as he contends its policy requires.
The same thing happened in Palm Beach, where the state has enough room
to build 5-foot-wide lanes on A1A but is building 3-foot-wide lanes
instead, Clemente said. It has been a fight every step of the way to get
the state to do what it's required to do, he said.
"It's just an indication that they are throwing the citizens of Florida
a bone; they're doing it where there's the least opposition possible,"
Clemente said. "It's much better than what we had. But it's still not
right."
Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce Director Bill Wood said he was glad the
state decided to keep the angled public parking spots by the beach.
Officials had remained reluctant to change plans for parallel parking.
"They really took into account an awful lot of what the consensus group
asked for," Wood said. "They had to maintain a certain degree of safety.
They had a lot of big issues to deal with. I'm breathing a sigh of relief."
Beach resident Jim Smith, who founded the group Safety As Floridians
Expect, said he thought the 7,300 signatures his group collected in a
petition drive made state officials realize many residents wanted
sidewalks and bike lanes.
"It's important as we go into the future that cyclists show their
appreciation to taxpayers for paying for the bicycle lanes to ride in
that bicycle lane and not all over the street," he said. "You don't see
motorists driving in the sidewalk, and you don't see pedestrians walking
down the middle of the street."
###