Last week, the City of Melrose released a community survey designed to solicit feedback on the road reconfiguration pilot currently in place between West Wyoming Avenue and Sylvan Street. You can find the link to the survey below:
https://www.cityofmelrose.org/home/news/south-main-street-pilot-project-community-survey
If you support safer walking and biking infrastructure — and slower traffic speeds — in Melrose, it is critical that you take this survey and provide your support!
Remember: the city is repaving the road next month, so feedback on current road conditions is not necessary. We recommend that in addition to providing feedback on what works and what doesn’t work with the pilot, you focus your feedback on what improvements you would like to see:
- Protected bike lanes in both directions.
- High-visibility, ADA-compliant crosswalks at existing bus stops
- High-visibility green paint in “conflict zones,” such as where a bike lane meets a side street
- Continuation of the bike lanes to the Malden border, to provide safe connections to Pine Banks, Oak Grove, and between communities.
- Intersection improvements, to better control vehicle turning movements and allow bike lane users to safely proceed through the intersections at Sylvan and Wyoming.
- An explicit focus on prioritizing transportation equity and reducing vehicle miles traveled.
It’s also important to remember that these “bike lanes” are really “active travel lanes,” and may be used by wheelchair users, scooters, joggers, people with strollers etc. They must be safe for all these users. If you’d like more background, you can read our statement on the pilot here, and you can read our original design proposals for the corridor here.
As a reminder, you may also continue to send thoughts on this project directly to the city via email at sharedstreets@cityofmelrose.org.
I’m all for the safety this may provide. But if you have visited or worked in an area already having these on their main roads. You would know, should already know, the Uber drivers, delivery drivers, person picking up others will only add to longer traffic delays, as they will without any doubt double park blocking the 1 lane traffic ways. This is simply fact. Is it worth it to delay ambulances and other emergency response vehicles that could save a lives, put out fires? I would more than think twice about adding these. In other community through-out the commonwealth these added bike lanes have been reverted back, because commuter (Drivers) far out way cyclists, always will – As it did not reduce vehicular traffic, and Transportation Equity. Last time I checked we all have equal access to public transportation unless those routes will be changing to more challenged areas. City funds would be better utilized elsewhere!