Bike Stamford
For a city its size, Stamford should really put an emphasis on biking as a way to get around. Not only in commuting to work, but recreation and general bumming around. A city interconnected with a series of functioning bike lanes could be something to really distinguish Stamford throughout the entire region. While we seem to be inching towards more progressive development with downtown density, a call to redevelop Glenbrook and Springdale neighborhood centers, and push back on backward development such as the Lord & Taylor site, improved bike transportation seems the next logical step.
To my knowledge, there is not a single bike lane in Stamford. Some of that is slated to change on a small scale with individual projects. RBS will add bike lanes to the revamped stretch of Richmond Hill Ave running next to their building and the Urban Transitway, a mile stretch under construction to connect the East Side to the Train Station, will include bike lanes as well.
Stamford also began a city-wide traffic calming project last year that sought to improve the pedestrian and biker experience as one of their goals. Each neighborhood would get an opening meeting with an independent urban engineering firm hired to develop plans for each community and a final meeting to review their recommendations. From the looks of their website, which lists the last meeting in October 07, they’ve gone on hiatus.
Improving bike flow in individual neighborhoods as well as interconnecting those neighborhoods together with bike lanes should be an immediate goal. One opponent seems to be one of the groups who could stand the most to gain, local business. They see bike lanes as a threat to on-street parking. While in many areas both can be accommodated, cutting back on some on-street parking can help create a potentially whole new dynamic for many of the city retail cores.
In a city undergoing such major development it would be a missed opportunity to not work towards moving people out of their cars and onto the street now. Mayor Malloy was inspired on a trip to Europe to consider light rail for Stamford. Not a bad idead, but if he’d only noticed all the bikes, we may be on the way to a more feasible and immediate goal.
13 comments :
Agree with you 100%. I live about a mile from downtown Stamford, where I work, and would love to be able to ride my bike to work. Given the lack of a bike lane, I feel I'd be putting my life at risk if I were to actually attempt this commute by bike.
Bike trails would be awesome, but seems a little like a pipe dream with all of the budget issues we're having. And all things considered, I would rather have more sidewalks and better maintenance of the sidewalks we have.
I live near the Tully Center and work on Harbor Drive, a distance of about two miles. The only thing keeping me from biking to work is the Elm St./95 interchange. People don't even notice other cars at that intersection, so I'd be a sitting duck on a bike!
I'm very sorry, but I do not wish for bike lanes in downtown Stamford. Bikers - keep doing what you're doing and I appreciate it, but please bike in your neighborhoods. Please do not bike downtown. There's barely enough room for cars on the roads around here. Please keep your bikes away from me.
Now before you bikers get all mad about what I'm saying...let me tell you about the time a biker hit me while I was driving. I work very close to the highway which, as I've mentioned before - on another blog, is a free for all at rish hour. It's 8:30am and I'm at a red light, waiting to make a right turn. Light turns green. I proceed to make my right turn onto the St where I work and a biker, heading straight as I was turning (also on his way to work I assume), with his iPod on plowed into the side of my car and fell off his bike. Thank GOD, he was NOT HURT and picked himself up, obviously shaken, and kept going. I on the other hand just about threw up and crapped myself at the same time. Yeah I know it was probably my fault...but you know what? That biker needed to bike defensively too. My signal was ON. He was in my blind spot. There's not enough experienced biking in this town like there is somewhere like NYC.
So for now, please keep your bikes and bike paths away from downtown & more importantly away from me and let us drivers deal with downtown Stamford.
:)
Ideally Amanda bike lanes would work with conjunction with other traffic calming/ engineering techniques. Where there's room, a bike lane should be more than a painted line on the road, but some sort of actual patrician from the street.
Installing a extended bike lane down a road with some room like Summer St. or Long Ridge would be a good start.
Downtown roads are tight, but anything that makes the downtown more pedestrian friendly is a good thing. It would be better for street level business I'd imagine to have an environment where people would want to get out of their cars and spend time rather than drive in drive out.
Listen, to each their own & I am sorry I know I have been tainted. But RIGHT NOW, this is not a pedestrain friendly city. Certain spots are. But not all. That's not to say it won't be in 10 years, esp once all the development slows down & is completed. But RIGHT NOW, not enough people abide by ANY traffic laws downtown. That includes drivers, pedestrians, & bikers. I think a bike path in the downtown area would be a mistake at the moment. Long Ridge it could work -- Summer St not so much.
This is all just my opinion. I'm not saying I wouldn't be for it in the future. But truthfully I think it's far pretty off. In the instance I stated above, the guy was obviously in the zone and not "biking defensively". I'm not blaming him, I take responsibility as well. But this city is just not there yet.
I bike to the train station from Prospect Street, when I'm in town for work. It's treacherous, but I take my life into my hands because it's so much faster than walking.
I think a bike lane would make things safer for both cars and bikes, and would help encourage more pedestrians on the streets.
On the other hand, I wouldn't want taxes raised one penny to support something that relatively few people would use....
Maybe its not pedestrian friendly becuase people like you are mowing down bikers. Your accident was your fault by your own admission.
Haha right...I MOWED him down. You got it.
And yes, if police were called - I probably would've been cited for it. And only because I am in a car. HE HIT ME, not the other way around. I'm not trying to dodge my responsibility.
It's unlikely you would have been blamed, Amanda.
Accidents happen. If you once had a collision with a pedestrian, would you be calling on all pedestrians to stop walking?
Or with a car?
Please, try to understand that one jerk who listens to music while biking & doesn't pay any attention to the turn signals of cars does not adequately describe a whole population.
Biking is a legitimate form of transportation, and all over the world, people safely bike to & from work on a daily basis. People wearing ear phones & not looking at turn signals are a minority, and it is not fair of you to characterize every cyclist in the same category.
I propose to start a Stamford Bike Group and have a bunch of people bike together to promote this movement If you are interested email me: leticiairias@yahoo.com
Amanda, You have identified a need for bikers to follow traffic rules just like vehicles. As you've noted at this point there really aren't many bikes on the road, so there isn't a protocol. This needs to be addressed through education and enforcement of traffic laws upon cyclists. This process won't be without it's growing pains, but I would love to see some effort to make biking more welcome downtown through more bike rack's being made available, and the creation of bike lanes.
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